I read this book while on vacation. It's a different style of Star Trek novel that I never heard much about. I saw it at a used bookstore and decided to pick it up a few years back. It's a Perry Mason type story (right down to the red tinted pages) that features Kirk's defense attorney in 'Court Martial' and Areel Shaw from the same episode is the prosecutor. The Klingons and Federation are trying to develop a planet, Anehar II, to prove to the Organians they are better able to develop it. In the story, the Federation's administrator, Daniel Latham, is found murdered and the Klingon Commander, Mak'tor, is standing over his body. Cogley, always up for a challenge, decides to defend Mak'tor.
I thought the story was an above average story, certainly a different style, which can be a good thing. I didn't really watch much of the Perry Mason show, but I did enjoy the Mason telemovies that were out in the 80's and early 90's. This novel follows a similar pattern, more or less. The events leading up to the crime, the crime, the investigation and the trial. The book starts off with the conclusion of an unrelated trial involving Cogley. There is a bit of a loose thread, where the man just found innocent in that story seems interested in LaSalle, Cogley's assistant, but it's dropped with no further development. Then the story moves to Anehar II and we meet Latham, the character that will be found murdered, along with all the potential 'suspects'. Things are not going well on Anehar II, and the weather is brutal on top of it, with oppressive heat by day. His wife, his assistant, his chief miner, his computer programmer, among others are potential suspects, along with Mak'tor and his assistant, Khogo.
Kirk and co. do make a cameo appearance. At first I thought, here we go, Kirk and the Enterprise are going to save the day for Cogley in some fashion. But no, it truly is a cameo appearance. There is a bit of unnecessary exposition for Kirk though, with him dwelling on his lack of real friends, and him thinking about Gary Mitchell and Finney. I can understand some of it for readers not familiar with the ins and outs of Star Trek, but I thought it was leading somewhere. But no. It's just there for no other apparent reason.
It also seems to take a long time to set up the 'crime'. But at the same time there doesn't seem to be a good area to trim down. It all seems important. It's just you're already almost halfway through the book before Cogley reappears. And at the end the resolution feels a bit hurried. At one point things are not going well for Cogley, then all of a sudden we have a resolution where it all comes together. It almost seemed like the authors were thinking, uh-oh, we're running out of pages, we have to wrap this up. It's all made clear at the end, but a chapter in between where Cogley starts putting the pieces together would have been a bit less jarring. It was like, gee Cogley's in real trouble now, no wait, just kidding. It's that sudden.
My final critique is at the end, the Enterprise returns to take some of the parties home and Kirk speaks to Areel Shaw for a moment and he notices something is wrong with Shaw. She wanted to beat Cogley because she was basically being harangued by her co-workers about losing to him. But there's no resolution. Perhaps it was to be taken up with a future similar book that never happened. But it's left hanging.
But I thought overall it was a good story. It flowed well and kept my interest throughout. Of course you knew Mak'tor was innocent, that's the whole point of the story. It's all about who really did it, the events surrounding the crime and Cogley's genius at work. I wish further stories had been written in this style involving Cogley, but I guess it was just a one off deal. A pity. I would have liked more
I thought the story was an above average story, certainly a different style, which can be a good thing. I didn't really watch much of the Perry Mason show, but I did enjoy the Mason telemovies that were out in the 80's and early 90's. This novel follows a similar pattern, more or less. The events leading up to the crime, the crime, the investigation and the trial. The book starts off with the conclusion of an unrelated trial involving Cogley. There is a bit of a loose thread, where the man just found innocent in that story seems interested in LaSalle, Cogley's assistant, but it's dropped with no further development. Then the story moves to Anehar II and we meet Latham, the character that will be found murdered, along with all the potential 'suspects'. Things are not going well on Anehar II, and the weather is brutal on top of it, with oppressive heat by day. His wife, his assistant, his chief miner, his computer programmer, among others are potential suspects, along with Mak'tor and his assistant, Khogo.
Kirk and co. do make a cameo appearance. At first I thought, here we go, Kirk and the Enterprise are going to save the day for Cogley in some fashion. But no, it truly is a cameo appearance. There is a bit of unnecessary exposition for Kirk though, with him dwelling on his lack of real friends, and him thinking about Gary Mitchell and Finney. I can understand some of it for readers not familiar with the ins and outs of Star Trek, but I thought it was leading somewhere. But no. It's just there for no other apparent reason.
It also seems to take a long time to set up the 'crime'. But at the same time there doesn't seem to be a good area to trim down. It all seems important. It's just you're already almost halfway through the book before Cogley reappears. And at the end the resolution feels a bit hurried. At one point things are not going well for Cogley, then all of a sudden we have a resolution where it all comes together. It almost seemed like the authors were thinking, uh-oh, we're running out of pages, we have to wrap this up. It's all made clear at the end, but a chapter in between where Cogley starts putting the pieces together would have been a bit less jarring. It was like, gee Cogley's in real trouble now, no wait, just kidding. It's that sudden.
My final critique is at the end, the Enterprise returns to take some of the parties home and Kirk speaks to Areel Shaw for a moment and he notices something is wrong with Shaw. She wanted to beat Cogley because she was basically being harangued by her co-workers about losing to him. But there's no resolution. Perhaps it was to be taken up with a future similar book that never happened. But it's left hanging.
But I thought overall it was a good story. It flowed well and kept my interest throughout. Of course you knew Mak'tor was innocent, that's the whole point of the story. It's all about who really did it, the events surrounding the crime and Cogley's genius at work. I wish further stories had been written in this style involving Cogley, but I guess it was just a one off deal. A pity. I would have liked more
