The Good That Men Do...Review

About the book:
Pax Galactica. Enemies become allies. Old secrets are at last revealed. Long-held beliefs and widely accepted truths are challenged. Man turns to leisurely pursuits. In this golden age, two old friends are drawn together. They seek to understand, and wonder how what they have long believed, what they have been taught, was never so.

Over two hundred years ago, the life of one of Starfleet's earliest pioneers came to a tragic end, and Captain Jonathan Archer, the legendary commander of Earth's first warp-five starship, lost a close friend. Or so it seemed for many years. But with the passage of time, and the declassification of certain crucial files, the truth about that fateful day -- the day that Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III didn't die -- could finally be revealed.

Why did Starfleet feel it was necessary to rewrite history? And why only now can the truth be told?

I love Star Trek.  I grew up watching the Original Series and have watched all the other incarnations of the show.  Star Trek Enterprise is my favorite and Commander Trip Tucker is one of my favorite Star Trek characters.  The Enterprise series finale These are the Voyages was a travesty as far as Trip's story was concerned. I didn't necessarily mind the inclusion of Riker and Troi and the holodeck recreation, but I refuse to the end of Trip's story as Star Trek canon.

When I discovered a book that rewrote Trip's history, I jumped at reading it and I wasn't disappointed.  The book picks up after the events of Terra Prime and the death of Trip and T'Pol's cloned daughter, Elizabeth.  Overcome with grief, Trip finds it hard to move on and accepts a deep cover assignment as a spy sent deep into Romulan space.  Captain Archer, Lieutenant Reed and Dr. Phlox are the only ones to know and they help Trip stage his death.

The story follows Trip as he is undercover on Romulus and the crew of the Enterprise and the Coalition of Planets as they face a threat from an as yet unknown enemy.

The story has some plot holes and continuity issues and in all honesty I think there are fan fictions that capture Enterprise better, but this continues the story of Commander Tucker and for that reason, I enjoyed it.  Fans of Enterprise will like it and a general knowledge of Star Trek history is helpful.

This is the first of a four book series, the next one being the Kobayashi Maru.

Personal copy
Read 8/12

* * *
3/5 Stars

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