Doctor Who: Night of the Whisper

Destiny of the Doctor #9

by Cavan Scott, Mark Wright, Nicholas Briggs (Narrator)

New Vegas, 23rd Century — a sprawling city huddling beneath an artificial atmospheric bubble on a distant moon. Pleasure seekers flock there from every corner of the galaxy, to take in the shows and play the tables in the huge casinos. But beneath the glitz and the glitter, organised crime rules the streets.
Whilst Rose Tyler works as a waitress in the Full Moon nightclub, Jack Harkness poses as a reporter for the Daily Galaxy. Meanwhile, the Doctor is helping the police department with their investigation into the Whisper, a strange vigilante that has been terrorizing the city's underworld. But the Doctor is also on a mission of his own — to save Police Chief McNeil's life at all costs.

Genres: Doctor Who, Audiobook, Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Media Tie In, Crime

1 pages, Audio CD

First published September 2, 2013

About the author

is a freelance comic writer and author. He is best known for his work on a variety of spin-offs from both Doctor Who and Star Wars, as well as comics and novels for Vikings, Pacific Rim, Sherlock Holmes, and Penguins of Madagascar.

Cavan Scott, along with Justina Ireland, Claudia Gray, Daniel Jose Older, and Charles Soule are crafting a new era in the Star Wars publishing world called Star Wars: The High Republic. Cavan's contribution to the era is a comic book series released through Marvel Comics titled Star Wars: The High Republic.

Reviews

[Polly Batchelor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Narrated by Nicholas Briggs

The ninth Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack land on New Vegas (planet similar vibes/nod to RTD era with New New York) where there is a superhero vigilante known as 'Whisper', who targets criminal gangs and fights to bring justice. To find out who and what the Whisper is, the Doctor poses as a police inspector, Rose as a waitress and Jack as a reporter.
I loved the audio, the characters were perfect. Briggs attempt of impressions were not too bad. I would have loved Christopher Eccleston to reprise for the voice- since writing the review (2023) he has since returned at the Doctor with Big Finish so I wished he returned sooner for the 50th Anniversary collection., but then none of the other stories have been voiced by a Doctor but one of the Doctor's companion for that Doctor. So it would have been nice to have Billie Piper or John Barrowman return.
Overall the story was one of my favourite from the series so far.

"Nothing gets me more excited than men in uniform!"- Jack

"Give me all your dough or I'll fill you full of Maris Piper! you gonna scream or what?"

[Jim C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is based on the television series. It is also part of a series. It is a stand alone audiobook but it does have a connecting thread with each book in the series. In this one, we have The Ninth Doctor with Rose and Captain Jack. They visit New Vegas where a vigilante has run amok.

This book was fantastic. Yes I went the catch phrase of The Ninth Doctor and it was easy to do and I don't care. I loved this listen as I had so much fun with it. This book was like an early Batman novel with the noir that is set in the future. How could I not love it? I thought the characters were spot on. I thought the narration was terrific for The Ninth Doctor as he captured his character perfectly. Rose was well done. Jack wasn't the best because of the accent but he did capture his mannerisms. I had no problem with the story belonging in this universe and it had various easter eggs that put a smile on my face. I listened to this at work and I laughed out loud several times and my manager asked me what I was listening to.

I do have to put a bit of a disclaimer with my review. The Ninth Doctor was my first Doctor and they say that one will be your favorite and it is with me. I might be a little biased about this book but it was so entertaining and I loved that I got to experience one more adventure with these characters.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only is this a vigilante-in-a-cape themed story, it’s a noir-mystery to boot. I could almost see the comic book images as drawn by Frank Miller, it reeked of Sin City. And Nicholas Briggs does a passable imitation of the Ninth Doctor (his Jack Harkness is pretty awful, but that’s not really a big deal), still this would be much better were it a full-cast production. Still, it’s a darn entertaining story, and perhaps my favorite of this series yet.

[Emilija · Rating 4 out of 5]

2022 52 Book Challenge - October Mini Challenge - 3) Related To The Word "Dark"

This was a decent audio drama. Nicholas Briggs does a very good Ninth Doctor narration, and a passable one for Captain Jack. The characters are characterized well, and there were plenty of moments when it honestly felt like the Ninth Doctor speaking, so Briggs and Scott did very well.

The plot was quite atmospheric, and it was really enjoyable to listen to.

[fatema ! · Rating 4 out of 5]

the ninth doctor impression was pretty spot-on, jack harkness made me giggle (as always), the mystery was interesting and pretty scooby doo-esque - just gets a bit confusing at points. these audiobooks r super short though and it feels like watching an episode so i'll definitely listen to the next one soon :3

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall okay and the reader did a really decent Ninth Doctor voice. The Doctor, Rose, and Jack try to figure out the strange vigilante who has started to kill folks for even minor infractions. There's a big slimy mob boss and chases and the Hardnose Detective and the heartfelt reveal. So, formulaic but overall fine and fun to listen to.

[TheGeekProblem · Rating 4 out of 5]

It rises above the rest, I think. Destiny of the Doctor has been quite an experience, most of the stories are too simple, and that's not a bad thing, but it's easy to forget the plots after a little while.

Since the 9th Doctor has an aura of an action hero, this is one of the most energetic stories of the lot. Lots of explosions, a (hover) bike chase, some kind of mafia in New Vegas (which is a moon, not a planet), really film noir style which I thought was pretty cool. The TARDIS team must go undercover in different parts of the city which leads to Rose working as a waitress, Jack as a reporter and the Doctor as a police man for a month. Reminded me a little of Human Nature/The Family of Blood to be honest. As always, Rose and the Doctor have an amazing dynamic together. Jack is awesome as always, he has a really light personality in the expanded media, really easy to like. The Doctor is still healing from the war which makes him so much darker than the rest, there's just so much pain there and it makes him a great character. And the tiny wink to Bad Wolf was *chef's kiss*.

I think I love the character of Rose too much to think this story is bad, but it's actually pretty good from an un-biased point of view.

[Isa (Pages Full of Stars) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find listening to audiobooks really hard but this one was lots of fun. With all the sound effects and tha narrator changing voices to resemble the actors' ways of speaking, it almost felt like another episode of Doctor Who :)

I recently found these short stories on spotify and decided to give them a go, because I adore Doctor Who and would like to get more used to listening audiobooks. The story wasn't super engaging (I actually found it a bit confusing overall), but all of the main characters were spot on and I think that the narrator has done a brilliant job. I loved all of the signature bits of our characters, especially Nine's "fantastic" :D

The story was quite short and I wasn't as distracted as I usually am when listening to audiobooks, so I might continue with the series :)

[Adam Duclos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to listen to... It had a fairly simplistic story, but one that also didn't have too many annoyances. The reader was okay - they got the guy who does the voices of the Daleks, and he's done other books - but just okay. It was good that he had distinctive and understandable voices for everyone, and although none of the voices or accents were particularly on target, it was okay once you got everyone straight in your head.

In this case, the Ninth Doctor is in a space casino with Rose and Captain Jack, with the guys posing as high powered police detectives from Earth, and Rose posing as a waitress. You think they're investigating a mobster at first, but then it turns out they're really after a serial killing vigilante with electricity powers. The serial killer vigilante was the murdered body of the local police chief's daughter who had been merged with an lost advanced alien-tech police bioweapon. The merge had gone badly because the girl was a dead human instead of a living alien, and in confusion the thing had gone to the girl's father, who had, as an act of revenge, set the thing out to kill bad guys. Originally, he had it set to kill murderers, but it eventually reset to kill everyone with a potential for crime of any kind, so it tried to destroy the entire space city. The Police Chief daddy tried to give his life up in return for taking out both his alien-tech riddled dead daughter and the head mobster of the city, but the Doctor was on guard for this, because his future self had warned him that the chief must stay alive. With the day saved, the Doctor and his companions left with no one the wiser.

[Lori S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I wasn't expecting Nicholas Briggs, but he does a decent job reading for 9, Rose, and Jack. This story is sorta based on 30s-40s mysteries, a certain hatted & caped vigilante of the same vintage (but no laugh), and gangster films, but set in the future on a planetoid called New Las Vegas.

[Nicola Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic little doctor adventure with Rose and Jack (complete with Jack sass and typical Captain Jack flirtations) and wonderfully narrated by Nicholas Briggs.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Harkness, you have bewitched me, body and soul

The voice for Nine and Jack, and the sound effects, were sooo good and immersive!!

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was just Fantastic! Need i say more? 😅

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly I like this one. The writing is great, everyone is in character, the plot is complex, the narration is good. All great positives. A big negative I have is that I am not 100% sure what happened. I listened to this 3 or 4 times and I couldn't figure things out. Some characters seemed to similar and some important info regarding events weren't really explained. Because of that I have to give this one 3 stars instead of 4.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was enjoyable.

I felt the performer did a very good job on all the different characters, though Jack didn't sound quite right compared to the others.

The plot was enjoyable. Gangsters, New Vegas... all cliche, but worked very well.

[Marlo Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Nine and Rose so much. Captain Jack too! This was an adventure I wish I could see on the screen but the audio was so well done I could picture it all.

My biggest complaint was that I was confused sometimes what actually happened in the story... Seemed like some pieces were missing.

[Shreeya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was if Barbara Gordon became a biomechanical zombie Batman and had to be taken down lmao.

[Melody Soundy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Thrilling Underworld Audio Story That Perfectly Represents The 9th Doctor Era.

This one is a strong entry into the Destiny Of The Doctor Audio series. I was really suprised with this one as I've heard mixed things about the series but for the most part it seems to be a solid tribute to the 50th Aniversary of Doctor Who. Night Of The Whisper really encaptures the 9th Doctor Era and that 2005 feel. Cavan Scott and Mark Wright have worked together to create and absolutely entertaining story.

In order to constructly review I'll share a mix of both positives and negatives. First my negatives, there isn't much I disliked now that I'm use to the audiobook format. Definitely better then The Time Machine.

First the sound editing. I can't explain it but something felt off listening to the sound design of this audiobook. The sound felt clunky and the sound effects felt out of place. It really took me out of the immersion of listening to the story. Sound editing is so important to a good audio and Night Of The Whisper really forgot about that. The music was pretty decent it was mainly the sound effects. The narrating from Nicholas Briggs was good though.

Secondly the length and pacing. I feel like a lot of this story was cut out. There was not enough time to tell the whole story and it sadly showed through the writing. Jack and Rose did not get equal enough roles and I feel like it would have been fun to see more of their undercover jobs. Would have also loved to see The Doctor investigating a bit more too. It wrapped up well but at times it felt like we were missing important chunks. Instead of the bad guy saying that they'd been chasing Rose, Jack and The Doctor, it would have been more impactful if we'd listened to a bit of that on screen.

Onto the positives for this audiobook. First I want to praise the performances. Nicholas Briggs absolutely poured his heart into narrating the story. Its a shame to not have anyone from 9s Era narrating it but Nicholas Briggs did an absolutely fabulous job well making it up for it. His 9 impression was really decent and he brought all the characters to life in a really cool way. With only John Schwab playing one character Nicholas Briggs holds the story on his own very well. John Schwab also did a really good job playing James McNeil and created a really sympathetic father figure character. Huge props to both actors as its hard to perform a story like this without anyone from 9s Era involved.

Secondly the setting. The setting was really unique and alive. A criminal underworld planet is a great concept that was well developed by the writers. I love that despite clearly being based on Las Vegas and super hero cities like Gotham, New Vegas is it's own thing that feels very lively and immersive. It feels like a 1920s underworld action movie and that as a result manages to make the setting in the story heavily entertaining. It's also a setting that is perfect for the tardis team of The Doctor, Rose and Jack as any other tardis team wouldn't have suited this dark story. Its a really lively setting that massively lives up to expectations that won't leave you disappointed.

Finally the writing. Believe me when I say Cavan Scott knows how to break hearts but together Cavan Scott and Mark Wright are an unstoppable team. The writing was really good in this one and really emotional. Lots of twists and turns that reveal the true crux of the story. It also allows for a more dark 9th Doctor once he realises the truth of The Whisper. It shows how much the time war has affected him and how much he hates people being weapons. His dynamic with Rose and Jack is good too. Cyrus Wolfsbane is also the perfect caricature of a criminal mob boss and keeps the stakes high. All of the writing is just chefs kiss.

Overall a really fun underworld adventure with lots of action and thrills. It was a really fun and delightful listen. This adventure will leave you emotional and reeling.

Overall Rating: 4.25 Stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

[Jill Jemmett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This audiobook is part of a collection of Doctor Who stories that were written just for audio. It has sound effects and music which were really cool. The story began and ended with the theme song. It was also very short, about 1 hour, so it was almost like listening to an episode of the show.

The narrators were pretty good. The one who did the voice of the Doctor sounded just like him, and the American voice sounded like Jack.

Though I liked the audio parts, didn’t like the story. I found it hard to keep track of everyone. It seemed like there were a lot of “bad guys.” I kept getting distracted while I was listening.

Even though I wasn’t crazy about this story, I’m going to look for more audiobooks from this collection.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I heard about Christopher Eccleston’s return to Doctor Who in an upcoming audiobook I went looking for a 9th Doctor story to help tide me over. This was a very short story but still an interesting one. I loved that it was the 9th Doctor, Rose, and Jack they were my favorite team in the first season and I missed their dynamic in the second one. For being so short it told a detailed story I could see being an episode in the show. All in all it was very good.

[Danny Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the best story from this series so far, an enjoyable story with crime, gangsters, casinos and a brilliant cast! I surprisingly really liked Briggs impression of Nine in this and John Schwab was great too. Overall Cavan Scoot & Mark Wright have written a thrilling adventure that captures this era perfectly. 8.5/10

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ninth Doctor adventure was a good one. We have the Doctor, Rose, and Jack, in a story that's a bit of a pastiche of noir and superhero comics. It's narrated mostly by Nicholas Briggs, who does a pretty good ninth Doctor, but a less good Jack and Rose. I've recently read some of Cavan Scott's ninth Doctor comics, and I liked those too. He's a pretty good writer for this doctor.

[Rosemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one, the grimy casino world was a great setting. The narrator does a great job with Nine's voice, he sounds a lot like them. However, their voice for Jack Harkness was not great, they could not pull off the American accent well. Overall really a really enjoyable mystery story, featuring Nine, Rose and jack trying to figure out what was going on.

[Electroclan17 · Rating 5 out of 5]

His Jack Harkness impression sounds more like Bruce Campbell. This story is definitely inspired by Batman & Gotham, so much so that they reference Wayne Manor. McNeil - Commisioner Gordon, Wolfsbane - Bane, Whisper - Batgirl/Barbara Gordon, Doctor - Batman, Jack - Red Hood/Nightwing, Rose - Tim Drake

[Jennifer Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't perfect, but it was still very good! I enjoyed listening to this, the narrator's voice for the 9th doctor was extremely good - though it could have been a bit better for Capt. Jack. And the story is a good one, it fits well into the Doctor Who world.

[theshadishow · Rating 4 out of 5]

BY FAR THE BEST DESTINY OF THE DOCTOR AUDIOBOOK I'VE LISTENED TO

loved the setting, loved the villain/s, loved the twist

The ending was unfortunately a little anti-climactic, otherwise this would've been a five-star story experience for me!

[GateGypsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

Honestly, this narrator got Nine down pat. He's my favourite Doctor, so I have been looking forward to this part of the series the whole time and I wasn't disappointed. Jack Harkness also joined in the fun.

[Nikolai · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if Doctor Who but Batman?
Noir story with masked vigilante as main adversary.
9th Doctor is a perfect fit for the setting. Briggs does a very solid impression. Rose didn’t get to do a whole lot, and the impression of Jack was a bit off, but overall, a surprisingly gripping story.

[Lorrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a popular opinion, but of all the Doctors, or recent Doctors, Nine is my least favourite. I think this story accurately captured his personality, which is why I didn’t like it. Ironic, no? Also, another unpopular opinion, I don’t like Rose either.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely best so far. Perfect tone with 9, well written, emotional and thought provoking. Wonderful.