At a small marine institute off the coast of Connecticut, only marine biologist Simon Chase realizes that a sixteen-foot pregnant Great White is feeding in the area. But even Simon doesn’t know that a far deadlier creature is about to come out of the deep and threaten everything he cares for. A creature whose malevolence is unthinkable. Whose need to feed is insatiable. And whose relentless hunt for prey is unstoppable.
Twenty years after his huge bestseller Jaws, the master of the deep has done it again, letting loose a chilling new predator that only he could create. Drawing on his singular knowledge of the sea, science, and history, Peter Benchley masterfully spins a suspense-filled novel that hits you on a primal level, makes your heart pound, and leaves your blood running cold.
White Shark is Peter Benchley at his best. Read it at your own risk.
White Shark by Peter Benchley. Published by St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 1995. Total of 340 pages.
*Trigger warning: Lots of animal death.
So, you can’t talk about Peter Benchley without bringing up Jaws. Now, I LOVE Jaws…. the MOVIE. Easily in my top 2 for greatest horror movie EVER. But the book… is not something I care for. Not enough Shark, too much character drama! It didn’t even feel like a story about a shark! It felt more like a story about Brody’s marriage. That’s NOT what I want to read about! I want creature! I wanted shark!
What I love about White Shark is that it felt like Peter FINALLY gave us a story where it is more creature action and less character drama. There is still a little bit of character drama, but it felt dialed back.
I’ve seen some people complain about the characters being underdeveloped. I really didn’t that was true. First, calm down about needing ultra developed characters. It’s a creature feature story, relax. It’s ok. It felt like the characters had just enough going on with them to know them but not so much that it took over the plot.
The creature is fun. It takes a while to figure out exactly what IT even is. The monster is pretty much kept in the dark the whole time until the very end, even though there are several chapters from the creatures PoV.
My biggest problem with White Shark is all the animal death. 😦 I am not a fan of animal death and this book has a LOT. Thankfully it is not dwelled upon or very graphic. Still sad though, so if animal death bothers you, here is your warning. It is easy to tell when the animal death is about to happen, so it is easy to skip those spots.
White Shark is a quick read. The premise is entertaining. The book is well written and just straight up fun. I enjoyed this book much more than the Jaws book. D: Kept me curious about the creature and entertained with all the carnage. The animal death is bothersome, but easy to skip. I enjoyed White Shark a lot.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 