“This book, the fourth in Steve Alten's MEG series, is a fun if somewhat disjointed action-adventure read. Set four years after the events of the previous novel, we find that Angel and her litter of "pups" (all female) have been put on public display at the Tanaka Institute. Jonas Taylor finds himself at a crossroads--the institute has recently suffered a tragic accident involving the adult Meg Angel and a couple of 'lucky' spectators; far more ominous is the pressure from a radical animal rights group demanding the release three of the runts into the wild. Taylor believes he has found a solution--a Dubai prince is currently constructing the world's largest aquarium and has agreed to purchase two of the runts from the Tanaka Institute. The only catch--he wants to hire Jonas's son David to be their handler. Jonas reluctantly agrees but he warns David not to trust the prince--he suspects that the prince is after much bigger game for his aquarium and will try to recruit David to lead an expedition to land "The Big One"--an adult liopleurodon! Naturally, it isn't long before David is leading the prince's expedition in the fictional Panthalassa Sea, an abyssal 'Land that Time Forgot' harboring some of the most dangers creatures ever to swim the seven seas. While the scientific underpinnings of Alten's story are tenuous at best, he does spin a good yarn, with some great action scenes and a few twists and turns. Highly recommended. ”
DOC-209 wrote this review Sunday, December 4, 2011.
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