Primal Waters

From Amazon:

Eighteen years have passed since Angel, the Megalodon shark broke free of the Tanaka Lagoon and returned to the Mariana Trench. Meanwhile, Jonas Taylor-adventurer, has become Jonas Taylor, middle-aged father of two, overwhelmed by mountains of bills and the daily strife of raising a family. But life is about to change.

A Hollywood television producer wants Jonah to join his new survival series: Daredevils. For the next six weeks, two teams of crazy daredevils on a South Pacific Ocean voyage on-board a replica of a Spanish Galleon will try to outperform one another in front of the cameras. Jonas needs the money, and the job seems easy enough-doing color commentary. But behind the scenes, someone else is pulling the strings. show more And before it's over, Jonas, Terry, and Mac will again come face to face with the most dangerous creatures ever to stalk the Earth.

My Thoughts:

Sharks are some of the scariest creatures for movies, and even though the Megs aren't the focus of the TV crew in this novel, they might as well have been. Jonas Taylor's character, strong in the previous Meg books, proves that an old man can still grab some attention in the world. But the bad guys aren't slacking either, with the real star of the books, the Meg, causing some havoc left and right of the protagonists. Still written in Steve Alten's inimitable style, Primal Waters manages to deliver gut-wrenching punches every step of the way. If the first two Meg books gave you shivers and made you afraid to go into the water, then this latest installment will make you afraid of everything liquid. After all, who wouldn't be terrified of a giant, glowing-white shark devouring people? show less

The third in series following the caracharodon Megalodon, the "Jurassic Shark" (Meg and The Trench, being the first two). Primal Waters continues to offer the consistent level of science, human interaction and outstanding adventure that previous Alten books have delivered. So how does Alten keep the story going without rerunning the same ground? More than just Angel (the Meg from the last book) this time around. So with multiple Megs, you get multiple storylines, diversifying the action across the Ocean and across a wider spread of characters, although all the old core characters are present. This book seems more Indiana Jones (and even a little James Bond) than the previous books, yet the plot is well conceived and will keep you show more interested until the very end. A great read for any adventure fan, although you'll get the most from it by reading the previous books first. show less

I think I must have been more than usually willing to suffer trash this month. Do I like trash? Well... sometimes... especially when it's horror trash.

This fits the bill... a little. :) Jaws on steroids. Chum in the water. A Reality TV show going really, really wrong.

Well, that part was pretty cool. :)

What I didn't care all that much for was the MC's. Jonah in his late sixties is kinda... hmmm... expectedly or unexpectedly boring. His damaged wife, too.

For the most part, I just waited to see who would become shark food. That's Okay. :)

I will never recommend this series unless you A: LOVE SHARKS or B: LOVE to see sharks EAT PEOPLE.

Fortunately, there's a big market for this kind of thing, so I don't have to single-handedly support the show more industry. :) show less

I strongly dislike that it's written in present tense, but I enjoy Alten so much, that I have no choice but to ignore that oddity.

As I continue to dive into a beloved series from my teenage years, I offer up a prayer to the gods of the written word: "Please no rape or incest or Russian mafiosa spies or other completely out in left field subplots such as #2 had...It's a giant shark. What the hell else do we need?"

Update:
There were four completely pointless romantic subplots:
Terry and a marine biologist
Jonas and a "Candy Girl"
Danni and a daredevil, Fergie
Mac and his on-again, off-again girlfriend

The main non-shark antagonist was like the world's worst Bond-villain. An old, grotesquely overweight scientist (complete with silent sumo show more wrestler sidekick) that wants revenge on Jonas for stealing his limelight (he was the world's foremost expert on Megalodons until Jonas actually found one decades ago). He has the most awkward, stupid, convoluted plan for revenge on Jonas, but whatever.

The actual shark parts were really great, so we all know I'll come back for the final(?) installment of Angel's biography. show less

This was a fun read, but not much more to say about it than it was a nice adventure story with big sharks. I'm not trying to disparage it, I did enjoy it, but it won't have a permanent place on my bookshelves.

A great summertime, beach time, pool time book. No it's not Shakespeare, but it is entertaining fantastical, death, destruction, and mayhem. Also the people you most want harmed, invariably get eaten.

Primal Waters was a fantastic addition to the MEG series and kept me hooked all the way through. The way Alten describes these sharks I can just picture one of these gigantic creatures swimming through the waters out near Astoria, Oregon or up near Long Beach, Washington. As much as I like movies like Jaws and Deep Blue Sea, I am really looking forward to seeing a MEG film in the future.