Deadfall

Bernice Summerfield: Virgin New Adventures #6

by Gary Russell

Jason Kane, Benny's useless ex-husband, finds himself trapped on the legendary planet Ardethe. Activating the distress beacon he stole, he summons Chris Cwej, who promptly has his mind wiped by the machinery he inadvertently awakens. A prison ship then arrives full of women convicts and suddenly people start dying. Jason doesn't know who the true foe is and Chris doesn't even know his name.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

About the author

Gary Russell is a British freelance writer, producer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media. As an actor, he is best known for playing Dick Kirrin in the British 1978 television series The Famous Five.

Reviews

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

We know what the Baygent Apotheosis is, actually. It's listened in many of the texts.' He got up and rummaged through some books on his shelves, finally pulling out a big, blue, leather-bound book. 'I love books,' He said. 'So much better than discs, crystals and all the other soulless devices we have to read today.'

-

I love the Dellah-era Benny books because they have the perfect balance of camp, whacky, and weird science fiction stories with deep, important messages behind them. But they balance it out with scenes with featuring the cosy atmosphere of an archaeologist and a weird Head of Theatrology, who may or may not be the Doctor's older brother who keeps dodgy company on the side, and does nothing but sit around in his office filled with books, drinking wine, and helping Benny in his free time.

I love re-reading, because after a period of time you forget what happens. This book was more focused on Jason Kane, rather than on Benny herself. Unfortunately, I have never been a fan of Jason Kane. Both in the books and audios as he always just makes me uncomfortable in the way he treats Benny by using her to steal items, flirting with other people and the way he tries to play a my trauma is so much worse than yours reverse card on her. Jason wasn't really much use in this book. He was just kind of there whilst Llyod and the other prisoners did the work despite this book mainly focusing on him.


In this book, he wasn't too bad as he wasn't written by Dave Stone. I love Gary Russell and one time coming back from Gallifrey One, we sat on the same row for 8 hours going home haha.

I loved to have Chris Cwej back in this and the nods to Roz, and the side characters were interesting as well. Tolland really made me want to throttle him for many reasons throughout the book.

I adored all the Brax, Benny and Wolsey scenes throughout this book. They really made me grin and were so vivved in my mind. One day, I will draw some of these.

[Gareth · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Bernice Summerfield novel with hardly any Bernice Summerfield in it is a hard sell for me, and replacing her with Jason Kane doesn’t help. I’ve still yet to click with his character; he seems to exist here as a ball of sarcasm in a book populated with other interchangeably sarcastic characters, as he vaguely investigates an archaeological dig gone wrong while Bernice… chooses not to get involved? I struggled with that choice.

Deadfall is adapted from Gary Russell’s earlier audio drama of the same name, and there are a few relics that seem to point to that, such as characters addressing each other by name all the time, or the occasional long, page count-friendly chapter where we just busy around a spaceship listening to people argue. Most of the plot happens at the end, and much like the plentiful and casual fits of violence along the way, it happens in a sudden burst.

Wasn’t for me.

[Jacob Licklider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Switching over to Bernice Summerfield as the protagonist for the Virgin New Adventures is perhaps not the most accurate description of just what the books become. The first five books, certainly, Benny is the driving force and main character, but with the sixth book, Deadfall by Gary Russell, the protagonist moves away from Benny and onto Jason Kane, who nicks a data crystal right from Benny’s nose to what may be the mythical planet of Ardethe. On the way to the planet is an amnesiac Christopher Rodonte Cwej while stowing away with Jason is Emile Mars-Smith, determined to get Jason and Benny back together. Irving Braxiatel also has a small part to play, mainly as Benny’s confidant in her little interludes. The cover of this book is perhaps one of the most B-movie covers any of the Virgin New Adventures have had with Chris Cwej surrounded by two beautiful women, convicts of a prison, and a cat, who isn’t Wolsey, Wolsey stays on Dellah. This is also another adaptation of one of the Audio Visuals Doctor Who audios which were made by him and Nicholas Briggs in the 1980s, and this book actually lends itself really well for not being a Doctor Who story. Any Doctor Who references directly have to have the serial numbers filed off and it makes for some interesting speculation as the implication clearly is that the myth of Ardethe is actually the planet of Gallifrey (there is a clear degradation of the Shobogans, the setting is the constellation of Kastoborous, and it is protected by the Knights of Jeneve).

Switching things to Jason Kane as the main character for this one book also isn’t the most accurate, even if it is brilliant. Emile is the character who gets much more of the spotlight here in his naïve quest to get Benny and Jason back together. He has come to terms with his sexuality and has an impending visit from Scott while Tameka has had Scott’s child, Scott being perfectly fine with polyamory while Emile kind of has that tension. Unlike Beyond the Sun, Deadfall sees Emile immediately recognizing his feelings are actually his own and not him projecting his insecurities onto others. He is still having issues with his father, but has realized just how toxic that relationship was and how Tameka was genuinely just trying to help with him. Jock, Tameka and Scott’s child, is almost a source of pride for Emile, he finishes the book seeing the child and loving the child like a father. It makes for a nice little arc for Emile which is great. Chris on the other hand has to figure out just who he is and what his purpose is in this post-Lungbarrow world. He doesn’t even remember who Roz was and is integral in the resolution of the book, which draws on ideas present in the Psi-Powers arc of the Virgin New Adventures, as this wouldn’t be a Gary Russell book without references to other stories. Jason rounds out our trio of protagonists, and there is still this lovesick nature to him as while he distracts himself with other women and even gets a fiancé at the end (ending the book at a reference to Death and Diplomacy and Happy Endings), he clearly is still in love with Benny.

Benny and Braxiatel have their own little subplot on Dellah as things are going awry at St. Oscar’s with the discovery of the coordinates. Brax being Benny’s person to complain to about Jason here is excellent as he is right there with a drink and ready to hear whatever insanity Jason is about to have. He’s clearly planning something in the background as Russell drops hints here which are a lot of fun, and Benny’s outbursts against Jason are also way too fun. Overall, Deadfall is perhaps the best Gary Russell Doctor Who book and it’s not even a Doctor Who book. It gives some brilliant insight into where Jason is post Eternity Weeps and post-Beyond the Sun which makes for a great protagonist and rounds out essentially what is the first big grouping of the Bernice Summerfield VNAs. It is a roller coaster with brilliant implications for the series as a whole and what has happened to Gallifrey and how this series connects with the Eighth Doctor Adventures. 10/10.

[Julia]

Una spedizione verso il presunto pianeta Ardethe scompare misteriosamente e quando Benny sta per andare a investigare, Jason arriva e le ruba le informazioni, partendo al suo posto e portandosi dietro uno dei suoi studenti. Allo stesso tempo la nave prigione KayBee 2 con le sue galeotte costrette ai lavori forzati si dirige verso quello stesso pianeta. E cosa ci fa Chris Cwej in una delle camere della città sotterranea, privo di sensi e con la memoria cancellata? Una misteriosa entità è stata risvegliata e porterà morte e distruzione a bordo della nave.
Questo è un libro Jason-centrico, con Emile (precedentemente presente di Beyond The Sun) e Chis come suoi companion. Nel frattempo, Benny e Brax se ne stanno al bar a discutere quante probabilità ha Jason di finire ammazzato (non sto scherzando XD )

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/deadfall-by-gary-russell/

A curious Bernice Summerfield novel in that she’s not in it much; the real protagonist is her ex-husband Jason Kane, who gets mixed up in an archaeological dig gone wrong and also discovers the amnesiac Chris Cwej, a companion from the Seventh Doctor New Adventures novels. There’s also a planet which has got out of place, and Benny trying to work out what is happening at long distance (as are we all). Solid stuff; I see some rave reviews and some very negative, but I was simply satisfied.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little shocked that I enjoyed this book so much.

Then I realized it follows Jason most of the story, and Benny is hardly in it. Apparently it's specifically Benny that I don't like, not necessarily Benny-verse!

Great book for the lack of Benny.