The most fearsome predators in history…are no longer history. The Philippine Sea Plate: The most unexplored realm on the planet. Hidden beneath its primordial crust lies the remains of the Panthalassa, an ocean that dates back 220 million years. Vast and isolated, the Panthalassa is inhabited by nightmarish sea creatures long believed extinct. Tanaka Institute, Monterey, CA: Four years have passed since Angel, the 76-foot, 100,000 pound Megalodon, birthed a litter of pups far too numerous and aggressive to keep in one pen. Fortunately, a Dubai royal prince who is building the largest aquarium in the world seeks to purchase two of the “runts”—if Jonas Taylor’s twenty-one year-old son, David, will be their handler. Jonas reluctantly agrees, and David is off to Dubai for the summer of his life, not realizing that he is being set up to lead an expedition that will hunt down and capture the most dangerous creatures ever to inhabit the Earth! All manner of prehistoric sea life are found in this, the fourth book in Steve Alten's Meg series. Angel may no longer be at the top of the oceanic food chain. Fairly fast paced, fun read. Worth checking out for the shark lovers and Jurassic Park fans out there. Would have given this books a higher rating if it weren't for the punctuation. Holy exclamation points Mr. Alten! Whole paragraphs with no other punctuation marks, makes it kind of annoying. Good book if you can overlook some proof reading errors. I give it 4 stars. After the last four books I read by Alten (RESURRECTION, PHOBOS, GRIM REAPER:END OF DAYS, and THE SHELL GAME) all turned out to be colossal duds, I was starting to think Alten didn't have any more good books left in him. But, with MEG 4: HELL'S AQUARIUM, I'm happy to say that the prodigal son has returned.MEG 4 is a sharksploitation novel that fires on all cylinders. The key word being "sharksploitation." Certainly, MEG 4 is no one's idea of high art, but it does do a great job of delivering all the grisly good fun one could reasonably expect from part 4 of a prehistoric shark saga. In other words, it may not be on par with JAWS, but it sure beats the hell out of any of the JAWS sequels--not to mention 99% of all those JAWS-wannabe knockoffs. One thing I especially like about MEG 4 is that it doesn't have any cliched scenes where the shark gobbles up horny teenagers out for a midnight swim. The book is far more clever than that. On the other hand, the plot of MEG 4 is, by necessity, highly contrived in order to sustain the carnage over its 400-page length. The characters don't seem to learn anything from their past mistakes, and they refuse to do the one smart thing guaranteed to prevent future deaths: namely, kill the Megs at the first opportunity and have done with 'em. Instead, they choose to do things like perform brain surgery on the Megs and transport them by airplane to Dubai. Hmmmmmm......what could possibly go wrong there?People looking for a totally rational plot will be disappointed. People looking for lyrical prose will also be disappointed (Alten's writing is often stilted and overly-technical). But people looking for a match-up between a prehistoric shark and a plesiosaur should be quite satisfied.
What do You think about Hell's Aquarium (2009)?
Best of the four so far - ending felt a bit rushed though.
—gem
Not as good as the previous. Straight to paperback?
—zombieflesh
