A review by octavia_cade
Ein Ruf in die Dunkelheit by Michael Jan Friedman

3.0

This is more like it - the best of the TNG tie-ins I've read for a while. Which is surprising, as the central problem of the story, in which several Enterprise officers are kidnapped and have their memories wiped, is not generally one that appeals to me. I don't dislike memory-wipe stories, exactly. It's just they never seem to really focus on character work as much as they should, which makes me think of them as a bit of a let down. That's not the case here - well, maybe it is with Geordi and Picard, a bit. But Friedman does a particularly good job with Worf, who finds himself brainwashed into taking part in endless battles... and who doesn't like it. The easy thing would have been to say "He's a Klingon warrior, he's going to fit right in," but Friedman doesn't do that. Instead he has Worf struggle with an aversion for conflict that he doesn't understand, but which is a product of his well-established dislike of dishonorable acts. It's actually done really well, and I would happily have read a whole book where Worf was the only one kidnapped, if the treatment of Pulaski hadn't come in a decent second.

Also, the focus on roles aboard the starship, and what it means to hold them, puts me in mind a little of Diane Carey's Ghost Ship, which remains the best of the TNG tie-ins for me thus far.