This is the tenth numbered TNG novels, and also Peter David’s second.
Riker’s off to inspect some terraforming project, permitting for the plot to quickly bifurcate: on the colony Paradise we follow Riker as he catches up with some old friends from his Alaska days, while on the Enterprise various members of the crew (especially Picard and Troi) come to terms with a Quinton Stone, who is on a temporary assignment on the Enterprise, effectively replacing Riker’s position whilst gone.
The Enterprise plot involves a brief mission to a planet in political turmoil. It is during this mission, as well as during his interactions with the crew members that Stone’s oddity comes to the fore. It is made clear that Stone is an extremely disciplined individual, but the author reveals his potential psychosis, first by showing Stone tell various crew members different stories about his background, and then revealing some of Stone’s behaviour when in private. Interest throughout this part of the novel, and everything that occurs in it, is maintained by providing a stage against which the reader attempts to pass judgment on Stone.
The Riker-plot involves his catching up with old friends, and then attempting to rescue them following an accident. It is very late in the story when the two plots fold back into one again, as the Enterprise, responding to a distress signal sent from Paradise, divert to rescue Riker.
Comments: The most striking element of this novel is probably Stone – his mystery and then finally the resolution of this mystery at the story’s end. Consequentially, the reader’s attitude to the novel as a whole will be strongly determined by how they feel about Stone. Stone’s clichéd self-control and bad-assery are made up for by his potential to turn out to be a psychopath. The question is, are we meant to be disturbed by Stone after turning the final page? Readers comments (on Amazon et al.) would suggest that most are charmed by Stone and his lone-wolf persona. On the other hand, David never explicitly excuses Stone’s manipulation of the crew (of the Enterprise and also of his former ship). Which is all to say: Stone is a very interesting character, albeit one that can be too easily confused for a hero.
The Riker-plot is really just that for the most part – whilst setting up the stage for the tragedy on Paradise, David puts a lot of effort into delineating what exactly Riker has sacrificed to be where he is. It is normally Picard and his solitude which is focused on in TNG, so much so that we (the audience and readers) do normally forget that presumably most of the main cast are in similar situations. The contrast between Riker’s career and the family of his old-friend is put to focus here, but to an arguable effect. Melodrama aside, Riker has always been the masculine, sexually empowered character, and so the attempt to mourn his bachelorhood doesn’t quite come off. Where I would argue David does succeed is in the transformation from Riker’s existential crisis in the cave and the delusional desires for Troi that accompany it, to the final act when those desires simmer back to the status quo.
A few minor-notes and comments: The story is set just after Pulaski has left and Beverley returned (per comments made around the poker table at the very beginning of the novel); a few too many “God”/”Lord” epithets for comfort (stylistically speaking); a closed-loop of energy consumption (per the Wild Things on Paradise feeding off themselves) is not possible; for anyone wanting an example of a both functional and humanistic conversation between Crusher Sr and Jr, turn to the conversation they have in the Sickbay just after Wes is reprimanded by Stone on the bridge.
External links: According to MemoryAlpha, the author re-incarnates (from a literary perspective) the character of Stone in his New Frontiers character, Mackenzie Calhoun. (This notion is seconded, apparently independently, by The Tancave).
