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Eighth Doctor Adventures #39
Doctor Who: The Turing Test
A mysterious code is received at Bletchley and Alan Turing, the chief code-breaker, is unable to break it. He meets the Doctor in a club and when Turing tells him about the code, the Doctor reacts by running away, terrified. Turing confesses his indiscretion to the military and the Doctor is arrested. He eventually succeeds in breaking the code from his prison cell -- the message is a desperate cry for help from mysterious refugees in Vienna.
242 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 15, 2000
5 people are currently reading
331 people want to read
About the author
Paul Leonard
74 books8 followersPaul J. Leonard Hinder, better known by his pseudonym of Paul Leonard and also originally published as PJL Hinder, is an author best known for his work on various spin-off fiction based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Leonard has acknowledged a debt to his friend and fellow Doctor Who author Jim Mortimore in his writing career, having turned to Mortimore for help and advice at the start of it. This advice led to his first novel, Venusian Lullaby being published as part of Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures range in 1994. Virgin published three more of his novels before losing their licence to publish Doctor Who fiction: Dancing the Code (1995); Speed of Flight (1996) and (as part of their New Adventures range) Toy Soldiers (1995). Following the loss of their licence, Virgin also published the novel Dry Pilgrimage (co-written with Nick Walters) in 1998 as part of their Bernice Summerfield range of novels.
Leonard also wrote for the fourth volume of Virgin's Decalog short story collections. Following this, he was asked to co-edit the fifth volume of the collection with mentor Jim Mortimore.
Leonard's experience in writing for Doctor Who led to him being asked to write one of the first novels in BBC Books Eighth Doctor Adventures series, the novel Genocide. This led to four further novels for the range, of which The Turing Test received particular acclaim for its evocative use of real-life historical characters and first person narrative.
Leonard has also written short stories for the BBC Short Trips and Big Finish Short Trips collections.
Leonard has acknowledged a debt to his friend and fellow Doctor Who author Jim Mortimore in his writing career, having turned to Mortimore for help and advice at the start of it. This advice led to his first novel, Venusian Lullaby being published as part of Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures range in 1994. Virgin published three more of his novels before losing their licence to publish Doctor Who fiction: Dancing the Code (1995); Speed of Flight (1996) and (as part of their New Adventures range) Toy Soldiers (1995). Following the loss of their licence, Virgin also published the novel Dry Pilgrimage (co-written with Nick Walters) in 1998 as part of their Bernice Summerfield range of novels.
Leonard also wrote for the fourth volume of Virgin's Decalog short story collections. Following this, he was asked to co-edit the fifth volume of the collection with mentor Jim Mortimore.
Leonard's experience in writing for Doctor Who led to him being asked to write one of the first novels in BBC Books Eighth Doctor Adventures series, the novel Genocide. This led to four further novels for the range, of which The Turing Test received particular acclaim for its evocative use of real-life historical characters and first person narrative.
Leonard has also written short stories for the BBC Short Trips and Big Finish Short Trips collections.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
September 24, 2023
An enjoyable if not fragmented read as part 9f the Earth Arc in the EDA's.
I really liked the fact that the narrative was told through Alan Turing, Graham Greene and Joseph Heller - with the strongest being from the first narrator.
The Doctor certainly feels a lot more darker here and the alien involment is what you'd expect from the series.
I really liked the fact that the narrative was told through Alan Turing, Graham Greene and Joseph Heller - with the strongest being from the first narrator.
The Doctor certainly feels a lot more darker here and the alien involment is what you'd expect from the series.
December 13, 2022
I have been a Doctor Who fan since I saw an episode of a Tom Baker story while I was in Yorkshire in the 70s. "What's this?" I asked. Fortunately, when I was back in the States, the show was on my local public TV station ( the Tom Baker shows). I've read some of the books based on Doctor Who and this one by Paul Leonard is one of the better ones--and very different from the others I've read. It's a story told in three parts and told in the first person by three different persons: codebreaker Alan Turing, novelist and spymaster Graham Greene, and pilot and later author of "Catch-22" Joseph Heller. We get three different points of view of a mysterious stranger who is the 8th Doctor Who (Paul McGann). But he doesn't know who he is. This book is part of a story arc in which the Doctor is suffering from amnesia and has become trapped on Earth. It's a bad time on the planet as the Second World War is going on....Turing has been called upon to break a new unbreakable cypher coming from Germany. But Turing's friend, the Doctor, thinks that it's not a German code, but alien. To find out the truth, the Doctor goes on a mission that takes him into Germany...
I noted from various reviews that many did not care for the way the Doctor is presented in this story. It's a good point. You don't have to be a Doctor Who fan to enjoy the story. This could be a story about any weird alien marooned on Earth...
I noted from various reviews that many did not care for the way the Doctor is presented in this story. It's a good point. You don't have to be a Doctor Who fan to enjoy the story. This could be a story about any weird alien marooned on Earth...
January 1, 2026
Leonard’s greatest asset as a writer is his ability to craft genuinely alien societies; his books largely follow conflicts created by the clash of viewpoints between human and alien. It makes him probably the best pure SF writer the Doctor Who novels ever produced. Of all those novels The Turing Test is easily the one which most fully realises the themes of his work, complicating the alien with clashing human viewpoints: the three narrators meeting the alien with the all too human reactions of fascination, fear and bewilderment.
I wasn’t overly familiar with the narrators when I first read it except in the most general terms: I’ve since put that to rights. Leonard’s narrative conceit depends on capturing the voices of his three famous men he uses to tell the story and fortunately this is his strongest suit: his Turing brilliantly veers between the polarities of listening to his head and his heart (scientific fascination against his erotic fascination with the Doctor), Greene’s Catholic viewpoint rendering him entirely susceptible to the us against them of wartime) and Heller finding sanity via absurdity. Whether it’s accidental or not the three represent common narrative points in a Who story well: the mystery, the complication and finding a way through madness to a conclusion. It also allows Leonard to portray the aliens in the novel (unnamed, unlikely to be familiar from other stories) as strange, incomprehensible beings. Those aliens include the Doctor, at this point amnesiac, unfamiliar even to himself. It’s a terrific use of the Doctor’s lost memory, perhaps the only one after The Burning looked at how to tell a straightforward Who story without the Doctor having superior knowledge or technology.
There’s a backhanded compliment given to the best tie-in fiction that it’s too good to merely be a bit of merchandise tied into a TV property. That, to a large degree, is an autonomic fan cringe response attempting to defend pulp fiction against literary snobbery. It’s understandable, but also ignores that these stories sprung from the framework of a series and couldn’t exist without them, and also that the likes of Kingsley Amis, Sebastian Faulks and Naomi Alderman have written tie-ins. What’s important is the quality of the book: The Turing Test is exactly the kind of book often thought of as too good to come from a monthly treadmill of tie-in fiction but which wouldn’t work without the use of the central character. At both the Gallifrey One and Novel Experiences conventions this year it was described, unprompted, as a masterpiece. It’s partly what prompted me to make time to reread it for the first time in over twenty years. And they’re absolutely right: it’s the perfect meeting point of pulp thrills and the higher interests of literature. Even in the vast universe of Doctor Who stories there’s nothing quite like it after all these years.
I wasn’t overly familiar with the narrators when I first read it except in the most general terms: I’ve since put that to rights. Leonard’s narrative conceit depends on capturing the voices of his three famous men he uses to tell the story and fortunately this is his strongest suit: his Turing brilliantly veers between the polarities of listening to his head and his heart (scientific fascination against his erotic fascination with the Doctor), Greene’s Catholic viewpoint rendering him entirely susceptible to the us against them of wartime) and Heller finding sanity via absurdity. Whether it’s accidental or not the three represent common narrative points in a Who story well: the mystery, the complication and finding a way through madness to a conclusion. It also allows Leonard to portray the aliens in the novel (unnamed, unlikely to be familiar from other stories) as strange, incomprehensible beings. Those aliens include the Doctor, at this point amnesiac, unfamiliar even to himself. It’s a terrific use of the Doctor’s lost memory, perhaps the only one after The Burning looked at how to tell a straightforward Who story without the Doctor having superior knowledge or technology.
There’s a backhanded compliment given to the best tie-in fiction that it’s too good to merely be a bit of merchandise tied into a TV property. That, to a large degree, is an autonomic fan cringe response attempting to defend pulp fiction against literary snobbery. It’s understandable, but also ignores that these stories sprung from the framework of a series and couldn’t exist without them, and also that the likes of Kingsley Amis, Sebastian Faulks and Naomi Alderman have written tie-ins. What’s important is the quality of the book: The Turing Test is exactly the kind of book often thought of as too good to come from a monthly treadmill of tie-in fiction but which wouldn’t work without the use of the central character. At both the Gallifrey One and Novel Experiences conventions this year it was described, unprompted, as a masterpiece. It’s partly what prompted me to make time to reread it for the first time in over twenty years. And they’re absolutely right: it’s the perfect meeting point of pulp thrills and the higher interests of literature. Even in the vast universe of Doctor Who stories there’s nothing quite like it after all these years.
February 21, 2011
Oh, I love this book. Yeah, OK, Doctor Who novel, cue the scorn, but Leonard has some really lovely sentences in there that I wish I'd written (oddly enough, none that I remember in Greene or Heller's narrative, possibly an indication that I wouldn't enjoy Greene's books even if I could separate Greene-the-real-person from EDA!Greene). The bit about relationships being founded on a set of 'axioms' that are gradually exposed like rocks at low tide - I adore it. I have, in fact, underlined it in my copy. Well, I already knew I liked seeing the world through scientific metaphors, so Turing's portion of this book makes me very happy.
Plus, well, it's about Alan Turing and the Doctor - and both get sympathetic treatment, so how could I not like it? I prefer EDA!Turing to Cryptonomicon!Turing (and both to Retromancer!Turing), though I'm not sure why. Cryptonomicon probably just gave far fewer chances for Turing to be awesome, whereas The Turing Test has the whole first section from his POV - and a very convincing POV it is too. I've done a fair bit on non-fic reading on Turing, and I can honestly say Leonard's interpretation rings true for me, though obviously I'm only ever going to have second-hand evidence. His relationship with the Doctor is rather wonderful; normally, the Doctor is just so very, very far ahead of whoever he's talking to that he's somehow reduced, but here he's allowed to demonstrate his genius. I like it.
Plus, well, it's about Alan Turing and the Doctor - and both get sympathetic treatment, so how could I not like it? I prefer EDA!Turing to Cryptonomicon!Turing (and both to Retromancer!Turing), though I'm not sure why. Cryptonomicon probably just gave far fewer chances for Turing to be awesome, whereas The Turing Test has the whole first section from his POV - and a very convincing POV it is too. I've done a fair bit on non-fic reading on Turing, and I can honestly say Leonard's interpretation rings true for me, though obviously I'm only ever going to have second-hand evidence. His relationship with the Doctor is rather wonderful; normally, the Doctor is just so very, very far ahead of whoever he's talking to that he's somehow reduced, but here he's allowed to demonstrate his genius. I like it.
December 2, 2016
Oh, I liked this. It was genuinely good, but comes off especially well as I read it right after the gross pointless slog that was Doctor Who: The Burning.
The idea: three perspectives on one story taking place in Europe in 1943, told by Alan Turing, Graham Greene, and Joseph Heller, who pretty much detest each other. Paul Leonard does a great job of getting the voices of each down. (Not that I've read any Graham Greene; and, as one other reviewer says, if this is even a partly accurate depiction, I'm not planning to.) There is a lot that could go wrong with this ambitious approach, but the only thing that made me scoff was the "Author Bio" at the end where it's stated that "no one knows why Turing committed suicide." (~~ooo, mysterious~~) Bullshit, it's common knowledge that he was being tortured for being gay.
It's a Doctor Who book, but like the best of the books it's also a commentary on the Doctor, poking holes in his personal mythology, and additionally an intelligent commentary on war and morality. This is one of the few Who novels that I can actually see myself rereading on its own merits.
The idea: three perspectives on one story taking place in Europe in 1943, told by Alan Turing, Graham Greene, and Joseph Heller, who pretty much detest each other. Paul Leonard does a great job of getting the voices of each down. (Not that I've read any Graham Greene; and, as one other reviewer says, if this is even a partly accurate depiction, I'm not planning to.) There is a lot that could go wrong with this ambitious approach, but the only thing that made me scoff was the "Author Bio" at the end where it's stated that "no one knows why Turing committed suicide." (~~ooo, mysterious~~) Bullshit, it's common knowledge that he was being tortured for being gay.
It's a Doctor Who book, but like the best of the books it's also a commentary on the Doctor, poking holes in his personal mythology, and additionally an intelligent commentary on war and morality. This is one of the few Who novels that I can actually see myself rereading on its own merits.
December 8, 2025
Reread 06/12/2025
3.5
The amnesiac Eighth Doctor is put to his most interesting use yet: he’s obsessed with finding some runaway aliens and stopping the “bad guys”, but his judgement isn’t what it used to be, which raises some interesting questions and leads to some nasty consequences.
Paul Leonard’s story is creatively told. It’s another epistolary like The Banquo Legacy but split between three famous men who each take a third of the book. Leonard does a great job of differentiating the “authors” and of keeping the Doctor as an unknown quantity, even to himself; the same applies to the aliens, which is another reason they appeal to him.
It’s very interesting stuff, perhaps let down only by a strange and persistent jabbing at Alan Turing from the other narrators, and some rather ill-advised aspersions cast about his reasons for suicide. Unfortunate.
Original review 01/05/2023
The third instalment in the Doctor Who series within a series, where the Doctor loses his memory and must wade through the twentieth century before finding his friends again.
The Turing Test is one of the more interesting Doctor Who books I’ve read, even if just on a practical level. It’s told in first person, and in sections, each by a different (well known) personage. The three men each take part in a dangerous adventure that involves the Doctor, strange beings, a mysterious code and a horrible event in Dresden. None of them quite know what to make of their mutual friend, and bracingly neither does the book as a whole.
As eyeroll-worthy as it is to give this particular Doctor amnesia - again! - the experiment has paid off so far, asking quite simply if the Doctor is more than the sum of his memories and how he would act without them. By and large he has acted quintessentially as himself, because these wouldn’t be very good Doctor Who books otherwise; The Turing Test for instance brings out his crafty and manipulative side. But each book has had him wobble a little in terms of morality. His reasons for helping the strange beings at the heart of this story are not as easy to rationalise as they might otherwise be; similarly, when he does things the Doctor might ordinarily do that would shock a regular person, here he has the decency to be upset by them. The beings themselves are even more difficult to get ahold of. All of this is (pleasantly) usual for Paul Leonard, whose novels tend to fixate on moral greyness.
Yes, it’s all very interesting, but did I like it? Frustratingly, not as much as I’d like. It takes a very long time to get to the nub of what’s going on - that’s inevitable when you have three narrators who never seem to understand what’s happening. And I wasn’t over fond of the narrators. Alan Turing is a figure I know only bits about, and his narrative makes him seem frail and human; it’s very empathetic, particularly regarding his loneliness and a somehow inevitable one-way romance with the Doctor. The other two narrators (I won’t say who) seem altogether dismissive and cruel about Turing, characterising him as infantile and obsessed. It becomes a bit distasteful, mixed if I’m being honest with the device of including him in a sci-fi tale at all, plus having him fall head over heels for the Doctor. Your mileage may vary on the use of the Dresden bombing for SF plot convenience. When the cherry on the top of all this is how far the Doctor has moved away from the man he was, it’s hard to say that a good time has been had reading it, but it’s certainly a memorable take.
3.5
The amnesiac Eighth Doctor is put to his most interesting use yet: he’s obsessed with finding some runaway aliens and stopping the “bad guys”, but his judgement isn’t what it used to be, which raises some interesting questions and leads to some nasty consequences.
Paul Leonard’s story is creatively told. It’s another epistolary like The Banquo Legacy but split between three famous men who each take a third of the book. Leonard does a great job of differentiating the “authors” and of keeping the Doctor as an unknown quantity, even to himself; the same applies to the aliens, which is another reason they appeal to him.
It’s very interesting stuff, perhaps let down only by a strange and persistent jabbing at Alan Turing from the other narrators, and some rather ill-advised aspersions cast about his reasons for suicide. Unfortunate.
Original review 01/05/2023
The third instalment in the Doctor Who series within a series, where the Doctor loses his memory and must wade through the twentieth century before finding his friends again.
The Turing Test is one of the more interesting Doctor Who books I’ve read, even if just on a practical level. It’s told in first person, and in sections, each by a different (well known) personage. The three men each take part in a dangerous adventure that involves the Doctor, strange beings, a mysterious code and a horrible event in Dresden. None of them quite know what to make of their mutual friend, and bracingly neither does the book as a whole.
As eyeroll-worthy as it is to give this particular Doctor amnesia - again! - the experiment has paid off so far, asking quite simply if the Doctor is more than the sum of his memories and how he would act without them. By and large he has acted quintessentially as himself, because these wouldn’t be very good Doctor Who books otherwise; The Turing Test for instance brings out his crafty and manipulative side. But each book has had him wobble a little in terms of morality. His reasons for helping the strange beings at the heart of this story are not as easy to rationalise as they might otherwise be; similarly, when he does things the Doctor might ordinarily do that would shock a regular person, here he has the decency to be upset by them. The beings themselves are even more difficult to get ahold of. All of this is (pleasantly) usual for Paul Leonard, whose novels tend to fixate on moral greyness.
Yes, it’s all very interesting, but did I like it? Frustratingly, not as much as I’d like. It takes a very long time to get to the nub of what’s going on - that’s inevitable when you have three narrators who never seem to understand what’s happening. And I wasn’t over fond of the narrators. Alan Turing is a figure I know only bits about, and his narrative makes him seem frail and human; it’s very empathetic, particularly regarding his loneliness and a somehow inevitable one-way romance with the Doctor. The other two narrators (I won’t say who) seem altogether dismissive and cruel about Turing, characterising him as infantile and obsessed. It becomes a bit distasteful, mixed if I’m being honest with the device of including him in a sci-fi tale at all, plus having him fall head over heels for the Doctor. Your mileage may vary on the use of the Dresden bombing for SF plot convenience. When the cherry on the top of all this is how far the Doctor has moved away from the man he was, it’s hard to say that a good time has been had reading it, but it’s certainly a memorable take.
August 31, 2025
This novel may say Doctor Who on the cover, but the story inside has very little to do with the Doctor. He is a side character at best, and Leonard chooses to put a pilot with PTSD, a colonel with dubious morals, and a code-breaker at the forefront instead. The first hundred pages or so are dedicated to philosophical musings about life and the war. The rest is a jumbled mess of three different perspectives ranging from the wilds of Africa to the bombed city of Dresden, and (possibly) an alien race that is made up of code. So little is mentioned about these aliens (I think there were about half a dozen of them, only two that had names) that it's difficult to determine who they were, why they were on Earth, and what they wanted. This isn't your typical Who novel, and there are way more questions than answers- so know ahead of time you won't be satisfied in that regard.
This novel seemed to be a test of skill for the author, to determine if he could write in the style of Alan Turing and do him justice. I don't know much of anything about the man, so I cannot say if he succeeded. What I can tell you is that Leonard used the word 'insouciance' five times, and 'susurrus' four times. In a novel that is only 240 pages, that is quite a lot of needless repetition.
I wish this was all told from the perspective of Turing, and the author chronicled the discovery of the aliens, what they wanted, how the Doctor knew what to do and saved the day. You know, like a normal story. As it is, this comes across as messy and confusing, masquerading as high brow and philosophical. I'd give it a skip.
This novel seemed to be a test of skill for the author, to determine if he could write in the style of Alan Turing and do him justice. I don't know much of anything about the man, so I cannot say if he succeeded. What I can tell you is that Leonard used the word 'insouciance' five times, and 'susurrus' four times. In a novel that is only 240 pages, that is quite a lot of needless repetition.
I wish this was all told from the perspective of Turing, and the author chronicled the discovery of the aliens, what they wanted, how the Doctor knew what to do and saved the day. You know, like a normal story. As it is, this comes across as messy and confusing, masquerading as high brow and philosophical. I'd give it a skip.
January 10, 2025
Strange, dark, philosophical.
Genuinely just very well written and constructed, and brilliantly and convincingly capturing the voices of three very distinct narrators, this is an EDA that stands out above the rest, as just a good book in its own right..
Not that The Doctor isn’t well utilised here, because he is, and his morality and psyche are lightly but intriguingly explored by the books’s three outsiders, particularly in respect to his frustration in being marooned and without memory.
I like the ambiguity and mystery of a lot of the novel too - there is much that is left to the reader’s imagination or own opinion, and I like that.
I do wonder if it would have been even more successful in a number of ways, with just Turing as sole narrator, but I have to reward the ambition and overwhelming success of the book Leonard has put together, its three narrators being a big part of that - there’s certainly been nothing like it before, or as I imagine, since.
Genuinely just very well written and constructed, and brilliantly and convincingly capturing the voices of three very distinct narrators, this is an EDA that stands out above the rest, as just a good book in its own right..
Not that The Doctor isn’t well utilised here, because he is, and his morality and psyche are lightly but intriguingly explored by the books’s three outsiders, particularly in respect to his frustration in being marooned and without memory.
I like the ambiguity and mystery of a lot of the novel too - there is much that is left to the reader’s imagination or own opinion, and I like that.
I do wonder if it would have been even more successful in a number of ways, with just Turing as sole narrator, but I have to reward the ambition and overwhelming success of the book Leonard has put together, its three narrators being a big part of that - there’s certainly been nothing like it before, or as I imagine, since.
August 17, 2024
I thought this was a well-constructed and well-paced story most of the way. I'm not exactly sure what happens at the end. Oddly this has happened for me on a couple of these EDA/PDA/MAs, where the ideas and basic storyline are good, but they don't really stick the landing.
I don't think we needed three POVs here. Two (or one, really) would have done it. And I don't love the "memory loss" trope, especially as it's used here, where the character isn't really trying to regain it. Why write a Doctor Who story if you don't want to actually involve this Doctor as we know him?
But still, I thought this was enjoyable, and would be at the high end of the EDAs I've read so far.
I don't think we needed three POVs here. Two (or one, really) would have done it. And I don't love the "memory loss" trope, especially as it's used here, where the character isn't really trying to regain it. Why write a Doctor Who story if you don't want to actually involve this Doctor as we know him?
But still, I thought this was enjoyable, and would be at the high end of the EDAs I've read so far.
October 7, 2021
The Eighth Doctor on Earth arc has been continually proving that it was just the shake up the Eighth Doctor Adventures. Paul Leonard provides the best installment thus far with The Turing Test, setting the Doctor right near the end of World War II, Alan Turing having cracked the German codes and Bletchley getting ready for the end of the war when other code signals its way through. The Doctor comes to investigate and get to the bottom of aliens infiltrating a situation already thick with espionage. This description may be a standard Doctor Who story, but Paul Leonard’s book is told from a first person perspective, formatted as three different documents, put together potentially by the Doctor to explain just what he was doing in World War II. The first half of the book is from Turing’s perspective and it is some of the most emotional writing in the range. Leonard does not shy away from showing Turing’s homosexuality and the problems that caused for the man. While it isn’t outright said he is in love with the Doctor, the lyrical prose is only something one would use with a romantic partner and the Doctor clearly is returning those affections, even if he doesn’t quite know who he is at the moment. The Doctor is convinced Turing might be able to fix the TARDIS, which is still just an empty police box standing in the corner of an inn. People immediately flag the Doctor as an outsider and a danger, possibly a homosexual, as a time where that is illegal, Turing eventually being chemically castrated for his homosexuality and committing suicide with a poisoned apple. Getting inside Turing’s head is absolutely fascinating, as we see a man being incredibly careful in some things to ensure, but that burden is something that leaks right out.
The other two sections of the book are from the perspectives of Graham Greene and Joseph Heller (author of Catch-22). Greene in particular has scathing derision towards Turing and what he believes to be complete degeneracy, and deserving, which makes such a tonal shift that the reader is just shocked. You’ve already fallen in love at this point with Turing and being told from after his suicide at this point, as well as with the section from Heller’s point of view which tries to find meaning in Turing’s suicide. There’s discussion of the symbolism present in Turing’s suicide, the apple implying a knowledge of Christianity’s idea of the fall of man which leaves the reader speechless. This also allows us to go away from the European front of the war, meaning that there is an explanation to what the aliens are without Turing there, as the Doctor essentially has to abandon him to history because he still knows who he is and what happens and happens. The aliens here also aren’t evil per say, but they are infiltrators which is almost worst and there is this angelic imagery, all tying back to Turing’s sexuality which makes for a fitting end. This is one of the very few Leonard books which does not fall flat at the ending, but focuses in right on the characters.
Overall, The Turing Test is a book which needs to be experienced for its beautiful characterization of the Doctor and Alan Turing. There is a relationship that needs to be read to be understood. There isn’t a sugar coating and the Doctor falls in love and has to let history play its course, while still trying to understand just what it means to be the Doctor. There’s a brief return to the manipulations but only because it’s a necessary diversion. It’s a contender for the best of the EDAs. 10/10.
The other two sections of the book are from the perspectives of Graham Greene and Joseph Heller (author of Catch-22). Greene in particular has scathing derision towards Turing and what he believes to be complete degeneracy, and deserving, which makes such a tonal shift that the reader is just shocked. You’ve already fallen in love at this point with Turing and being told from after his suicide at this point, as well as with the section from Heller’s point of view which tries to find meaning in Turing’s suicide. There’s discussion of the symbolism present in Turing’s suicide, the apple implying a knowledge of Christianity’s idea of the fall of man which leaves the reader speechless. This also allows us to go away from the European front of the war, meaning that there is an explanation to what the aliens are without Turing there, as the Doctor essentially has to abandon him to history because he still knows who he is and what happens and happens. The aliens here also aren’t evil per say, but they are infiltrators which is almost worst and there is this angelic imagery, all tying back to Turing’s sexuality which makes for a fitting end. This is one of the very few Leonard books which does not fall flat at the ending, but focuses in right on the characters.
Overall, The Turing Test is a book which needs to be experienced for its beautiful characterization of the Doctor and Alan Turing. There is a relationship that needs to be read to be understood. There isn’t a sugar coating and the Doctor falls in love and has to let history play its course, while still trying to understand just what it means to be the Doctor. There’s a brief return to the manipulations but only because it’s a necessary diversion. It’s a contender for the best of the EDAs. 10/10.
August 24, 2016
The Doctor gets involved in the Enigma machine project. There are strange aliens that he wants to help. The Doctor still does not have his memory. The story is told by 3 historical figures from their point of view. This makes the story telling interesting, and gives it a bit more depth. A good read.
December 17, 2014
Adult and epic, in the proper sense of both words. It's hard to decide if the Doctor is being compassionate or a total jackass in this novel...though I suspect it's both. A suitably unique take on a WWII story.
November 25, 2017
Really enjoyed this. Very much the Spy Who Loved Me of Doctor Who fiction - but that's no bad thing. I had the extra pleasure of casting Benedict Cumberbatch against Paul McGann's doctor in WW2 Paris; who could resist?
October 31, 2025
Oh my god this was a chore. This was PAINFUL to read. I knew walking in this wasn't going to be fun because I by far and large don't really like paul leonard's doctor who books, but my god.. this was just so painful to read.
Supposedly this book is about code people that want to get back to their planet and the doc wants to go with them, but my god this story couldn't keep my attention.
Technically it's broken into three parts, told from the first person perspective of 3 separate people. Turing the code guy, Greene the author, and Heller some WW2 pilot. The first third with turing, while not being 100% interesting and filled with Turing making goo goo eyes at the doctor, it at least made sense. they were trying to crack a code and turing wondered if he could trust the doctor. not amazing, but it kept my focus and made sense.
But oh my god. once it got to part 2 with Greene, i don't know WHAT happened, but it became IMPOSSIBLE to focus on. i don't know whether it was the writing, or the plot, or whatever, but once part two started it became a myriad of gobbledygook nonsense. i tried so hard to focus and i just couldn't for this part. it didn't help that Greene is an extremely unlikable character who you really don't want to follow.
The third part with Heller was the shortest and was...better? than Greene's but that's not saying much. It quote unquote "wrapped up" what was happening but man, this was a hard read.
The doctor is annoying in this one, there's too much philosophical discussion, and the 2nd third of the book is nigh impossible to get through with all your brain cells intact.
If it wasn't for a decent first third, i'd give this one a 1. but as i mildly enjoyed the turing part, i'll make it a 2. Which is very generous of me because this can barely be considered a doctor who book. He's definitely not the main character in this one and sidelined for the three stooges.
I didn't have a very high opinion of Paul Leonard's work before and i gotta tell you. This ain't gonna change my opinion for the better.
2 out of 5.
Supposedly this book is about code people that want to get back to their planet and the doc wants to go with them, but my god this story couldn't keep my attention.
Technically it's broken into three parts, told from the first person perspective of 3 separate people. Turing the code guy, Greene the author, and Heller some WW2 pilot. The first third with turing, while not being 100% interesting and filled with Turing making goo goo eyes at the doctor, it at least made sense. they were trying to crack a code and turing wondered if he could trust the doctor. not amazing, but it kept my focus and made sense.
But oh my god. once it got to part 2 with Greene, i don't know WHAT happened, but it became IMPOSSIBLE to focus on. i don't know whether it was the writing, or the plot, or whatever, but once part two started it became a myriad of gobbledygook nonsense. i tried so hard to focus and i just couldn't for this part. it didn't help that Greene is an extremely unlikable character who you really don't want to follow.
The third part with Heller was the shortest and was...better? than Greene's but that's not saying much. It quote unquote "wrapped up" what was happening but man, this was a hard read.
The doctor is annoying in this one, there's too much philosophical discussion, and the 2nd third of the book is nigh impossible to get through with all your brain cells intact.
If it wasn't for a decent first third, i'd give this one a 1. but as i mildly enjoyed the turing part, i'll make it a 2. Which is very generous of me because this can barely be considered a doctor who book. He's definitely not the main character in this one and sidelined for the three stooges.
I didn't have a very high opinion of Paul Leonard's work before and i gotta tell you. This ain't gonna change my opinion for the better.
2 out of 5.
May 1, 2018
I have to admit that this is the first Doctor Who novel I have read where I came away with more questions than answers. The story is told in three parts, each by a different narrator - World War II code breaker Alan Turing and novelists Graham Greene and Joseph Heller. Each tells of their encounter with the Doctor as they are involved in investigating a mysterious signal emanating from Nazi Germany that the Doctor suspects is not of human origin.
However, this is not the typical Doctor finds aliens book. The questions I have is why does the Doctor have selective amnesia? Why is the TARDIS now an empty shell? Did I miss purchasing a book before this one that explains what happened to the Eighth Doctor? Because quite frankly this novel doesn't provide any background or answers. Or did I seriously miss something in the story?
Anyhow, I give the book three stars for the story alone and how it is told from the trip of viewpoints. Perhaps someday I will have the answers to the mysteries in this novel answered.
However, this is not the typical Doctor finds aliens book. The questions I have is why does the Doctor have selective amnesia? Why is the TARDIS now an empty shell? Did I miss purchasing a book before this one that explains what happened to the Eighth Doctor? Because quite frankly this novel doesn't provide any background or answers. Or did I seriously miss something in the story?
Anyhow, I give the book three stars for the story alone and how it is told from the trip of viewpoints. Perhaps someday I will have the answers to the mysteries in this novel answered.
October 31, 2016
I understand that the whole Faction Paradox story line had gotten convoluted and out of hand and some kind of reboot was needed. It really should have been handled in one book covering the whole "100 years of amnesia" thing. The first two in this arc were so boring and generic they felt like unpublishable trash historical fiction with a random character assigned the job of "this is the Doctor." I hated the last one so much I gave up on the series for months before trying to dive back in. This was a VAST improvement, with a fun story, fleshed out characters and an interesting story style. Three stars isn't normally high praise from me, but since the only reason the last one even got ONE star was because negative stars isn't an option, three is down right gushing. I liked it but I really can't wait for it to get back to being Doctor Who.
September 16, 2022
Damn.
It took me ages to get through this book, ages in which I had to put it down and take long breaks from it in order to read something else. Three different viewpoints from fictional versions of three different real-world people, set during the dying weeks of the second world war's European theater, with the Doctor only a tertiary character and catalyst amidst it all. This, I should add, was written during a period in which the Eighth Doctor was depicted as having amnesia for a solid 100 years.
To be fair, the book was well-written, but because Turing, Greene, and Heller were such central characters and the Doctor barely there, and a shadow of himself when he was, I just couldn't get into it. Basically, it just wasn't for me.
It took me ages to get through this book, ages in which I had to put it down and take long breaks from it in order to read something else. Three different viewpoints from fictional versions of three different real-world people, set during the dying weeks of the second world war's European theater, with the Doctor only a tertiary character and catalyst amidst it all. This, I should add, was written during a period in which the Eighth Doctor was depicted as having amnesia for a solid 100 years.
To be fair, the book was well-written, but because Turing, Greene, and Heller were such central characters and the Doctor barely there, and a shadow of himself when he was, I just couldn't get into it. Basically, it just wasn't for me.
September 1, 2019
This was very slow reading for me up until the Joseph Heller bits. I'm just not that interested in war stories, unless they're told by Heller, I guess. I had a very hard time caring about what was happening or remembering what was happening. There were some very beautiful sentences that I was glad to have seen, though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2021
One of the weaker EDA books, nearly worthy of a single star. Turing is depicted as an insufferably annoying and whiny character, it's not at all clear who the opponents are in this story (we never find out much about them - their motivations, where they come from etc.) and the Doctor is a shadow of his usual self. I'm also not a fan of the "Doctor stuck on Earth with no memory and no companions" arc which this story is part of.
November 4, 2021
Frustrating ! The author's boyish lack of historical knowledge combined with his "woke" adoration of the gay make the book almost incomprehensible. A pity, it could have been great, if the character weren't all so thick, not to mention clichéd!
He needs to know that World War 2 was always about much more than brave Americans saving the Jews.
He needs to know that World War 2 was always about much more than brave Americans saving the Jews.
August 30, 2022
The Turning Test is an enjoyable read especially the first half of the book when the perspective is latched into Alan Turning, I do find it quite adorable that in this book he have a crush on the Doctor.
March 5, 2024
Works war two thriller with encounters with the doctor superbly narrated from the viewpoints of Turing , Graham Greene and Joseph Heller . The eventual alien encounter is unusual too . For a DW book really well written , Paul Leonard as ever one of the better offscreen who writers.
April 12, 2024
Alan Turing, Graham Greene and Joseph Heller walk into a Doctor Who story.
Interesting because of the narrators.
Interesting because of the narrators.
April 8, 2009
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2070376.html[return][return]The book is told in the first person by, in turn, Alan Turing, Graham Greene and Joseph Heller, as they one by one accompany the Doctor from Oxford through occupied France to Dresden in 1944, on the trail of some presumably alien signals. The Turing part is rather good, even if the author must heavily insist on Turing's crush on the Doctor; the Greene and Heller sections totally fail to catch the styles of their ostensible narrators, and the plot is not in fact resolved. Reading the ecstatic fan reviews I realise that I am clearly in a minority.
February 22, 2011
Three and a half stars, but my rating is skewed. I blame it on this beautiful piece of fanfic that I read before this book, which was a sort of a continuation of the events of this book - only with The Doctor involved - you know "continuation" is a pretty problematic word. Anyway, I think I came across this, unfortunately, in the wrong order. That piece of work blew me away in its precise, brilliant characterization and I rushed to read this DW EDA - only after finding out that the author of the fanfic based it upon this. Since the fanfic got 5/5 , this ends up at a 3.5 for me. But whattay read.
August 13, 2008
This book is a lot of fun. It's in the "TV Series just barely ended" 8th Doctor period. It features as a principal character one of my favorite historical figures, Alan Turing, creator of the eponymous test. It features an amnesiac Doctor wandering earth trying to solve a code that may have been planted by aliens in the middle of World War II. It's like nothing the TV series ever got to do, but it's unequivocally Doctor Who.
April 13, 2013
I didn't appreciate Turing's perspective at all. I appreciated Green's even less (or should I just call him the Human Rainbow, given how many times he changes colors?). Haha, maybe Turing is the rainbow one though . . . .
Some of the Doctor's character development was intriguing. He was certainly faced with a lot of dilemmas. I just really wish the story had been from his perspective.
If you love the Doctor, you might be able to struggle through it.
Some of the Doctor's character development was intriguing. He was certainly faced with a lot of dilemmas. I just really wish the story had been from his perspective.
If you love the Doctor, you might be able to struggle through it.
April 6, 2013
In which the Doctor, still suffering from amnesia, has an intriguing adventure in WWII with Alan Turing, Graham Greene, and Joseph Heller. And there are aliens. However, aside from all the good Doctorish stuff involved, the style(s) in which this book is written is well worth taking the time to read it.
August 16, 2014
I don't know if it's because I'm a fan of Turing, but I truly enjoyed this book. I would guess that most people would enjoy it, even if they had no familiarity with Doctor Who at all. The writing was top notch, the characters interesting and the plot told artfully from the perspective of three different narrators. Highly recommended.
September 28, 2015
You know what would make this book better? Punching Graham Greene. He's long dead, so I guess that would be spiteful. The three POVs are well done, the story is confusing and dense, and the Doctor is alien and ambiguous, described weirdly. It's the eighth, but really it's like in his memory loss he's not sure which regeneration he's at... A strange and puzzling book. I guess I must like that.
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