Dolphin Drone

July 25, 2016
Journalist Grundvig’s promising first novel introduces “dolphin whisperer” Merk Toten and his two military-trained bottlenose dolphins, Tasi and Inapo. In the night waters off the Strait of Hormuz, the dolphins are mapping an Iranian pipeline when Merk and his partner, Special Forces biologist Morgan Azar, realize that a nearby fishing trawler is actually dropping sea mines into the strait. Merk decides to document the mining, but they are discovered and Morgan is killed in the ensuing firefight. Meanwhile, Somali pirates seize a Norwegian-owned, Singapore-flagged supertanker in the Gulf of Aden. Their motive is unclear, though a terrorist group is involved. Merk, his dolphins, and his girlfriend, the deadly CIA agent Jenny King, wind up trying to stop a planned attack on U.S. soil. The plot and characters, other than the dolphins, are straight out of the standard military thriller playbook, but the fins, as they are known, have unusual appeal, and readers will hope that any sequels will showcase more of their incredible capabilities. Agent: Greg Aunapu, Salkind Literary Agency.