Enemy Unseen
V.E. Mitchell
Book Description (jacket text):
Transporting a diplomatic party is nothing new for Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise™ - but this particular mission promises trouble from the start.
For one thing, the wife of the Federation ambassador on this trip is an old flame of Kirk's - and she's determined to see that they resume their romance where they left off. Of course, when another ambassador presents Kirk with three of his wives, finding time for the first romance, let alone any of his other duties, is going to prove nearly impossible.
When a diplomatic attaché is murdered, and the prime suspect is one of his crewmembers, Kirk begins to wish that Starfleet Command would consider using some other Starship to ferry diplomatic personnel...
Opinion:
The Enterprise is on a diplomatic mission and transports two delegations that should negotiate about the planet Yagra IV. During the mission, Spock is not aboard because he takes part in a conference for a fortnight.
This way, the Vulcan first officer has two very small appearances only.
His tasks are distributed to an old acquaintance of Kirk, Lt. Brady and to a Deltan, Lt. Tenaida. It is obvious why. This course of action was chosen because "Enemy Unseen" is more or less a traditional "Whodunit" with the objective of "finding the murderer". That's why it is important to introduce as many possible suspects as possible - Spock would have been out of the question according to his role in the Star Trek universe.
If the book is seen as a Whodunit, it is quite good. The new characters seem authentic and it is practically impossible not to take part in solving the case.
If the book is seen as a Star Trek novel, it is not recommended, though, since the known surroundings are almost completely irrelevant. Regarding the time frame, the story takes place shortly after the events shown in "Star Trek - The Motion Picture". A remark at the book's beginning left no doubt about that. The only information needed of the film affects the existence of Deltans and their specialties. Spock's absence makes it impossible to focus on the triumvirate Kirk-Spock-McCoy and there is also no room for the famous verbal spearing between Vulcan and physician. Even the other known characters to appear in this novel, e.g. Chekov, have a so unimportant share of the action that they practically seem non-existent. Kirk and McCoy have been described by other authors better, too.
So finally it depends on the expectations of the reader and whether he or she likes Whodunits in general. As a usual detective story the novel needs to be rated better since the suspense is kept till the end. If you expect "real" Star Trek, however, you should look elsewhere.
