Bloodthirst by J.M. Dillard (Star Trek #37, December 1987)

The Enterprise receives a distress call from Tanis, a research outpost. Dr. McCoy and Security Officer Stanger beam down and search a dark, unusual lab. They find two dead researchers, and one barely alive. The records of the facility are infected by a virus that wipes them as soon as examination is attempted.Only fragments are recovered.

The survivor, Dr. Jeffery Adams, is infected with an unusual virus. His blood count is very low, he is extremely sensitive to light, and his condition is worsening. Star Fleet admiral Mendez, in charge of weapons research, wants Adams delivered for trial for murdering his two colleagues. Captain Kirk senses something wrong in Mendez' manner and desire to rush Adams to justice. Then Adams, seemingly very weak, breaks free from isolation and escapes, infecting Christine Chapel. He must be found before he can infect others. Chapel sinks into coma as the med lab furiously searches for a vaccine and a cure. Then Stanger is infected. The situation becomes more and more desperate.

There is little humor in this book, just a building sense of foreboding. Dillard has written a vampire story for Star Trek, and evokes a mood of terror and despair. Kirk and McCoy are the featured characters, along with Dillard's previously used security officers, particularly Chief Tomson and Lisa Nguyen plus newcomers Stanger and Lamia. It is good that Dillard pays attention to security, an often neglected area of the ship, but she does not always use it to good effect. While Diane Duane can write a story that makes a number of characters seem like exceptional people who deserve to be in space, Dillard writes security people who mostly appear incapable or incompetent at turns. Surely a security chief as unsuccessful as Tomson, as written by Dillard, would soon be replaced.

The plot is decent enough, but is often ignored. We quickly set up the situation, and pay only as much attention to it as is necessary to keep events moving along. Key plot elements are explained quickly, or sometimes not at all. The writers' goal is to set that horror movie mood. It is effective, but not to my liking. It took a long time to read this book. I simply did not get absorbed. Fans of vampires or horror movies may be more interested.

As is fitting for a science fiction series, the vampirism is given a scientific explanation, the viral infection creating a simultaneous anemia and hunger for blood. This is the explanation often given for individuals who exhibit behavior similar to fictional vampires. No supernatural powers here.

I can't say I liked the book. It succeeds at what the author was trying to do, which is something. Others may find this more enjoyable than myself.

After three novels (Mindshadow, Demons, and this one) in short order, Dillard disappeared from the regular series of books until #73. She also would write the "giant novel" The Lost Years, and became the writer of choice for the novelizations of the movies, penning the final three movies of the original cast as well as the ones featuring The Next Generation.