Star Trek Insurrection (Star Trek The Next Generation)
J.M. Dillard is a veteran ofStar Treknovelizations, having  written them for the last five films. Her latest,Star Trek: Insurrection, finds her in fine form. The film is much lighter in tone than the last Next Generation offering,First Contact, and Dillard captures this relaxed mood well, transferring the humor from screen to page with a sure touch. The plot moves at a good pace as Picard and crew  attempt to protect a group of peaceful Ba'ku villagers from the sinister alien Son'a and Starfleet's Admiral Dougherty, who is being less than candid about his mission. The planet has a rejuvenating effect on everyone who lands there, and this is what the Son'a, a dying race, are after. Dillard deepens the complexity of Dougherty's character, and fills  in more of the background of the Ba'ku and Son'a peoples than the film had time for. The book diverges slightly from the screen version in places, presumably because Dillard was working from an earlier version of the script, but at least this means that Picard and Anij get to kiss one another! For those who enjoyed the film, this is a good way of fixing it in the memory, and it works as an exciting novel in its own right.--Elizabeth Sourbut, Amazon.co.uk