Q-squared

The latest Star Trek: The Next Generation novel from Peter David once again attempts to bring in a character from the original TV series. This time, Trelane, the pesky omnipotent child who plagued Captain Kirk in "The Squire of Gothos," is back as a pesky omnipotent adolescent who temporarily neutralizes the all-powerful Q, who regularly delights in bedeviling the Enterprise crew of The Next Generation. Trelane then sets about making mischief for Captain Picard. He blurs the boundaries between three parallel universes (or "tracks," as they are called here), and the ensuing chaos pits Enterprise personnel against their counterparts in other tracks, causing turmoil for the crew as they pop from universe to universe. Now it's up to the unlikely team of Picard and Q to straighten out the mess and bring the raging Trelane under control. The material is recycled and the prose stolid, but the confusing story is the biggest crime. Only diehard Trekkies will survive the derailment when the tracks merge. (Kirkus Reviews)