Star Trek The Next Generation: Ship of the Line Book

In the TNG episode "Cause and Effect" the Enterprise barely avoids a catastrophic impact with the USS Bozeman, commanded by Captain Bateson (as played by Kelsey Grammer.) In "Ship of the Line" Diane Carey follows up on that brief cameo with a novel length Down Periscope/Next-Gen crossover staring Captain Bateson (as played by Lt. Cmdr. Thomas 'Tom' Dodge (as played by Kelsey Grammer.)) Only it's not nearly as fun as that description implies.
He's a captain who drinks rum on the bridge, argues with people, and would probably smoke cigars if the author thought she could get sneak it in among all the love for the coast guard she's worked into the story.
The dialogue feels, at its best, off, and at its worst the characterizations feel completely weird. There's a part where Picard is feeling mopey because of the loss of the Ent-D and Riker gets him to man up for his *big secret mission* by watching a couple of episodes of the Original Series on the holodeck. This does the trick and he's ready to face the b-plot of revisiting the TNG episode where he was tortured. I would call it inconsequential but the A-plot is no better, with an ancient Klingon out for revenge against Bateson.

Even on the scale of Star Trek tie-in fiction this is a piece of crap.