Bloodletter (Paperback)

The cover art for "Bloodletter" can be counted among the standard fare of Star Trek novels of the time where minimal effort was involved.

The premise:

As stated above, the premise is a fairly interesting one in which Starfleet Command has learned that the Cardassians are planning to construct a base on the other side of the wormhole in order to have a presence there and claim as much of the unexplored territory as possible. Obviously this is well before the Dominion became a known factor! The Federation has opted to preempt the Cardassians by having the command crew of Deep Space Nine build a station there first. Coming from Major Kira's past though is a fanatic who will stop at nothing to destroy her, the fate of Bajor, the wormhole and possibly even the fate of the Federation.

While this novel is certainly not among the best of the Star Trek novels in print, it isn't the worst either. I would recommend it to help complete your Star Trek Deep Space Nine collection and as a somewhat viable read. {ssintrepid}

The writing is pretty good, actually, so it's a shame to have to rate the book so low. The dialogue is better than fair, and the plot moves well until the end, when it completely falls apart.

I don't want to say TOO much about that, because it would give away too much. All I can really say is that the day that Major Kira can't handle one lone psychopath with a broken arm who's armed only with a knife one-on-one (to say nothing of with assistance from Dr. Bashir) without having to destroy an expensive and important piece of equipment, is the day that the author truly doesn't understand the characters s/he's writing about. Granted, this was an early book, but STILL...

Most of the second half of this book reads like a cheap slasher movie, with Major Kira playing the part of the terrified potential victim of the near-unbeatable slasher. Problem is, we've seen absolutely nothing to indicate that he really has the kind of semi-mystical invulnerability enjoyed by Freddie and Jason; Kira should have made mincemeat of him, without so much as mussing her hair.