Author's Name: Steve Alten
ISBN: 978-0-7653-6585-9
Publisher: Variance Publishing LLC

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Readers looking for an exciting, fast-paced, action-packed thrill need look no further than Steve Alten’s MEG: Hell’s Aquarium. I was completely drawn into this book and could not put it down! Page-after-page I was never disappointed at the way the author was able to keep the pace going. Absolutely exhilarating!

The Tonaka Institute, owned by the Taylor’s, houses Alice, a monstrous Megalodon, and her five pups. Two of those pups, Lizzy and Belle are known as “the sisters” and are just as vicious as their mother. Lizzy is calculating, whereas Belle could be described as having unrestrained primordial fury. Both appear to fear their mother. Who wouldn’t?

Two contest winners take to the platform to feed an agitated Angel. With the sound of voodoo drums being piped through an underwater speaker system, Dani Taylor takes to welcoming the crowd who cheers as Angel makes her way into the lagoon. Water begins rushing from one side to the other until the swell rises higher than the sea wall. Dani is swept backward and is knocked unconscious, but the two contest winners aren’t so lucky as they both land inside Angel’s lair. This doesn’t end well.

All of this takes place in the very first part of MEG: Hell’s Aquarium and more action is to follow when David Taylor finds himself in Dubai where he is led to believe he will be training pilots on the Manta Ray submersibles purchased from the Institute. Instead, he is drawn into a dangerous mission to lure prehistoric monsters from the depths even though he promised his father he would stay put in Dubai.

Traveling to the depths of the Panthalassa, David runs into danger as he comes face to face with the ungodly creatures that lurk there. He is soon faced with a struggle between life and death.

Each characters story runs parallel to another and I appreciate the way the author transitions from one part of the story to the next effortlessly. The book flowed very well in that respect.

In MEG: Hell’s Aquarium, we have the central plot surrounding Jonas Taylor and the events at the Institute; in Dubai, David Taylor has his strings pulled by a prince and his man, bin Rashidi who don’t care how they get what they want so long as they get it; then there is R.A.W., a group similar to PETA, who want Angel and the other Megs released from captivity. To do so could prove devastating but they don’t care about anything but their own agenda. R.A.W. will stop at nothing to get what they want regardless of the consequences.

Steve Alten has brought to life extinct prehistoric behemoths in a way that is surprisingly believable. I also enjoyed how he was able to transition seamlessly from one aspect of the story to the next. MEG: Hell’s Aquarium is well crafted and an excellent read.

MEG: Hell’s Aquarium is Steve Alten’s fourth book in his MEG series and his ninth published book. The author became interested in sharks after reading JAWS as a teenager and penned his first novel, MEG, in 1997.