an icepick through the keyhole

For those of you who actually still read these things, the latest TOS trilogy from Pocket Books, under the umbrella title of "Errand Of Vengeance", by Kevin Ryan (The Edge of the Sword, The Killing Blow, River of Blood), is, aside from a few annoying typos, quite possibly the best TOS novel I've read in the last ten years. Well worth picking up, even if Pocket Books is ripping us off by publishing it as three books instead of one long one.

The basic plot revolves around Lt Jon Anderson, a newly assigned security officer to the Enterprise (the time frame is around the first season episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"). The catch is that the real Jon Anderson is dead and he's really Kell, a Klingon agent altered to look human. His mission - to kill James Kirk.

It's mostly told from Kell's perspective, and his slow realization that these Earthers are not as cowardly or dishonorable as Klingon High Command tells him they are, and his internal conflict with his mission. At the same time, we learn of the details behind the legendary Battle of Donatu V, where the Federation and Klingons first met in battle, and look in on Koloth's rise to Commander. Also, we meet Lieutenant Patrick West, a xenoanthropologist who is trying to research and understand Klingon history and culture in an attempt to formulate policy by Starfleet to deal with the Klingons - to make peace or, as he fears, inevitable war.

I'm not really giving anything away in any of this. It's more a character driven story than a plot-driven one and explores two cultures trying to understand each other. I won't go into much more detail, save that it's always interesting to see the Enterprise from a different POV from that of the main characters. While the first trilogy, "The Janus Gate", despite being by L.A. Graf (aka filker Julia Ecklar and Karen Rose Cercone) wasn't all that promising and felt stretched to fill three books, "Errand of Vengeance" rolls along at a crisp pace. Worth a read.