Ice Trap by L.A. Graf (Star Trek #60, July 1992).

The Enterprise is called to Nordstral, an icy planet with a friendly native population and rich ocean life that is being harvested by a pharmaceutical corporation for its medicinal properties. But the planet is now wracked by strong magnetic storms and icequakes, and help is needed to find a stranded rescue team.

Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy take to a submarine to investigate underwater the causes of an odd mental illness befalling the human workers, while Lt. Cmdr. Uhura and Lt. Chekov patrol the ice sheet to find the missing rescue team. Both teams get into far, far more than they bargained for, as conditions rapidly worsen. McCoy experiences the mental illness close-up, while Uhura and Chekov find that not all the natives are friendly.

The writing team that is L.A. Graf would write a succession of the next few Original Series novels, following this one with #62, 68 and 70. Julia Ecklar and Karen Rose Cercone teamed for the first time on this book, and would go on to write a number of other books for the Star Trek universe as well as other science fiction series. Ecklar had previously published a solo effort as ST #47, "The Kobayashi Maru." Ecklar is an accomplished singer and songwriter, mostly in the realm of "filksongs," science-fiction type folk music. Cercone is also a writer of American historical fiction.

This book is written as a suspense novel, with the stakes continually raised in peril for the main characters. We feature four here, as Spock, Scott and Sulu remain on the ship but form the rescue party at the close of the book. Spock, logically, stays aboard the ship rather than go down to an ice planet since he is from a desert world. A lot more reasonable than his adventure on Zarabeth's planet in the TV episode.

Our authors maintain a feeling of desperation and tension throughout the book. The styling is reminiscent of the contemporary TV series "24" as time is the enemy, and the situation continues to get worse and worse until it is finally resolved. Kirk and McCoy face danger under the sea, and aboard ship as a madman tries to kill McCoy. Uhura and Chekov are chased by a native determined to rid this world of humans. Madness is a common theme in the book.

If you like the action and suspense of "24" and the like, you will probably like this book. I find such writing and film work tedious, and far too wearing. I did not like the book, but fans of the genre very well might. The writing style is neither exceptional nor poor, but there is little in the way of characterization here, and plot is mostly sacrificed for tension. The best character bits are McCoy's, and we see a bit of how he views his Captain and friend. Chekov gets lots of attention here, mostly as a worry-wart, but Uhura is not well used and that is disappointing with two female authors. You would think the only female main character would get better use.

It's not great, it's not bad. I am middle of the road here.