Its appetite is ravenous. Its teeth scalpel-sharp. Its power unstoppable as it smashes the steel doors holding it in a Monterey, California aquarium. The captive twenty-ton Megalodon shark has tasted human blood, and it wants more.

On the other side of the world, in the silent depths of the ocean, lies the Mariana Trench, where the Megalodon has spawned since the dawn of time. Paleo-biologist Jonas Taylor once dared to enter this perilous cavern. He alone faced the monster and cut its heart out; and he wears the painful scars of that deadly encounter. Now, as the body count rises and the horror of the Meg's attack grips the California coast, Jonas must begin the hunt again.

But to do that means returning to the dark terror of the trench . . . where the Meg is waiting. Using himself as bait, Jonas will enter the ultimate battle - a fight to the death between man and beast in the darkest recesses of the ocean . . . and a fight for his sanity from the depths of his own tormented soul.

Steve Alten is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Meg. A native of Philadelphia, he now lives in South Florida with his wife and children.