Sundiver

This book is the first in a series, however there were numerous references to a prior adventure by the protagonist, Jacob, in which he saved the Vanilla Needle in Ecuador and inadvertently caused the death of his wife. Jacob has the ability to enter trances that seem to give him special abilities and he is haunted by a powerful alter-ego, perhaps an AI, that he refers to as Mr. Hyde. When we first meet Jacob he is training a dolphin to use a flying whale suit, but it soon becomes clear that his previous vocation was as a special agent.

Sundiver makes reference to more alien species than one would find in the Star Wars cantina, but only a few are involved in the story. They observe a strict pecking order determined by which race apprenticed under which other race. The story is heavy in description of the aliens as well as locations and technology, but the motivations of the characters seem to remain obscure and inexplicable, even after being explained. Even for a science fiction novel, it is heavy with fictional science.

This novel ostensibly is a space opera but it is also a murder mystery. After having wrongly discovered the nefarious murderer twice, our hero and his cohorts finally get it right on the third try and in a desperate fight, save the day.

Sundiver is not particularly well written. It seemed comic-bookish. I came close to abandoning it several times but dutifully stuck with it. About three-fourths of the way through as the climax approached, it got readable, but then dragged in the aftermath. It took me about three days finally to finish the last chapter. I won't be reading the rest of the series.