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"slander against Nessie...lol"

In this case, more specifically Nessie is accused of making Elevenses out of the business associate of the father of Marine Biologist Zach Wallace. Wallace is coming home after nearly drowning in the Sargasso Sea. He was on an expedition in search of a giant squid. His return home is not something he is expected to be a happy occasion. Angus, his father and he are estranged. Worse, the father is under a lot of stress since he is accused of murdering his business partner.

Things fall to Zach to help prove his father's innocent based on the claim there really is something in the loch, Nessie or otherwise, and it occasionally likes a people appetizer. The sole defence Zach's father puts forth was that "something" are his business partner. Of course, since this slander against Nessie comes on the fact Angus had just punched his partner in the face causing him to fall into the water, it doesn't help to make people believe Angus. As the case goes to trial it becomes a media event -

would you expect otherwise? But this mania is blown full force when more people begin to go a-missing and half- eaten body parts are discovered along the shore of the Ness.

Zach must have to come to terms with his father and their estrangement, build a bridge so he can mount a defence to prove Angus is telling the truth. Not only must Zach put with news hounds, he must deal with Nessie Watchers, rival scientists and even a Knights Templar.

Written in first person, Zach's narrative hooks the reader. From Zach's coming to terms with his estrangement from his country of birth, his father, to just what is Angus really up to - did something get his partner or is this a convenient way to commit murder and get away with it - Alten keeps you guessing the whole way.

Fans of Alten won't want to miss this one. Not a fan? This is a good place to become one. Riveting storytelling.

Posted July 4, 2005

Reviewed by Deborah Macgillivray
Posted December 15, 2006

Loch Ness holds secrets, ancient and deadly. Does a monster inhabit its depths, or is it just myth? Why, after thousands of reported sightings and dozens of expeditions, is there still no hard evidence? Marine biologist Zachery Wallace knows, but the shock of his near-drowning as a child on Loch Ness have buried all memories of the incident. Now, a near-death experience suffered while on expedition in the Sargasso Sea has caused these long-forgotten memories to re-surface. Haunted by vivid night terrors, stricken by a sudden fear of the water, Zach finds he can no longer function as a scientist. Unable to cope, his career all but over, he stumbles down a path of self-destruction...until he receives contact from his estranged father...a man he has not seen since his parents' divorced and he left Scotland as a boy.

Angus Wallace, a wily Highlander who never worked an honest day in his life, is on trial for murdering his business partner. Only Zachary can prove his innocence - if he is innocent, but to do so means confronting the nightmare that nearly killed him seventeen years earlier.

Incorporating the latest research and "new evidence," that leads to real answers concerning the monster's identity, best-selling author Steve Alten weaves a tale of horror about the most publicized and controversial creature ever to exist.