This book is very interesting,to say the least, but that doesn't quite cut it. As you get in to the book, you find yourself thinking more about the climax than what you're reading at the moment.It just gets too murky and boring. The "mud/clay" monster is very cool,I must admit, and this book vaguelly reminds me of a much creepier trek book; J.M. Dillard's "Bloodthirst", aka.in both books, an away team lands on a remote science planet, and finds the most of the rescearch team dead, and ones still alive are not able to talk about what happened for one reason or another, and the crew must find out what they're hiding, or the Federation will be destroyed.