The focus of my blog is to review book Series and not individual novels. But writers are going to continue writing novels within a series even after I have done my review, so I plan on reviewing the individual novels as they come into circulation.  Michael C. Grumley has recently added book #5, Mosaic, to the Breakthrough series.

Michael C. Grumley’s Breakthrough series is a unique scifi/technothriller series that focuses on technology that acts as a translator between dolphins and gorillas. The translator is a sophisticated computer system known as the Inter-Mammal Interpretive System or IMIS. The series also deals with aliens and, in fact, not one Alien species but two. The first alien species was introduced in the first book, Breakthrough, and they came to planet Earth to steal some of our water as their home planet had become a barren wasteland. They didn’t mean to take much and thought they would get by without being noticed, but alas, when you fool around with Mother Nature things will go amiss, and they did. Luckily for us humans, a catastrophic event that was to take place as a result of pilfering water from the ocean was circumvented and as a result of this we got to make some alien friends. The second alien species actually visited plant Earth far in the past and left a little gift in the form of embryos of their species being held in some form of stasis. The novels Leap, Catalyst, Ripple and now Mosaic focus on this revolutionary find and what this might mean for us humans.

There are a couple of plots going on at the same time in Mosaic. Li Na Wei, the only human that has been exposed to a ‘specialized’ bacteria that has ties to the alien embryos, is trying to deal with the results of her exposure to the bacteria when she is kidnapped by the CIA. Yes, that is right, the CIA. You would think that the CIA and the US military would be on the same team but in Mosaic that doesn’t seem to be true.  Additionally, the team that was investigating the alien ship at the bottom of the ocean near Trinidad in Ripple, was attacked. One of the members of the team working on getting into the alien vessel became trapped inside and it is up to Alison Shaw and the dolphins to get him out. Mosaic ends with an interesting cliff hanger so it looks like we get to look forward to more of our dolphin friends, Dirk and Sally. Lots of action with good guys, bad guys, and interesting technology, Mosaic is a fun read. If you like animals, aliens, and fascinating technology then I think that Mosaic and the Breakthrough series will be for you. Though it is not necessary to read the whole series first, it would be helpful to read Catalyst and Ripple beforehand.

To learn more about the series check out the Breakthrough series here.