AKA

Seagoing action plus dolphin fantasy--an oddly appealing mixture from the author of The Incredible Voyage. Half of the story belongs to Bill Conan, a middle-aged seafarer who hasn't been to sea in four years (he's been writing books) but accepts the challenge of a round-the-world solo yacht cruise in the big-money London Globe race when the owner of the Josephine dies in an accident; Conan leaves from Lisbon, passes through a gale, and--while becalmed and attempting to rope a giant turtle--falls overboard while the wind snatches the Josephine away. But meanwhile Jones is also introducing us to Aka, leader of a large dolphin school which 2000 generations ago served the Sea Kings of Atlantis: thanks to the dolphins' holographic memories, all of this Atlantis lore is handed down in detail, and there are also dolphin adventures involving mating, calving, shark-killing, information-trading (re all the fishes of the world), and telepathic-sonar communicating that binds all the dolphins into one group mind. Will these two halves of the novel connect? Of course. It's Aka and the dolphins who rescue the sea-tossed Conan, carrying him back to his ship and filling him in (telepathically) about Atlantis during the trip. Jones readers who prefer pure gritty action may find the lyrical, romantic dolphin/Atlantis material here a bit fey. But those with a weakness for beneath-the-sea fantasy or dolphin-talk will probably find this the most engaging of Jones' many seaworthy books.