Title The Day of the Dolphin Series --- Author Robert Merle Cover Art John Ennis Publisher Fawcett Publications - 1970 First Printing --- Category Science Fiction Warnings Dolphin sex? Main Characters Henry Sevilla Main Elements Science Fiction

The Day of the Dolphin is an extraordinary piece of storytelling with a theme of stunning originality that sets it apart from any other novel you have ever read.

Against the cool, precise backdrop of a government-sponsored laboratory in Florida, The Day of the Dolphin unfolds the drama of a brilliant and charismatic scientist on the brink of a world-shaking discovery. Intent upon his private dream he is unaware that he, his laboratory, and his accomplishments are pawns in a savage game of espionage and nuclear terror.

This novel of man's first successful attempt to communicate with another species is much more than a chilling suspense thriller. It is a haunting and powerful portrayal of humans and dolphins, caught in the net of man's mindless and violent thrust toward his own extinction.

I had seen the movie before I read the book. If nothing else, this book forces the reader to pause and think a moment. Are dolphins more intelligent than we would like to attribute them? That is, are they closer to, or even surpassing us? Maybe they don't communicate with us because they don't want to. And if so, what right would we have to kill them, use them, abuse them?

That is of course what the government wants to do in the end. Use dolphins as weapons. And if you think this to be far-fetched, you've not been listening to the news in the past few years. In the most recent wars, seals were being used in this manner to keep enemy scuba divers away from American ships.

A book that examines man's drive to destroy others of his own kind, and using whatever he can get his hands on to achieve that goal. Regadless of the consequences.

One thing I don't recommend is reading this book on the subway to work. Its hard to read about dolphin sexual antics in the presence of a bunch of strangers and still keep a straight face. ;)