A Call to Darkness (Star Trek The Next Generation, Book 9)

Rating:
Summary: Well-written but flawed in concept.
Review: This is a well-written book, but one built around a highly implausible plot device. The antagonists for the book use highly advanced transporter technology to kidnap the crews of passing Starships to use in made-for-tv entertainment as palliatives for their masses, but only weak or injured ships, not a full-fledged, healthy starship like the Enterprise, presumably because they couldn't have gotten enough of the crew of such a ship before it either struck back or got a distress message out.

Yet there are over 18000 surviving captives, not counting the untold thousands who've died. Are there REALLY that many disabled starships that just HAPPEN to pass within range of a given planet, and if there were that many ship disappearances in a given area, don't you think SOMEBODY would have noticed? I can't suppress disbelief THAT far. A shame, because the characterizations and plot are otherwise quite good.