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Book Review: ‘The Jackal’s Trick’

Star Trek Prey: The Jackal’s Trick is the second book in the epic crossover trilogy by John Jackson Miller, which was released in October of 2016.

Hell’s Heart set a high bar for excellence, and so it is natural that the sequel will struggle to live up to the heights of the original. And yet, The Jackal’s Trick is different enough that it doesn’t suffer from “middle book syndrome”, and in fact has an even better climax! 

What sets this book apart from the first is it’s focus. This whole trilogy is about the Klingons, and the Klingons are obviously still the overall focal point. However, this book focuses the brunt of it’s time with the principal antagonist: Buxtus Cross. Cross is the illusionist we met in the previous book, who works for Korgh and in this book breaks all hell loose. He was such an interesting character, as was his crew. The crew reminded me of the best “rag-tag” crews of various aliens that one would read in any great science fiction story. Cross himself was interesting in that he cared only for the story and for the acting. He didn’t care about the consequences (although money is always nice), and to him seeing how far the deception could go was reward enough. He’s just so unique and fun and yet exactly what this middle book needed.