Every year, I get hooked on Shark Week. I spend most of the week watching the same documentaries over and over again, getting my fill of all things shark. Sharks are interesting beasts, a statement I think we all can agree on. In honor of the week dedicated to these lovable toothy monsters, I’ve compiled a short list of shark-related novels you should check out.

5. WHITE SHARK by Peter Benchley – You were probably expecting Jaws by Peter Benchley, a novel which would undoubtedly make ninety-nine-point-nine percent of best shark book lists. But… I want to throw a curveball here. White Shark isn’t Benchley’s most renown book, but I love it anyway. It’s about a marine biologist who does battle with a man-shark hybrid created by Nazis. Yes, it’s awesome. Read it.

4. MEG by Steve Alten – Okay, probably an obvious one, but eat me. It’s a great story with one hell of beastly antagonist. I’ll be looking forward to the movie whenever they decide to release it (2018?).

3. MEGALODON IN PARADISE by Hunter Shea – This book only came out last week, and what better timing? I was lucky enough to read this bad boy before it came out, and let me tell you, Hunter Shea does a Megaldon story like no other. The story engages, the characters relate, and the plot takes you in directions you’ll never see coming. I can’t wait for this to dominate the Amazon charts.

2. ISLAND RED by Matt Serafini – Do you like sharks? Aliens? Do you like aliens and sharks? Good! This one is for you. Island Red is an excellent novel by horror writer and super-nice-guy Matt Serafini, a true page-turner that grips you from page one and never really lets go. I read this last year and was blown away by Matt’s storytelling skills. Do yourself a favor and check this beast out.

1. JAWS by Peter Benchley – Hey, remember when I said I wasn’t going to put Jaws on here because I wanted to do something different? Well, I lied. Sorry about that. Okay, I’m not all that sorry. Why? Because it’s JAWS! Seriously, the best fictional shark book ever written. How could I leave this masterpiece off the list? This is one of those the-movie-is-great-but-the-book-is-better novels you need to sink your teeth into. Now.

BONUS – SHARKWATER BEACH by (ah-em) me –Oh, hey there. Okay, so I couldn’t include my own novel in my Top 5 because that would be totally uncool. However, this was a book I loved creating and I wanted to share it with you sea monster lovers out there. My goal was to take this giant shark book in alternate directions and I tried to make something that was something between a Peter Benchley novel and Sharknado. I hope you dig it. Here’s the synopsis: Beneath the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the biggest predator on the planet hunts, craving the flesh and blood of every creature it can sink its teeth into. Detective Jill McCourty receives a phone call from her old college professor when a mangled body washes up on the shores of Sharkwater Beach. Together they must discover what stalks the waters around the private island and stop it before it reaches the mainland. But how do you stop something so enormous, something so unique that it may have existed in another time? 

Jill vows to make sure what happens at Sharkwater Beach, stays at Sharkwater Beach.

TIM MEYER’S NEWSLETTER

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