Last summer I read a used (but mint) copy of Steve Alten’s 1997 debut MEG by the pool while on vacation. Its “Jurassic shark” plot was fun, but MEG: PRIMAL WATERS – this latest sequel, recently out in paperback – is even better.

Picking up many years and two kids later, shark expert Jonas Taylor is middle-aged, financially strapped and pretty much detested by his slutty teenage daughter. He appears to find a saving grace (at least for the money problem) when he’s unexpectedly offered a gig as color commentator for a FEAR FACTOR-esque stunt reality TV show called DAREDEVILS. Then giant prehistoric sharks show up and bite the shit outta people. Taylor springs back into action-hero mode as each member of his family plunges deep into danger.

This reads like a summer blockbuster movie, which I’m saying as a compliment. This is actually the second sequel to MEG (the middle one is called THE TRENCH, which I haven’t yet read), so you have to wonder how the protagonist keeps running into these prehistoric sharks. Easy: Because it’s an escapist fiction franchise. And a damn good one at that.