Masks
Captain Picard and Commander Riker struggle for survival on a primitive, war-torn world!

Masks is a Pocket TNG novel – #7 in the numbered series – written by John Vornholt. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in .

Summary 
From the book jacket 
The  journeys to Lorca, a beautiful world with a feudal culture where the inhabitants wear masks to show their rank and station. There, Captain Picard and an away team don masks of their own to begin a quest for the planet's ruler and the great Wisdom Mask that the leader traditionally wears. Their mission: to establish diplomatic relations.

But shortly after transporting, Picard and his party lose contact with the ship, and Commander Riker leads a search party down to the planet to find them.

Both men, however, are unaware that their searches – indeed, the ship's entire mission – are part of a madman's plan. A madman who is setting the stage for a trap that will ensnare both the Enterprise landing parties, and leave him poised to seize control of the awesome Wisdom Mask…

And the planet Lorca itself.

Background information 
 This is the first Star Trek novel by author John Vornholt. Masks was also Vornholt's first published novel.
 The Ferengi are portrayed as far more vicious and deadly than in later seasons of the live action productions.  During the period in which this novel was written, the Ferengi were being depicted as a serious threat to the Federation, with powerful warships surpassing those of Starfleet, while most Ferengi behaved as bloodthirsty merchants, willing to slaughter and kill for profit.  After the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Ferengi were portrayed as far more benign.

External links 
 
 

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Novels