I didn't like this installment nearly as much as I liked part one. This book continues the stories on DS9 as well as what's going on with the crew of the defiant exploring the gamma quadrant. I wasn't particularly fond of this one partly because of the writer's style and partly because I think there was too much politics involved. All of what takes place with the defiant crew has to do with the crew trying to act as an intermediary between two alien races. I found it for the most part boring. I felt as if the author could have made the aliens more interesting and the story line less dry. There is some action, but it just doesn't pack too much of a punch.

The DS9 drama I think is the best part of the book. Some interesting things take place on different fronts. Shar's bondmates struggle to deal with problems which largely has to do with him not being there. A delegation of Cardassian and Bajorans push to normalize relations, but things get more complicated before they get better.

Upto this point, mission Gamma part 1 is this best I've read in the relaunch series.

Although like the series in general, this book is mostly character driven, it still has all of the elements of a good sci fi novel. Stumbling upon strange new worlds and beings, making new discoveries and learning of infinite possibilities beyond the realm of what we experience every day is the stuff of good science fiction. This book has all of that

The Mission Gamma part 1 revolves around three main plots which are:

Vaughn and a crew from DS9 go on a mission of exploration into the Gamma quadrant.

The crew stumbles upon two new worlds and three different kinds of alien species. One of these species communicates by changing epidermal colors and patterns. The other two species are not not of corporeal form and live in a different realm. Not much is known about them (or it) other than something called the thoughtscape is the most prominent part of its existence and has the ability to establish communion with others rather then to communicate.

Quark's relationship with Ro (security officer)

A Romance develops between the two. I was a bit skeptical that anything would come of it at first and did not like the idea. As I read more about their relationship however, I've become more interested in seeing how far it would go.

Elias Vaughn's relationship with his daughter

Before this story a was puzzled as the way Prynn resented her father. This story clarifies everything nicely

Bajor's future as it moves closer to joining the United Federation of Planets and how this may effect Ro and Quark's future as well.

Quark is concerned that when the federation takes over the station, he will be out of a job because the Federation is essentially a moneyless organization. Ro is concerned because she and starfleet don't have good relations. So what will be her new place on a federation controlled space station (assuming she is even allowed to stay)?

While new relations are forged, others face an uncertain future, and some explore uncharted territory in the Gamma Quadrant; Taranatar continues to explore and observe humanity on the space station. Some parts involving Taranatar are very funny. A Jemhadar would be the last I would think to be in a holosuite studying partial differential equations. That's the beauty to this entire genre, just when you think you've read it all you find something that takes you by surprise. Star Trek is so full of surprises.

I also would like to add that the writer (David R. George III) is one of the best I've read so far. The character development is superp and he brings things together well with no inconsistentcies while writing a relatively complex plot.

Gateways What Lay Beyond is a compilation of the conclusions to all of the Star Trek Gateways series. Personally I only read "Horn and Ivory" which is the conclusion to the Deep Space Nine Gateways series.

There is nothing astounding to the conclusion. First of all, I will warn everyone that spoilers follow. So stop reading now if you want don't want to know what happens.

The whole story is focused on Kira, none of the other DS9 crew plays a role. In the last Gateways book, we find Kira stranded on a deserted planet in the Delta Quadrant dieing of theta radiation poisoning and Taranatar recovering from a brutal fight with a Hirogen. We also know that at the end of the last Gateways book, Kira staggers into a gateway that keeps flashing between two places. We would expect something to happen like her being returned to DS9 or Bajor but that's not quite what happens. After staggering into the Gateway, Kira is transported to a familiar planet 30,000 years in the past. The rest of the story has nothing to do with solving the mystery of the Gateways, it only opens up more questions. Not until the final chapter do we find out what happened with the evacuation.

It's a nice litte story, but you can easily skip it and go on to the Deep Space Nine Gamma series.

The main plot revolves around a story to save an entire population of a planet from destruction due to theta radiation poisoning. The entire planet must be evacuated and its inhabitants must be treated. This places an enormous strain on DS9 and Starfleet. The theta radiation came from a Malon freighter that got into a firefight with a Hirogen starship. Coincidentaly, the gateways were activated recently which caused the deadly theta radiation to be dispersed into different areas. Another problem with the gateways is that they drain energy from planets, so they must be shut down somehow.

Meanwhile, Quark is up to his usual self. He just can't seem to stay out of trouble, or is it that trouble aways seems to find him? One of the other plots revolve around Quark negotiating with the Iconians on behalf of the Orion Syndicate. The Iconians control the gateways and are in the process of auctioning them off. Negotiating with the Iconians on behalf of the Orions however is the least of Quark's problems.

There aren't any dull moments in this entire book. Every chapter keeps our attention to the very end and encourages us to read other books in the series.

The person who wrote this book is actually a real life MD (specializing in Internal Medicine) who gave up her career to write full time. This book she wrote is nothing short of brilliance. Not only was she able to use her medical expertise to write out all of the gory details of the killings, but she does well in putting together great detective work and really makes some interesting and believeable characters.

The story is centered around the search for a serial killer who performs hyterectomies on women in the Boston area while they are still alive and then kills them. The killer is called the surgeon because he seems to have skills that only someone with specialized medical training should have. The killings seem strikingly similar to the style of another killer over two years ago in Savanna, Georga. But the killer in Georga was killed by his would-be victim (Catherine Cordell). One would think that maybe it's just coincidental that another killer just happened to have the same style as another killer who was killed over two years ago. The possiblility of it just being a coincidence was shattered when the police realized that the same woman (Catherine Cordell) who killed the killer two years ago is now living in Boston. The killer starts taunting Catherine by writing her email messages and even writes a message to her on a victim's body. But what is this killer's link to what happened in Georga and why is Catherine being targeted?

Another part of the story focuses on the relationship of a male detective (Thomas Moore) with Catherine and the building resentment of a female detective. It also takes us into the world of a female detective's struggle for recognition and respect on the police force.

It was hard for me to decide whether to give this book four stars or five. The strong story and suspense as well as the drama which unfolded between two unlikely police partners in a search for a serial killer was about as good as one would expect from the genre.

The reason I finally decided to give this book four stars instead of five however, was because I really was not very fond of one of the main characters (Merci). Merci is a tough ambitious police woman who is partnered with a semi-retired hard-boiled cop (Tim Hess) who is dieing of cancer. I think the relationship between Merci and Tim is believable. But I just didn't find Merci very likable because it seemed as though she was just driven by rage and hate (nothing more). People like her undoubtedly exist in the real world (I've met some like her). I'll even go so far as to say that under some circumstances, I've had some characteristics of Merci.

The story revolves around the relationship between Merci and Tim but the main theme is the search for a serial killer called the purse snatcher who kills young women (attractive professional types) and drains all of the blood out of their bodies. The story moves relatively fast with a number of suspects and leads being interrogated by the police. I thought however that it was easy to figure out who the killer was. I figured out who the killer was very early, but assumed later that the author wouldn't make it so easy for readers to figure it out, but it was.

I could not put this one down easily, there is so much action and surprises involved. The plot is simple, there is a team of professional criminals who specialize in kidnapping for ransom. They have succeeded five times without a hitch. Their plan is based on a 24 hour cycle. First, a doctor (preferably a well established specialist) with a family that has one small child is selected. The team takes advantage of a time when the doctor has to attend a medical conference. Each team member holds every member of the family hostage, keeps them separate and stays in contact via cell phone. One family member wires the cash to a bank and another family member is forced to pick up the cash at a bank and give it to the kidnapper. After the 24 hour cycle, the family is reunited and everyone promises to not say anything to anyone under the threat of their child being killed.

There is just one job the team does however that presents a special challenge they could not have anticipated. All of the plans start to fall apart one by one which forces the team to alter their original plans. As everyone knows from reading popular mystery/thriller novels the bad guys always lose, but the question is, how far are the bad guys able to make it without getting caught and what are the things which contribute to their plan being foiled?

I found it interesting how a similar scenario from the movie "Panic Room" was used.

Jeffrey (Yun Fat Chow from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) is a professional killer who after being hired to do one last job finds himself being hunted down by the men he works for. The same plot has been copied many times but what makes this film unique is that it is a story about friendship, trust and conscience.

Jeffrey is a calm, cool and collected professional killer who does his job well but we see from the very beginning of the film that he carries a burden around with him. After Jeffrey's first contract in the film, he has painful flashbacks of the incident, so after that, he will never be the same. He then decides that his next contract will be his last so he reluctantly takes the assignment for 1.5 million dollars. But then things get complicated because the same men that he works for decide to try to kill him before he gets paid. The middle man in the story (the man who pays Jeffrey) is caught between being loyal to his boss or being loyal to his friend (Jeffrey). There is also a cop chasing Jeffrey who comes to admire him, but can his friendship with Jeffrey prove to be his undoing or work in his favor?

Army Green Berets, Army Rangers, Navy SEALS (which is actually an acronym Sea, Air and Land), Delta Force (Army), PJs and Combat Controllers (Air Force) and a more obscure group called the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Army) all are military special operations forces which are given very good treatment in this book.

Without being dull pointing out a bunch of dates and times, the author of this book starts out by getting into the history of special ops going all the way back to the Civil War and further. We learn about how the Rangers started out as a rag tag group of misfits and how through major conflicts they've come to become highly regarded and respected. It also explains how the first Underwater Units evolved into UDTs (Underwater Domolitian Teams) and ultimately SEAL teams. A whole chapter was devoted to how American special forces where patterned after foreign special forces. I like how the book brings up the US special operations failures as well as their successes.

About half way into the book, the command structure of different special ops groups is given. We learn that the US Army has the largest special operations organization of any of the other brances and also has considerable jurisdiction over the others (with the exception of the Marines). The US Special Operations Command is run by an Army general who oversees activities by special ops units from the Navy, Air Force and Army.

Later in the book we learn about the different types of missions each unit may be called to do (although there is considerable overlap) and how the operators are trained and selected. We are given a glimpse into the brutal training regimens of some of the toughest and most experienced special operations units in the world.

Many who have a fairly good knowledge of special operations have also heard of the Marine's Force Recon and Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs). Interestingly, very little is said about the Marines Special Ops forces in this book. The Marine's Special Ops Forces fall under a different command from the others (Army, Navy and Airforce special ops).

This book in my opinion is one of the best of the DS9 books in the relaunch series. The action couldn't be better, the machinations of Section 31 have fascinated me since I first heard of them on the TV series and the plots which are not only action driven but character driven are put together very well. I sincerely hope that more Section 31 based DS9 books will come out in the future.

As we know from the television series, Sloan is dead so another mysterious character known as Cole fills his spot. Cole mysteriously appears in Dr. Bashir's room asking him questions and in a round and about way gets him to go on a dangerous covert mission for Section 31. This mission will challenge and test Dr. Bashir in ways he has never experienced before. Dr. Bashir must match wits with another genetically enhanced individual called Dr. Ethan who used to work for Section 31 but betrayed them. Dr. Ethan is a eugenicist who took over a planet where he breeds Jimhadar soldiers loyal to him and conducts genetic experiments making clones and designing weapons to destroy others who are deemed inferior. Ezri, Ro Lauren and Taran'atar all go with him to the planet Sindorin to assist in bringing Dr. Ethan to justice, but he also would like to crush Section 31. Sindorin is where most of the story takes place. There are quite a few good firefights and suspence as well as some very good dialogue.

The book also advances other plots from previous books as well. By the way, Jake is still lost and Cassidy still didn't have the baby yet.