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Another Second Doctor novel featuring Ben and Polly (no less than five spinoff books are set between The Power of the Daleks and The Highlanders, if you count a Telos novella and an annual). Although there is an interesting idea here of alien intelligences infesting the movie industry (done better than in Pratchett's Moving Pictures, though this really isn't saying much), it is let down badly by the writer's failure to get American idiom at all accurately and by some ludicrous plot points - at one point a murder suspect outwits two policemen guarding his home to smuggle a corpse inside, for instance. And poor Polly gets possessed / hypnotised yet again. ( )

"Whatever's going on, I can sense that it's evil." His voice dropped to a cold whisper. "And evil must be fought."

The Doctor, Ben, and Polly get involved with a murder mystery, a quasi-religious cult, a slimy movie director, a crooked police chief, and a sinister propaganda film that is certainly more than it seems. Welcome to the City of Angels, Doc!

Many have claimed that Dying in the Sun is just Doctor Who meets L.A. Confidential. Good thing L.A. Confidential is one of my favorite films. To be fair, the novel only starts out like a typical noir-ish crime story. By the second half, the novel reads more like the usual science-fiction adventure you would expect.

The regulars are well-portrayed, even if Ben doesn't have much to do in this one besides hanging around with the Doctor and shouting "Oi!" at people if they threaten his Time Lord pal. Polly, although under the psychic influence of the baddies in the second half, also comes across like she did on-screen. Then there's the Doctor, who is portrayed magnificently in this novel. I could hear Pat Troughton's voice every time the Doctor had a line of dialogue, and Jon de Burgh Miller gets all the mannerisms correct too -- gleefully rubbing his hands together, pulling silly frowny faces, sneaking about and popping out directly in front of someone (usually scaring the living daylights out of them). Much like he did on-screen, the Doctor is not afraid to play the fool, not afraid to appear weak or make the baddies think he's on their side. Suffice to say, there's no 'bland' 2nd Doctor curse in this particular book.

As for the main plot, it's fun and would've probably fit in well with some of the more mind-bending Troughton era stories. A new film, Dying in the Sun, is soon to be released. Through a typically haphazard turn of events, the Doctor and friends are invited to the pre-release screening party. They soon discover that the film has a seriously potent amount of psychic power over those who watch it, and the special effects are just too ahead of their time to be in a film from 1947. Mayhem ensues as the Doctor tries to get the film shut down before it's public release.

The author could've hit everyone over the head with the underlying themes here: the powers of propaganda and Hollywood influence, but he just leaves it be and tells the story, and the novel is all the better for it. Later in the story, the Doctor encounters the aforementioned cult, and it's quite obviously a send-up of the current Scientology craze in Hollywood, but Miller again restrains himself and doesn't go for any real low blows or cheap shots.

The only serious complaint I have about Dying in the Sun is how the era the novel was set in wasn't tapped into very much at all. It didn't exactly scream '1947' to me. The descriptions of the setting, Hollywood, are perfectly fine, but it could've been set in modern times without altering much of the story at all. Where are all the cars from 1947? The clothes? The headline stories? There's not even that many movie-related references from the time period, which is strange given the subject matter of the novel. There's just a lone reference to King Kong (which was out decades before this is set), and a couple of Disney films from that period.

However, flaws aside, Dying in the Sun is still an enjoyable page-turner, especially for long-suffering Troughton fans looking for another good 2nd Doc tale to sink their teeth into. Highly recommended. ( )