Plenty of context provided, no need to know anything beyond the basics. I pretty much stopped paying attention to the franchise after a couple of movies and TNG and I was fine.

I was annoyed that Spock was all too human, but then, he wasn't in it much so whatever.
Well, except that (I admit) I did choose this one because Spock is featured on the cover so I hoped for more of him.

Some very nifty ideas, some bits of nice writing, some very clunky bits...

I really didn't appreciate Kirk saying "I just wish I had more answers than questions" and McCoy agreeing with "Don't we all." That just doesn't make sense.

Overall, if you like politics, murder mystery, and don't mind a full movie length tome, this is kinda fun. ( )

Very intriguing, like a murder mystery in space ( )

A traditional Star Trek novel from Greg Cox sees the Enterprise A (the movies post 'Wrath of Khan) and her crew taking on a peace keeping mission in the Savinia system. As Cox makes clear in the author notes at the end of the book, the plot uses a character from one of the original series more interesting characters, Lenore Karidian, daughter of Kodos the Executioner and a killer in her own right. So when the delegates to the peace conference being hosted by the Enterprise start turning up dead an immediate suspect is available. As the tension mounts, though, it becomes clear that deeper threats surround the Enterprise.