[.ca] Trench (ISBN 0786011149)

An Excellent Read!:
Wow! What can I say? The sequel to MEG is full of more action, plot twists, and terror! Steve Alten is one of my favorite authors. 'The Trench' is one of the reasons why! Happy swimming!

The Angel of Death bites the dust...:
I enjoyed Alten's debut MEG, despite some 2D supporting characters and a bad epilogue. But it took an effort to finish this sloppy, worse-off sequel. First off, Alten seems to love to weave in unnecessary sexual and drug scenes. It's getting really annoying, and it's showing up in all of his novels. I mean, we can't ignore the real world and how people really are, but Alten puts too much of the grimy real world into literature. Perhaps it's too attract more audiences, perhaps it's too spice up the boring, badly explained techno-babble, but I feel as if I'm reading a porn novel instead of good prose. The rest of the book is okay; Jonas is probably the only character who I actually liked, Mac works well as the comedic Al Giordino buddy but somehow he's become sinister in a way. Some characters cuss too much, and Benedict Singer, the main villain, has interesting philosophies but is weak and more of an annoyance than a hateable character. Celeste, the second-ranked bad girl, is way too slutty and I actually laughed at Alten's pathetic attempt to develop her. Terry, Jonas' wife, is too cliche' and somehow makes you want her to die. But, Alten's saving grace is what started his career: Carcharadon Megalodon (or something like that.) The shark scenes are well-done, and although they are overly gory, it was nice to see the Meg in some new situations. The only problem is that Alten kills off too many characters; I think he cares for the Meg more than he cares for the humans. MEG, Domain, and Goliath are his best, and he seems to be slipping off the track with this and the even dumber Resurrection, so hopefully Primal Waters will redeem him for these literary mistakes.

Steve Alten has done it again!:
In this follow-up novel to Steve's remarkable horrific thriller Meg, Jonas Taylor is back in the saddle and ready for more Megalodon mayhem. Angel, the only surviving offspring of the 60+ foot Megalodon shark from the first novel, has been placed in the Tanaka Oceanographic Institute for study and public entertainment. The problem is that Angel has already passed 70 feet in length, surpassing her mother by over 10 feet! Not only is the shark larger than they had expected, but Jonas comes to the conclusion that the Megalodon is in heat; her erg to mate driving her to batter-down the gate keeping her prisoner. After killing a group of teenage boys who had snuck into Angel's Lagoon, she finally manages to smash her way through her pen doors, and out into the Pacific Ocean. Hungry, and driven to mate, Angel carves a bloody and devastating line of carnage up-and-down the Western sea coast. Her list of favorite eateries: a group of whale watching kayakers, a wedding procession onboard an old sailing ship, and a boardwalk-restaurant (underwater seating now available). Meanwhile Benedict Singer, the wealthy industrialist who now owns the Tanaka Lagoon and Angel, is conducting a search of the Mariana Trench. His goal is to locate the spot which was officially dubbed Devils Purgatory. The only problem for Benedict is the fact that the only person who knows the exact coordinates of the D.P, is Jonas Taylor. In an attempt to gain access to Jonas's information, Benedict has Terry Taylor, Now Jonas's wife, to come aboard his research vessel and assist with converting and relaying sonar data. Terry Taylor, onboard the Benthos - a huge spherical underwater base, comes across the startling fact that Benedict Singer has covered up the deaths of over a dozen people, when their sub - the Proteus, was attacked but a group of unknown and extremely violent predators. The prize Benedict is searching for is so valuable that he is willing to risk the lives of his entire crew to these known monsters of the deep, and use Terry Taylor as a bargaining chip for Jonas's secret. This book was not only and equal to Meg, but brought a whole new mysterious dynamic to Steve Alten's writing talent. I highly recommend this novel.

Not yo daddy's shark fiction, not quite mine either:
For those who were in love with shark fiction and Steve Alten's sleek genre piece MEG, the TRENCH, no matter what you think of Alten's shortcomings, is manditory reading. I can't say that this book was really a disappointment (seeing Alten's faults in MEG, is was inevitable that success would blow them out of proportion in TRENCH) but then again, I was at the rather undemanding age of 13 when I first read it. Not only is the human fiction in this book wildly pretentious, most of it is unneccessary and distacting. Also not very pleasant The shark attacks, however, still ring true and will satisfy our lust for carnage. Rather than building tension, Alten perfers to bash us repeatedly with shark mayhem, which is fine by my, if i didn't have to read so much ill-written "human" drama in between. Hopefully Primal Waters will be a more mature and focused book.

Great creature feature sequel:
I loved this book and had to go out to the store and buy it after reading Meg. I was not disappointed and I am just having trouble waiting for Primal Waters to come out and if it is as good as the previous 2 I will be very happy.