On a top-secret dive into the Pacific Ocean’s deepest canyon, Jonas Taylor found himself face-to-face with the largest and most ferocious predator in the history of the animal kingdom. The sole survivor of the mission, Taylor is haunted by what he’s sure he saw but still can’t prove exists-Carcharodon megalodon, the massive mother of the great white shark. The average prehistoric Meg weighs in at twenty tons and could tear apart a Tyrannosaurus rex in seconds.Written off as a crackpot suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Taylor refuses to forget the depths that nearly cost him his life. With a PhD in paleontology under his belt, Taylor spends years theorizing, lecturing, and writing about the possibility that Meg still feeds at the deepest levels of the sea. But it takes an old friend in need to get him to return to the water, and a hotshot female submarine pilot to dare him back into a high-tech miniature sub.Diving deeper than he ever has before, Taylor will face terror like he’s never imagined, and what he finds could turn the tides bloody red until the end of time.
Occasionally I get lucky and my two main hobbies intersect. It will come as no surprise when I tell you that I am a voracious reader, you’ve probably noticed. The other thing I really love is everything related to the big screen. I first read MEG around twenty years ago (yes I am hideously old), and I always had hopes that it would make the leap from page to screen. Finally, after a few false starts, everyone’s favourite prehistoric killing machine is facing off against the mighty Jason Statham. I took this as the perfect opportunity to revisit the source text.
From the very first page you know that MEG is going to be something a bit special (the Tyrannosaurus Rex is a big clue). I distinctly remember the prologue being EPIC and even now it still delivers. After the dinosaur excitement I wasn’t sure Steve Alten was going to be able to write anything that could possibly top that (spoiler, he does).
Now I could spend paragraph after paragraph picking apart the characters and exploring the narrative, but it would utterly pointless. There is only one thing you need to know – this is the simple story of a man versus a prehistoric shark. People get bitten in half, boats are trashed, helicopters crash, and a single person submarine goes where no single person submarine has ever gone before.
Every time our favourite apex predator appears, things tend to get extremely bloody. Each chapter builds on the last until the final showdown. The climax of MEG is unashamedly bonkers, it revels in it. All manner of mayhem is unleashed, and it is great fun. If you are looking for high stakes adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is all about the action, then MEG is the book for you.
I can barely contain my glee regarding the film. Having done a bit of research on IMDB about the cast and their character names, it would seem that the movie adaption has some distinct differences from the book. I’m ok with that. When a book is adapted for another media I don’t think I ever want a like for like copy. Different mediums have different strengths. As long as the celluloid variant captures the same sense of pure, undiluted escapism that Alten conveys in the novel, then I will be one happy book reviewing, cinema consuming bunny.
In a truly shocking turn of events my musical recommendation to accompany MEG the book is The MEG original motion picture soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams. I bet you weren’t expecting that!
The original edition of MEG is available via Amazon if you are prepared to hunt around a bit. I read the Bantam Books edition. There is also a new 2018 release published by Head of Zeus which looks like it may tie in directly to the film adaption*. My final thought if you are a shark fiend like myself, and you’ve never experienced it before, then I strongly suggest you give MEG a try. There are also six sequels. MEG: Hell’s Aquarium may win the prize for the best title.
*That would be odd, a book of a film of a book.
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