Here there be dragons…
Dragons, dinosaurs, huge killer sharks--I’ve always loved monsters. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy the “Meg” books by Steve Alten. Meg stands for Megalodon, a giant shark that lived during prehistoric times. It was huge, the largest carnivorous fish known to exist.
It wasn’t, however, the only predator of the deep. There was Kronosaurus, a marine reptile characterized by a thick head, short neck, and outsized flippers. Its ecological niche appears to be the similar as the Great White Shark. It ate squid, turtles, fish, and smaller dinosaurs, anything that swam into its path.
Remains of these creatures have been found from Australia to South America, proof that these reptiles attained an especially wide distribution. Kronosaurus ruled the seas during the Cretaceous period, but that was millions of years ago.
It couldn’t possibly exist today, or could it? The oceans’ depths still remain mostly unmapped. It’s said we are more familiar with the surface of the Moon than our planet’s oceans. Maybe, just maybe, something has survived from long ago.
Max Hawthorne wonders this very thing. In Kronos Rising, a small, breeding population has survived. One of these prehistoric predators rises from the depths to terrorize a coastal community that won’t be idyllic soon.
A series of disappearances and horrific deaths sends waves of panic through the small town. The local sheriff begins to investigate what might be murder, but when a full-grown whale carcass surfaces, the true terror begins.
Marine horror isn’t new. Peter Benchley started the modern trend with Jaws. Steve Alten gave us Meg, and now we have giant lizards gnawing at our fears. It still works. I love the genre, but it’s hard to do anything new with it. Max has managed to give me a couple surprises.
Kronos Rising is a well-written story, better than it had to be to deliver its biting horror. There are flawed heroes that are likeable. Villains that I looked forward to being eaten, and a back story that’s both feasible, and well researched, and most importantly, it’s fun.
The Bible tells of a terrible sea creature called Leviathan. The Norse have myths of Jörmungandr, the World Serpent. Sailors see things that terrify them. Stories of sea monsters and eyewitness accounts persist to this day. Unknown, primal, lurking in the darkness, I’ve always feared monsters…
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