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Meg: Nightstalkers

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Meg: Nightstalkers
First edition
AuthorSteve Alten
LanguageEnglish
SeriesMeg
GenreScience fiction horror
PublisherHeadline Publishing Group
Publication date
June 14, 2016
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (paperback and hardback) and Audiobook
Pages448 pp (paperback)
ISBN978-0-7653-8796-7 (paperback)
Preceded byMeg: Hell's Aquarium
Vostok 
Followed byMeg: Generations 

Meg: Nightstalkers (known digitally as Meg⁵: Nightstalkers) is a 2016 science fiction horror novel by American author Steve Alten. It is the sequel to Vostok and Meg: Hell's Aquarium, and the fifth book in the MEG series. Continuing the adventures of Jonas Taylor and his family following the cliffhanger ending of the previous novel, as Jonas and his best friend Mac search for two rogue megalodons (megs), while Jonas' son David continues working with the royal prince of Dubai to search for the Liopleurodon that killed his girlfriend, the novel also continues the premise Meg series as being set in the same fictional universe as Alten's The Loch established in the preceding 2015 crossover novel Vostok,[1] with the return of Zachary Wallace.[2] The novel's audiobook was narrated by Keith Szarabajka,[3] with Erik Hollander designing the cover.[4]

A sequel, titled Meg: Generations, was released in 2018.

Plot summary

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Picking up immediately where Meg: Hell's Aquarium left off, Bela and Lizzy, the dominant Megalodon siblings from Angel's brood, have escaped the Tanaka Institute to roam the Salish Sea in British Columbia. While Jonas Taylor and his friend Mac attempt to either recapture or kill the sisters, Jonas' son, David, embarks on his own adventure, motivated by revenge. Having witnessed his girlfriend's gruesome death, David has joined a Dubai Prince's ocean expedition, tracking the 120-foot, hundred-ton Liopleurodon that escaped from the Panthalassa Sea. Haunted by night terrors, David repeatedly risks his life to lure the Lio and other prehistoric sea creatures into the fleet's nets, while battling his own suicidal demons.[5][6]

Reception

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Critical reception for Nightstalkers was mixed-to-positive, meeting with praise from most reviewers. Publishers Weekly criticised the novel for "continu[ing] to be less than careful about scientific details (centipedes aren't insects) and usage (the liopleurodon at one point sweeps prey into its “vacuous gullet”) while still serving as "fun" for fans of Jaws".[7] The BiblioSanctum lauded the "laughably absurd" plot of the novel as "a helluva fun time", felling like a "book version" of creature features.[8]

Wicked Horror praised the novel as "another astounding adventure that makes for perfect summer reading", calling it to have been "wonderful to witness just how much the world of MEG has grown with each new entry. Steve Alten know[ing] how to continually raise the stakes for our favorite characters by putting them in these unbelievably terrifying situations, so much so that I was always afraid that one of them might not make it out alive this time.", in addition to complimenting the novel's crossover with Alten's The Loch in the return of Zachary Wallace.[2]

BioGamer Girl complimented "Steve Alten [for] once again [having] delivered an action-packed storyline written in such a colorfully vivid way that every word seems to pop off the pages. The well-developed characters manag[ing] to draw you in and keep you reading [and] vividly narrated in such a way that anyone that picks it up can jump into the exquisitely written pages and feel like they are a part of the story", concluding that "All-in-all, if you have been wanting an action-packed story full of monsters and excitement then look no further with MEG: Nightstalkers."[9]

Sequel

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Main article: Meg: Generations

A sequel, Meg: Generations, was released in 2018.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Brehmer, Nat (June 24, 2016). "Exclusive Interview: Steve Alten Talks Meg And More!". Wicked Horror. Retrieved June 24, 2016. Nat Brehmer: Yeah, for sure. I'm also personally a big fan of The Loch and I was curious about what it was like to take something that was so infamous in pop culture and turn it into a serious work of aquatic horror? Steve Alten: Have you read Nightstalkers yet? Nat Brehmer: I have, yeah. Steve Alten: So you know that I meshed the two series together. Writing The Loch, I was originally suggested to do it by my former agent Ken Lashley, and I only wanted to do it if it wasn't going to be silly. I didn't want to do it if it was gonna be a pleisiosaur which doesn't make any sense at all. It had to be a creature that made sense scientifically and that would make for a great story. So I consulted a friend of mine who's a cryptozoologist and forensic artist Bill MacDonald and he's been to Loch Ness several times and he's the one who convinced me what the creature was. Once I had that down it was a matter of doing a lot of research, piecing together—I was very detailed about it. There are no good maps of Loch Ness. So I had to create a map based on things that were out there. I had a nine foot map taped to the wall in my office so I could track the creature's movements and the characters' movements so that they felt that they were there. Because I had never been to Loch Ness and I needed to understand what it was like. And the more research I did into it, the more I realized that this is really a cool story. There's a lot of history to this and there's also a lot of scientific method involved, that this creature could still be out there. They've sort of romanticized it in Scotland that it's this smiling, Disney-esque pleisiosaur. The reality is that it's a type of fish that's pretty menacing and has just grown very large for scientific reasons.
  2. ^ a b Eggen, Michele (June 24, 2016). "Book Review – MEG: Nightstalkers by Steve Alten". Wicked Horror. Retrieved June 24, 2016.
  3. ^ Szarabajka, Keith. "Meg: Nightstalkers by Steve Alten – Audiobook". Audible.co.uk. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  4. ^ Hollander, Erik (June 14, 2016). "Cover Design: Meg: Nightstalkers by Steve Alten". Erik Hollander Design. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  5. ^ Alten, Steve (June 6, 2015). "Steve Alten: June 2015 Newsletter". SteveAlten.com. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  6. ^ Brehmer, Nat (August 16, 2018). "5 Other Monsters from Steve Alten's 'Meg' Novels That We'd Love to See on Screen". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  7. ^ Baror, Danny. "Review: MEG: Nightstalkers". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
  8. ^ Mogsy, Steff (June 14, 2016). "Review: MEG: Nightstalkers by Steve Alten + Giveaway!". The BiblioSanctum. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  9. ^ BioGamer Girl (July 15, 2016). "MEG: Nightstalkers (Book Review)". BioGamer Girl. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  10. ^ Squires, John (February 5, 2018). "New Book 'Meg: Generations' Now Available for Pre-Order; Cover Revealed". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
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