Three famous figures of the Twentieth Century, Alan Turing, Graham Greene and Joseph Heller, each take their turn describing their part of an adventure with the Doctor, who seems driven to meet with a group of aliens broadcasting a signal from Dresden near the end of World War Two.

Leonard uses an unusual literary device - three first person narrators - to tell a very different Doctor Who story. Each voice is well distinguished. Turing kicks off the story, telling a story of mystery and unrequited love. Greene picks up the next thread, where paranoia and guilt run hand in hand while he tells of strange deaths in Africa and Paris. It's left to Heller to finish the tale, a man on the verge of self-destruction, but with a smile on his face.

The plot itself is straightforward, despite the shifts in viewpoint. Turing is pressed back into code-breaker duty when a strange signal is received from Dresden near the end of the war. The Doctor manages to slip into Turing's life and work, as he is as fascinated with the signal as the code breakers are. From there, the novel makes its inevitable progress to Dresden, where events come to a climax during that city's literal firestorm.

Leonard shows a gift for character. All three narrators come across as three dimensional, damaged people trying to do their best in surreal times. The Doctor comes across as very alien - a concept most authors have found it hard to communicate. And although he is in the background, this is very much the Doctor's tale. The aliens - unexplained in an X-Files fashion - benefit from their mysteriousness. The cast might be small, but each character has their moment to shine.

Leonard also deserves considerable praise for basing a Doctor Who story during this time period, and avoiding the now cliche action of having the Doctor getting involved with Hitler and other upper-echelon Nazi's. Instead, Leonard is very interested in how this most famous - and violent - of conflicts affects the characters. He lets their mood and actions show the insanity of war, instead of bludgeoning the theme over the reader's head.

Overall, this is an excellent tale, well written in all aspects. Leonard has crafted something special that rises above the constraints of normal sci-fi and into something more literate. If you'd like to show a non-fan what makes good Doctor Who, give them a copy of The Turing Test.