Harmony Seeker's Reflections

Title: The Deviant Strain
Author: Justin Richards
Main characters: The (Ninth) Doctor, Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness

This was the very first Doctor Who novel I've read, and I found it thoroughly engaging and practically impossible to but down.
The story may not be the most original, but the execution is excellent. In fact, if this story had been an episode from the actual TV series, then it would definitely have been one of my favorites as the plot was more than intricate enough for me and had just about the right amount of twists to keep me hooked.

I often found myself wondering what I would do if I found myself in the situations the characters found themselves in and trying to guess who was behind the mysterious events that were taking place. That's how gripping the book was for me.
With very little text, the novel still managed to paint lush images of the places and events. I had no problem picturing in my mind the things that happened. In fact, while reading this I felt like I was watching an actual episode of the show because the book had been specked with so much detail yet without making the text heavy and slowly-progressing.
The book is very action-oriented yet at the same time I found the dialogue intelligent and natural.

Although the Doctor and Rose are the two characters visible on the cover image, the story actually focuses more on the third member of the dynamic trio: namely Captain Jack Harkness.
Not only is Jack the one who sets the story in motion and the character that the very last few pages are dedicated to, but overall this book gave me a very good picture of just what Jack is capable of and what he thought and felt in various situations.
Jack's flirtatious side is fairly toned down in this book, but I see it as a good thing since practically all his other qualities come across perfectly instead. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Richards' interpretation of Jack matches almost exactly the way he is interpreted by John Barrowman (who plays the character).
The teamwork between the Doctor, Rose and Jack was handled extremely well, although Rose's role as the Doctor's resourceful sidekick was almost completely taken over by Jack. (I'm told that it is a common problem that whenever the Doctor has more then one sidekick, the role of the other sidekick(s) unfortunately gets reduced). But even so, the rapport and the teamwork between the three was very believable and in some places even quite touching.
Richards has a very good understanding of how these three characters think and behave and also a good ear for how they talk.
When it comes to the other characters, I had no difficulties seeing all of them as real people.

It might, however, be worth mentioning that the book offers no introductions to the three main characters (the Doctor, Rose and Jack) as it is assumed that the reader is familiar with them from the TV series.

If you're a fan of Captain Jack and/or the Doctor Who episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances", then I strongly recommend this book.