Blood in the Water by C. Alexander London (review)

Cory McNab washed out of the Navy SEALS training program a year ago, and, after toying with the idea of quitting the Navy altogether, he’s been reassigned to the Marine Mammal Program, handling dolphins that guard naval vessels and search for underwater explosives. Embarrassed by his failure and doubly humiliated by his fear of sharks in the open seas, that last thing he wants to hear is that his dolphin, Kaj, is “our best chance of preventing World War Three,” according to Master Chief Landon Charles. Cory can hardly look a SEAL in the face, but now he’s off to North Korean waters to deploy Kaj to locate a U.S. stealth intelligence-gathering submersible that’s gone missing and retrieve or destroy it before the North Koreans learn of the spying and retaliate. The opening scene, in which Cory saves his younger brother from a shark attack and is in turn saved by a dolphin, is a rather heavyhanded way to establish Cory’s frame of mind, but it’s an attention-grabber that effectively pulls tween readers right into the story. Through Cory’s experience and musings, readers are cautioned against imputing human emotion and motivations to the dolphins and to seriously consider the ethical implications of taming a wild animal for use in war. A final note comments on the Marine Mammal Program and directs readers to print and online sources for further research.