THE TRENCH by Steve Alten

 

The Trench by Steve Alten
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed Meg, so when we found an old library copy of the second book in a nearby Street Library, of course we grabbed it.

And I was excited, even though the book smelled like fucking cigarette smoke and needed WEEKS of scented-candle-in-bag treatment before I could even consider reading it. Actually, even after picking it up I thought I might not be able to concentrate on the story because of the shitty condition... BUT! The story is SO good that it hooked me in right away.

Stinky book or not, I was HOOKED!

Jonas Taylor is a professor and paleo-biologist. He's former Navy and a deep-sea diver. But his days on the Mariana Trench are done because his PTSD is still severe. Even after four years and being married to Terry, he continues to suffer from nightmares and is still obsessed with the Carcharodon megalodon. Well, with one in particular...

Wow. Just like the first book, this one hooked me in right away.

It was so good to catch up with Jonas and Terry, but I was disappointed to find out that things between them weren't exactly rosy because Jonas is still distracted, refuses to get help and is in total denial. And I know a lot of his problems stem from the fact people are still not listening to him about the danger of having a 'pet' megalodon, but I was hoping he'd be in a different and better place by now.

Although, all of these problems and a whole new plate of stuff sure make a thrilling adventure. This story moves fast and doesn't waste time getting violent. Yet, at the same time manages to keep many shitty secrets hidden beneath the surface.

These books are just like movies because the imagery is so vivid everything played out very clearly inside my head. And I love that! Not to mention the tension. It's so thick and escalates so quickly that I was on the edge of my seat most of the way through.

Also, more than one ancient monster hiding in the depths of the ocean is always a cool thing. Although, as usual, the biggest and worst monsters are the fucking humans. 😒

During Meg, my only problem was how annoying I found it that every woman was introduced as being 'good looking'. It bugged the hell out of me. In this one, it's how the only two women in the story instantly hate each other. Um, nope. Women competing against each other might be a thing because after all, women are people (gasp!), but this silly assumption of instant hate needs to fucking stop. Unlike the first book, it wasn't as easy to ignore because it sucks up too much of the main storyline.

This monster series needs more monsters and less forced relationship drama! 

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