Hank Searls (1922–2017)

REVIEW ALSO ON: http://bibliomantics.com/2014/08/17/this-time-its-voodoo-cassie-la-harpoons-jaws...

Yet another Shark Week has come and gone (with twice as many fake documentaries) and this year I chose to read perhaps the most torturous shark story to date -- aside from last year's read --- a novelization of the film Jaws: The Revenge. AKA Jaws IV. AKA The One That is Somehow Worse Than Jaws 3.

Jaws: The Revenge: it's a tale as old as time. Man kills shark. Man kills a different shark. show more Possible descendent of deceased sharks follows the man's family to the Bahamas and begins systematically killing them.

You know, that old story.

In an attempt to fix the many problems with the film, author Hank Searls (the "nationwide #1 bestselling author of Jaws 2") makes things even worse, with a story that doesn't feature a shark killing anyone between pages 14 and 240, a bizarre story about the cartel and that major plot point: voodoo.

THE PROBLEM: A Great White shark follows the widow of Chief Brody to the Bahamas to continue killing her family.
THE SOLUTION: The shark is killing off the Brody family, but only because he's been placed under a voodoo curse thanks to Michael Brody's recent destruction of a voodoo doctor's magic gourd. That other old story.

THE PROBLEM: In the original novel, Jaws, the characters are so horrible that you begin to root for the shark.
THE SOLUTION: Make them even more horrible! While Ellen Brody used to insult her children's homework, tells her son his PhD work is "beneath" him and thinks it's okay to feel good about physically punishing your children to get some contact with them, the other characters are no better. Michael seems to think his wife can't have a job and be a mother, reassures her that she's a good person because she's "pretty" and a "wonder in the sack" and desperately wishes they could have a son instead of his lame daughter.

THE PROBLEM: For the most part, the terrifying shark barely kills anyone and isn't all that scary.
THE SOLUTION: Add in a scene in which the shark cures a rich businessman of his alcoholism which just makes you like it more. I wish I was making this stuff up.

THE PROBLEM: No one talks about that time Dennis Quaid as Michael Brody was terrorized by a shark at SeaWorld. Not even Michael Brody.
THE SOLUTION: Never ever mention that time Michael Brody dealt with a 3-D shark while working at SeaWorld.

THE PROBLEM: Michael Brody is unwilling to warn his family about the existence of a shark intent on eating them because it would worry them if they knew. (And you know, also stop them from going in the ocean!)
THE SOLUTION: Michael Brody is protecting the town's commerce which has suffered as of late by tracking the shark with his partner Jake so as not to ruin the annual Junkaroo festival. See also: almost the exact same plot from Jaws.

THE PROBLEM: The original Jaws story diverted too much time to a mob subplot and not enough time to a man-eating shark.
THE SOLUTION: Add in a cartel subplot starring Hoagie which takes away time from a not as man-eating shark. Although to be fair, this gives us the most ridiculous scene in the whole story, specifically when a cartel member on water-skis kills a failed hit man with his Uzi.

THE PROBLEM: The film seems to be under the impression that sharks roar and explode upon impact.
THE SOLUTION: As in the original novel, the shark does not roar or explode and instead dies a quick and anticlimactic death followed by much rejoicing.

THE PROBLEM: There just weren't enough horrible puns about seaside animal life.
THE SOLUTION: "One good tern deserves another." - Michael Brody

THE PROBLEM: One of the worst uses of Michael Caine ever.
THE SOLUTION: Add back in all the Michael Caine plot lines that were deleted from the original film. For obvious reasons.

THE PROBLEM: Film was so terrible that we never got that 19th sequel we were promised in Back to the Future Part II.
THE SOLUTION: Build a time machine. show less

What a little cracker this turned out to be! I came to it in exactly the same way as I came to the original 'Jaws' a few years ago - I idly picked it up off the shelf in a bored moment, read a couple of pages, got utterly sucked in, and ended up devouring the whole thing. I had expected very little of this one, it being not only a sequel but also a novelisation of the film screenplay, rather than the other way round.

In actual fact it was a taut and atmospheric thriller, haunted by the show more looming white threat of death circling the deep, which held me captivated from start to finish. Giving the shark her own 'mind' (if that's the word for it) in short segments between the human story, clearly demonstrated the lethality of her instincts and the single-mindedness of her life, and added to the tension. All the way through I was just waiting for the next fatality - who would it be? Man, woman, child, beloved animal (which, let's face it, is often just as heartbreaking)? The string of twists hiding the fishy truth from the people of Amity was incredibly frustrating, each death painful to read, and the final frenzied climax genuinely nailbiting. The political side-story through the novel was a little distracting but everything came together in the end so all was forgiven.

Final verdict? Just what the doctor ordered - and better than I could possibly have imagined. show less

God I love Jaws. I remember quite liking the first novel. This is by a different author and takes a slightly different path because here we get to see the world through the eyes of the shark itself, a female great white, and much larger than the male. Oh, and she's pregnant too. I can't really remember the movie too much but am pretty sure I do remember it being based around an underwater theme park that the shark attacks in a fit of revenge for it's mate(was it it's mate?) from the first show more movie. That's not what happens here at all, and her motivation is one of hunger and the driving need to feed her unborn babies.

So anyway, We open with the shark making a meal of two divers that come upon the wreck of the Orca, the same boat that sank during the first movie as Quint got eaten by shark number 1. Then it's onto a lovely young couple out water-skiing. Our shark comes up behind her and she's a goner pretty swiftish, quickly followed by her young man who manages to blow up the speedboat just as he's then snacked upon himself.

It goes on like this throughout the book with various fish, seals and people as well as giant squid copping it sooner or later. What makes it really interesting is that we see it all through the eyes of our pregnant female shark before getting the human view too for good measure.

It's not a long book and proceeds along a not unexpected path at quite a rate while the shark hunts for food, seeking to ease the hunger brought on by the several babies she's carrying and ends up attempting to clear the birthing area(as it were) of boats that are participating in the local race, or regatta, or ...whatever it is. Lots of mayhem and boat-munching takes place at this juncture and the usual blood-bath ensues. It's not all bad news though. There's a little seal that has been a cute little character throughout the book that gets away and finds a new mummy right at the very end after his real mum spends quite some time waiting off the coast for him, only to be eaten just before he ventures back into the ocean to find her(you'll see what I mean soon enough). Ahhh.... sweet!

Very good. I really liked it. show less

3.5 stars

It's been a few years since the shark terrorized the small town of Amity on Long Island. Martin Brody is still the chief of police. When Brody arrests a drunk man on the beach for shooting a seal, initially they also suspect the same man might be responsible for the disappearance of two divers and a married couple. Little does anyone know, but there is another shark off the coast of Amity...

This was one decent, but not as good as the first, I thought. Might have something to do with show more me listening to the audio for the first one, but I'm not sure about that. I have to admit I didn't find this one suspenseful like I did the first one. I enjoyed the parts that were from the point of view of the shark (and there were also POVs from a couple of seals, as well, that I enjoyed). I did find it interesting that this book was written based on the movie, rather than the usual other way around. show less