Released as a freebie with the novel Mutually Assured Domination, Andy Frankham-Allen’s The Dogs of War is a short (40-page) story for Lethbridge-Stewart, set almost immediately after the events of The Beast of Fang Rock. If you haven’t read that story, not to worry as this short story is entirely self-contained.

Dogs of War provides more pieces for the story of how UNIT was formed and the future Brigadier’s role. It does this by joining to another piece of Doctor Who continuity by having Lethbridge-Stewart meet the character of Ian ‘Chunky’ Gilmore. Gilmore originally appeared in the seventh Doctor story Remembrance of the Daleks and this story sets out a little of the difficulty of pinning down a time traveller in normal chronology. The story has the approval of Remembrance writer Ben Aaronovitch and then script editor Andrew Cartmel.

Of interest as well is the careful way the story edges around a whole piece of Big Finish continuity; the character of Gilmore (along with other from Remembrance) has appeared in four boxsets in the Big Finish Counter Measures range. While this story doesn’t crash the Counter Measures range, it does put some stakes in the ground as to what might happen in future releases.

As to the story itself, it has a good mix of chances for Lethbridge-Stewart to reflect on his developing situation and action sequences (the dogs of the story’s title being relevant here). The relationship between Lethbridge-Stewart and Gilmore is convincing and enjoyable and this is a good addition to this range of titles from Candy Jar Books.

Dogs of War is a worthy accompaniment to Mutally Assured Domination and a good read in its own right.

THE DOGS OF WAR / AUTHOR: ANDY FRANKHAM-ALLEN / PUBLISHER: CANDY JAR BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW