Can anyone recommend some "Creature Feature" books along the lines of Jaws, the Meg series, Jurassic Park, Congo, The Hatching, Skitter...etc.

By creature, I mean animal, bug, alien, mythical, killer plant, you name it. Creature verses humans sort of thing. Cheesy B movie types welcome. All age ranges welcome (children to adult) Short story, novella or full length novels all welcome.

Feel free to promo your own book, but please include a couple other recommendations, too! I do do read and reviews, but I'm honestly nobody here (hah) and bookstagram. Lol Though my Instagram is leighas_life and I have over 100 followers, though lets be honest, half are probably spam. :/

DESCRIPTION:

"On an island in the Gulf of California, an intrepid young woman named Paloma carries a special legacy from her father—a deep understanding of the sea and a sixth sense about the need to protect it.

Every day, Paloma paddles her tiny boat into the ocean and anchors over a seamount—a submerged volcanic peak sixty feet underwater that is clustered with spectacular sea animals and a wondrous web of marine life.

It is there that an astonishing event takes place, when on one of her dives Paloma is shadowed by a manta ray—an animal so large it blocks the sun. She develops an extraordinary relationship with this luminous, gentle creature, but instinctively knows its existence is a secret she must fiercely protect.

Benchley’s novel paints a poignant picture of humanity’s precarious relationship with the ocean, which unfolds alongside a heartrending story of familial bonds, often revealing that the ignorance of man is far more dangerous than the sea. Full of beauty, danger, and adventure, The Girl of the Sea of Cortez is triumphant—a novel to fall in love with."

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This is not a horror novel in the tradition of Jaws (also written by Benchley) - no blood, guts or corpses (except the fish). This is a lyrical and beautiful piece of writing.  Educational without preaching.  The novel is a rather plain story of Paloma, her love of the Sea, her desire to protect it and her relationship with her family - especially her brother who is more interested in the economic benefits to be gained from the sea regardless of how destructive they are to the local ecosystem.  The giant manta ray bits were delightful!  Benchley makes you feel like you are in the water with Paloma. The author also explores various conflicting themes such as gender roles, conservation, survival, human nature and the relationship between man and ocean life.  A lovely book, suitable for younger and older readers.

The shark was cool, but according to my husband all of the research it relied on was outdated: turns out sharks have a regular route around the sees, and regular appearances at specific locales (basically they show up after the baby seals do).

But the characters, the Peyton Place drama of it all: mostly it was just a group of guys holding a pissing contest over the only woman in town worth having.

You go shark!

Library copy

For the Drowning Deep

It's been more than forty years since I read this and boy is it different reading this as an adult versus as a kid.

The inflation. The casual sexism. The really weird history of the serial rapist.

I am liking the time he takes to explain the cast of characters, and the whole economy of the Hamptons. And I love the newspaper editor.

I listened to this one on audiobook via Overdrive, which I highly recommend. The narrator did awsome. He kind of sounded like Edward Norton, but that's not who it was. 

The book has a lot of differences between it and the movie, and honestly, I think this is one of the few times the movie is better. The book is terrific, it just focuses more on political/cultural drama that felt almost soap opera-ish at times, whereas the movie feels more straight to the point of the battle between man and fish. The movie also has better characterizations, for that matter. Hooper, as mentioned before, is skeevy and douchey in this version and I hated that he and Brody didn't get along since their friendships is one of my favorite parts of the movie. I thought I would enjoy Ellen having a bigger role but she just seemed so shallow and dramatic for most of the book that I didn't care for her character at all. So the book is great, but the movie definitely improved upon it.

That said, I really liked the character of Henry Meadows and wish he had a bigger role in the movie. I also really liked that certain portions of the book take place from the perspective of the fish and the way it truly characterizes it as an animal rather than this man-killer. It did a great job of showing that sharks are chill, just not great at figuring out what is or isn't food. 

Final rating: 4 out of 5. Very good and if you enjoy the movie I think you'd enjoy the book just as well.