Meg: Hell's Aquarium
The cover of Hell's Aquarium.
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| Author | Steve Alten |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Meg |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Forge Books (Tor) |
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Publication date
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2009 |
| Pages | 501pp(hardback) |
| Followed by | Meg: Night Stalkers |
Meg: Hell's Aquarium is a 2009 science fiction novel by author Steve Alten.[1] The book continues the adventures of Jonas Taylor, a paleontologist studying the Megalodon. The book's trailer contains footage from Sea Monsters: A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy and Shark Attack in the Mediterranean.
Scarface, Michael Maren's pet Meg, and Angel's last surviving offspring from her first litter, is hunting. Scarface gets enticed by a new prospective meal, Leedsichthys. While his attention is caught by the new meal, he is attacked and killed by a Liopleurodon.
During one of Angel's escape attempts, a crowd handler is killed by her. An animal rights group called R.A.W. (Release Animals to the Wild) decides to try to get the Tanaka Institute to free the young females (called Elizabeth, Angelica, Belle, Mary Kate and Ashley), even though the world knows the damage that Angel and her mother did when she escaped many years previously. Jonas and Terry want to expand the Institute to separate all of the siblings due to their increased aggression and appetite, but the state won't allow any expansion of the facility. Angelica is soon attacked by one of her siblings while being moved, and is killed. (Later, R.A.W. gets a hold of the incident on tape and posts it to the internet, rallying support to their cause.)
The cousin of the crown prince of Dubai, Fiesal Bin Rashidi, comes to negotiate purchasing Mary Kate and Ashley for a large aquarium in Dubai. They also want Jonas to help them catch some prehistoric marine creatures from the Panthalassa, a hidden underground ocean which is all that remains of the primordial ocean of the same name. Michael Maren had discovered it and hinted at its existence shortly before he died in Primal Waters. Rashidi soon notices the talent and knowledge that Jonas' son David possesses during a private showing of Angel and they approach him and offer him a job for the summer. All he has to do is train pilots in how to use the Manta Ray submersibles that the institute uses. He goes off to Dubai while Jonas, Mac, Terry and Dani deal with Angel, Belle and Lizzy.
In Dubai, David falls for a girl, Kaylie, who is recruited to pilot a sub for bin Rashidi's mission in Panthalassa. David helps train the crew to use the Manta Ray subs and he helps get Mary Kate and Ashley situated in their new home. One of the young Megalodons dies, but David is able to save the other's life. He gets a preview of what the Dubai aquarium wants — including a Mosasaurus, Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaur, Leedsichthys, Xiphactinus, Kronosaurus, Liopleurodon, Dunkleosteus and other Prehistoric Sea Monsters. Despite being offered lots of money, he refuses the mission of tracking down the prehistoric marine reptiles. Back at the Institute, pressure is mounting to release the remaining pups. Scientists come in and find out that the Megs have evolved to a state where males are not needed for reproduction anymore, so Angel and the pups either are pregnant now, or will be soon. Jonas and Mac have an implant put into Angel's brain which will allow them to control her brain stimuli which ultimately gives them total control of her. Jonas and Terry secretly arrange to release Angel back to the Mariana Trench while the R.A.W. group decides to release Lizzy and Belle by themselves. Lizzy and Belle cause havoc and death with their release and cannot be reined in.
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