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Reviews for The Murder Game

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The Who of Old

By:David Layton, Los Angeles, United States
Date:Saturday 6 September 2003
Rating:   7

Steve Lyons is one of the better Who novelists. His characters are realistic, and their actions consistent with their attributes. The story to this one is classic Dr. Who: enclosed settings (a hotel in space and a spaceship with a water environment), a small set of characters, a plot revolving around a mystery, the Doctor and friends stumbling into places they should not be. A good read for people who like Who in that classic style.



The murder game is great

By:will, Fareham, England
Date:Saturday 8 November 2003
Rating:   9

I agree with the review above steve lyons is the one of the best writers.
Here he plays with the black and white years again and produces a book you wish you could watch. The charcters are yet again well drawnout



Another entertaining read from Mr Lyons

By:PJ Johnson, Hoddesdon, United Kingdom
Date:Thursday 24 February 2005
Rating:   8

Having read Steve Lyons' First Doctor masterpiece The Witch Hunters immediately before reading The Murder Game, my expectations for this book were naturally sky-high, and while it fails to match The Witch Hunters for sheer power and emotional involvement, it is nevertheless a highly entertaining book.

One pattern that emerges throughout all of Steve Lyons' PDAs and Missing Adventures, is his incredible ability to recreate flawlessly the characteristics of each Doctor, and this is evident in The Murder Game. In fact, all three of the main characters, the Second Doctor, Ben and Polly are superbly written, and Lyons explores the relationship between the two companions in far more depth than was ever reached on the show.

The other human characters are also very well written, especially the cold, emotionless Allison Hayes, the cowardly thespian Lord Henry Mace, and Ben's new love interest, the beautiful and courageous Terri Willis. The interaction between the contestants in the murder mystery weekend is genuine and believable, as are their obvious suspicions regarding the Doctor and his party.

The first half of the book is riveting - as events begin to unfold in the claustrophobic environment of the space station, the tension and suspense become unbearable. Then, when the first victim is discovered, and the contestants realise that there may be a real murderer in their midst, relationships begin to disintegrate and suspicion is rife - everyone is potentially a suspect, and the reader is left guessing for much of the book who the murderer is, which makes for a very enjoyable and thrilling read.

Unfortunately, this book suffers from the same problem as Lyons' first Missing Adventure, Time of Your Life (although thankfully not to the same extent) - the final part of the book, beginning with the introduction of Lyons' pet monsters, the Selachians, feels rather confused and messy after the gripping build-up provided in the first half of the book. Seemingly pointless and irrelevant plot strands start appearing, and when the action moves to the Selachian ship the story loses one of it’s best features - the claustrophobic setting of the space station, which is superbly realised throughout the first part of the story.

These gripes aside, however, the story remains highly entertaining throughout, and the ending provides a satisfying conclusion - my only complaint being that the explanation for the destruction of the Selachian ship seems rather rushed, as if Lyons just wanted to finish the story as quickly as possible and stuck with the simplest explanation he could think of.

This is another highly entertaining title from the superb Steve Lyons, and I recommend it to any Who fan, particularly fans of Troughton's Doctor, and anyone who enjoys a good murder mystery.



A great yarn, a feel of the old series!!

By:Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom
Date:Saturday 24 November 2007
Rating:   10

Steve Lyons is one of the safest and best Dr Who writers to try to look for as his stories are never over the top and never lacklustre either though. They all seem to be solid little stories with plenty of interesting ideas going around and lots of action for every character involved.

The Murder Game is an excellent story with a real feel of the second doctors era on tv about it. The doctor is very well portrayed as are Ben and Polly. The Selachians are a believable race and this story never pauses for breath from the word go to the brilliant finish. What with so many doctor who stories having far too many twists and turns for their own good, its good to find a writer for the series whose stories you can actually enjoy and read properly at the same time. This is excellent stuff and well worth a buy!



Agatha Christie is space!

By:Chris Arnold, Bundaberg, Australia
Date:Monday 7 May 2012
Rating:   10

A murder mystery, A space station, the Doctor in drag, and the danger of floating around cinders in Spain. What more could I ask for. Fantastic twists and turns with much hijunks and hilarity ensues.



Screaming Blue Murder

By:Trevor Smith, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Date:Wednesday 25 September 2013
Rating:   10

I must admit I approached this book with some trepidation because I'm not really a crime/murder mystery/ whodunit fan & after reading the blurb on the back of the book I thought that's what I would be reading.
And that's what it is, a whodunit, but oh so much more. It slowly evolves into a base under siege, thrill a minute, throughly riverting read.
It builds to a wonderfully excting page turner & I found myself racing towards the end to find out how it ends as the spaceship/hotel comes under attack.
Steve Lyons "gets" the 2nd Doctor, Ben & Polly spot on. You can really hear the voices reading the lines.
This feels like Ben's story as he has the bulk of the action.
All in all one of the best PDA I have read.



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