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Far-fetched but fun = that's the point of these types of books anyway. There's so much that fascinates man about the creatures of the deep, so many hidden horrors beneath the water. This goes farther than Jaws, to the original beast which grew up to 60 feet, the Carcharodon megalodon, a shark that would swallow today's Great Whites. Clearly these creatures went belly up long ago, but the author takes pains to paint a realistic enough plausibility of how one could survive, break the surface, and become a modern day terror.

There's no way this could make a decent movie because of the budget - this shark was huge, and the author takes it on a long ride to destroy many types of vessels, even attack a helicopter, all in the name of giant shark fun. I could have done without some cliche characters like the hard-driven, ambitious, evil wife, but the scene with the shark pod was epic enough to make up for it. Her love interest was unrealistic, though, the weakest character written for the story. Jonas was a main character strong enough to propel this shark-driven story forward - it opens with him lecturing about the legend of the monster, then he's forced to confront his worst fears and make them a new reality.

The pacing is swift and this one is hard to put down. Even if a lot of it is unbelievable, especially a certain escape at the end, that doesn't matter. A few times there's a creep factor, especially when exploring the mariana trench and picturing that triangular head that appears to grin...There's enough science driven in it to keep afloat, plenty of action to invest interest, fun moments, tense and narrow escapes, and even a small nudge toward a sequel with the final page.

I have the fourth one, but it will have to wait until I track down the second and third first.