Operation Malacca

by Joe Poyer

De situatie staat letterlijk en figuurlijk op springen. Er is slechts éen man die - misschien - een allesverwoestende derde wereldoorlog kan voorkomen: Dr. Mortimer Keilty, wetenschappelijk genie en een uiterst belangrijk, topgeheim wapen.

Genres: Thriller

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Joseph John Poyer was an American author whose fiction first appeared in Analog magazine with Mission 'Red Clash' (1965). His novels include technothrillers such as Operation Malacca (1968) and North Cape (1969), and the alternate-history work Tunnel War (1979). In addition to his thrillers and science-fiction works Mr. Poyer wrote numerous books and articles on military topics.

Reviews

[David Kopaska-Merkel]

This 1967 novel by a veteran science-fiction writer is definitely dated by things like casual acceptance of sexism, but it is still an enjoyable read. The viewpoint character is a scientist who studies dolphin communication. He has devised a way to translate dolphin speech to English and vice versa. He works with a particular dolphin, whom he has named Charlie, and they have become pretty close friends. Even though they do not entirely understand each other. Then the military wants Charlie to perform a very difficult and dangerous task that only he can do, to avert world war.

Charlie is the secondary viewpoint character and I think Poyer does this very well. Turns out Charlie is a very smart dolphin and we have no idea if he is unusually smart, but he does a pretty good job of figuring out people's motivations and what drives them, even though these things are completely alien to his nature. He decides to help, not because he is convinced this is necessary or important, but because his friend wants him to.

There are nuclear bombs, hidden submarines, assassins, beautiful women, and plenty of action. There are some interesting speculations on the part of Charlie about how dolphins and humans can get along in the future. My copy of the book will never be read again: it fell apart as I read it.

[Luigi]

Just how smart are dolphins and can they be used as military tools?