Megalodon by Robin Brown

Title: Megalodon

Author: Robin Brown

Year: 1981

Publishing Details: PBJ Books, First Paperback Printing December 1982

Genre: Science Fiction, Horror

Topical Category: Sea Monster, Animals Attack!

Synopsis and Background:

Before there was Steve Alten’s Meg, there was Megalodon. After the massive, mid-70s success of Jaws, many novelists (and filmmakers) wanted to get their slice of the sea monster pie. Megalodon by Robin Brown was one such cash-in novel. Megalodon (now called Otodus megalodon) might be the most famous of all the species of extinct sharks and it seems like a no-brainer to make it the subject of a sci-fi horror novel. Today, we know that Megalodon grew to a maximum estimated size of about 50 feet long. Which is plenty big. But past estimates had a tendency to… get carried away.

In the opening pages of Megalodon, the titular shark faces off against a 500+ foot ballistic missile nuclear sub–and wins! This disturbs the Pentagon and they search for experts to explain what happened. Enter our leading man and lady, Doctors Frank Acreman and Barbara Monday of the Institute for Marine Studies in Hawaii. They are summoned, along with their experimentally trained dolphins, to try to determine what exactly attacked the submarine.

But, of course, where there is one monster shark there must be a breeding population. And as the navy sends more submarines, the sharks become more and more interested in this invasion of their habitat. The increased naval presence also attracts the attention of the Soviets, who are curious as to what exactly the Americans are doing in this deep sea trench. Giant sharks, trained whales, and American and Soviet submarines are soon set on a collision course. 

SPOILERS BELOW

My Thoughts:

This book with its ‘talking’ dolphins and whales fits firmly into the genre of ‘Save the Whales’ material that was so popular before the International Whaling Moratorium went into effect in 1982. That part was pretty interesting. Unfortunately the humans are bland and don’t really develop as characters in any sense. They mostly stand around and think or speak in exposition. Barbara in particular does next to nothing.

The book has some loonier bits (airlifting a sperm whale by zeppelin, really?) and some appropriately insightful bits (King Kong and Godzilla are invoked as analogous to the kaiju-sized Megalodon). The book also has many scientific inaccuracies. Some seemingly intentional choices, some not. These include: the size of the Megalodon (ridiculously huge, even for the time), the incorrect assertion that sharks don’t give ‘virgin birth’ (that some sharks can reproduce parthenogenetically without a male has only been known since about 2008), that sperm whales have high dorsal fins (they don’t), that giant manta rays have stingers (they don’t), and that the melons of sperm whales are ‘bony’ (they are not). 

There was a cool scientific accuracy near the end of the book!  I did not know this, but some sharks in high stress situations can, in fact, eject their entire stomach, empty it, and then re-swallow it. Cool!

Finally, the ending to this book was abrupt and unfulfilling. The plot with the Soviets went nowhere. The plot with the dolphins, orca, and Apollo the sperm whale went nowhere. The subplot involving alerting a Greenpeace-like organization about the Megalodons was barely wrapped up. What the navy was going to do about the gold/uranium ore was not resolved. The existence of the two huge parent Megalodons was left hanging. It seemed like the book really should have been longer and had more story, but it wasn’t and didn’t. 

Also, why do books like these always have a short, pointless, shoehorned in sex scene?  I am going start a count: the number of times during my reading marathon a pointless sex scene does nothing to advance the plot: 1 (so far)

Rating:

2/3 Entertainment Value: I was moderately entertained. The book did get a few laughs out of me, not all of them necessarily intended by the author. The frequent pseudo-philosophical musing on dolphins slowed it down for me. Also the suspense of the gradual emergence of the sharks wasn’t exactly edge-of-your-seat.

2/3 Quality: This book was of a decent quality as far as writing and storytelling. Characterization was consistent, the story had a beginning, middle, and ending. The plot, such as it was, made some logical sense, keeping track of what it had earlier established. Spelling and punctuation were good, clearly someone proofread the book well. Word choice wasn’t too annoying, or flowery, or repetitive.

2/3 Originality: For its time, pretty original. To my knowledge this is the first novel to have Megalodon as an antagonist. Which is pretty inspired. I also liked the incorporation of cetaceans as characters. I do feel that the whole story might have been a bit more interesting if told from the perspective of the whales, rather than our gung-ho 2-D humans. I was especially interested in the thoughts of Apollo the sperm whale. (There is a whole book called Sounding by Hank Searls (1982) that is from the perspective of a sperm whale; it is in my to-read pile.)

0/1 Exceeds Expectations: Female characterization, sexism, Cold War shenanigans, etc. etc. were all very normal for the time. But for me, this book didn’t really rise about its bland and almost non-existent characterization. I really wasn’t invested in Frank, his relationship with Barbara, his work, or his philosophical feelings about dolphins.

Total score: 6/10

Best Quote(s):

“I can only say I am delighted!”

“What! You believe…?”

“Oh, I don’t know whether I believe you. You’re going to have to come up with a little more evidence than these snapshots. But if you’re right–hell, that’s fantastic. I can’t tell you the relief that brings me. I’ve been sitting in this office wondering whether it was a Soviet vessel, or maybe Chinese and that they had made some incredible breakthrough that allowed them to run completely silently and were invisible to sonar. Can’t you see what a frightening prospect that could be?”

“This animal could be one hundred feet long– and lethal!”

“Great! I’m talking about the power balance of the Western world, Professor. Do you not know the firepower of the Ohio-class subs? They could handle a shark that stretched all the way from here to Peking.”