The Delta Anomaly

The Delta Anomaly
By Rick Barba
Simon Spotlight, 2010. 223 pgs. Young Adult

A string of murders are breaking out in San Francisco, and when a Starfleet cadet is attacked on the street, luckily Kirk and a few friends are there to scare the attacker off. The cadet is treated by a medical team including Leonard McCoy, who notices a mysterious grey substance that brings up more questions that it answers. The attacker's recorded voice is analyzed by the gifted cadet Uhura, who finds that the recording is not one voice but several. They soon realize that this was no ordinary attack.

This is a new young-adult series based in the Star Trek timeline that was created for the 2009 movie. It focuses on the years that Kirk attends the Academy in San Francisco before the main action of the movie. This was basically a murder mystery wrapped up in Star Trek trappings, with a dash of Kirk's brash personality and Starfleet Academy pressure. While a few shortcomings were irritating, I still found this to be a fun read overall. Teens who liked the Star Trek movie should enjoy this series.

Technically the second book in the series is The Edge by Rudy Josephs, but that book takes place chronologically earlier than this one. It doesn't really matter which one you read first.

BHG