Double Helix – Peter David

After an encounter with the Romulans in Thollian space destroys a Starfleet vessel, Captain Calhoun of the Excalibur is assigned to a secret mission by Starfleet Intelligence to infiltrate a Thollian general’s inner circle while the Excalibur, temporarily commanded by Will Riker, tries to track down the Romulans.  Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Calhoun, Captain Picard has also been sent on a secret mission, one that brings the two together as they find out who has been responsible for the deadly double helix virus and what the ultimate goal of it was.

Double or Nothing, the fifth entry of the Double Helix series, puts Peter David back on my radar for the first time, at least in book form, since 2001.  He imports the characters from his New Frontier series and teams them with two members of the Enterprise crew to wrap up the mystery of who is testing out this deadly new virus and why.  To his credit, David manages to stick the landing.  Of course, this does beg the question of what takes place in the sixth and final entry of the series, if everything was wrapped up here.  I guess we shall see sooner or later.