Book Review: Breakthrough by Michael C. Grumley

Read between: 21st-29th September
Format: ebook
Published: 6th March, 2013
Synopsis: ONE OF THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS IN HUMAN HISTORY.
A SECRET THAT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE FOUND.
AND A CRISIS THAT CANNOT BE STOPPED.

Deep in the Caribbean Sea, a nuclear submarine is forced to suddenly abort its mission under mysterious circumstances. Strange facts begin to emerge that lead naval investigator, John Clay, to a small group of marine biologists who are quietly on the verge of making history.

With the help of a powerful computer system, Alison Shaw and her team are preparing to translate the first two-way conversation with the planet’s second smartest species. But the team discovers much more from their dolphins than they ever expected when a secret object is revealed on the ocean floor. One that was never supposed to be found.

Alison was sure she would never trust the military again. However, when an unknown group immediately becomes interested in her work, Alison realizes John Clay may be the only person she can trust. Together they must piece together a dangerous puzzle, and the most frightening piece, is the trembling in Antarctica.

To make matters worse, someone from the inside is trying to stop them. Now time is running out…and our understanding of the world is about to change forever.

Rating:

Review: The concept of this book is great- the main premise follows a bunch of aquarium works using technology to enable them to communicate with Dirk and Sally- the aquariums resident dolphins! That had to be my favourite part because I love dolphins and it really goes to show how intelligent they are!

I love the fact they had their own vocabulary.

Strange things start to happen- a Navy submarine suddenly veers off course- and then another one mysteriously disappears. On top of that, there’s an Earthquake in Antarctica, and what is with the strange glowing ring on the bottom of the ocean floor?

Is it an experiment? A military thing? Or something extra terrestrial?

As I said, it’s a very interesting concept to mix science, nature, extraterrestrial and naval genres all together but it works and its done extremely well!

The dolphins are a big part of the novel- they’re used on naval mission and there were moments when during these missions I was left in so much suspense and had to keep reading- I really didn’t want anything bad to happen to Dirk or Sally!

I just loved the dolphins so much ❤

However, I’m not sure if the way the Navy was written is satirical or not but there were times when I got really angry about how selfish they were with their decision making! Despite that, I did grow to like a couple of the characters who worked for the Navy, because in the end they weren’t as bad as some of their colleagues. They had morals.

There was so much going on, spread across different scenarios but it wasn’t overwhelming. It’s a great piece of sci-fi and I definitely enjoyed it. It’s the first in a series so who knows if I’ll continue?

3/5 stars!
Well worth the read!

Thanks for reading
~Katie