Beast (Benchley novel)
Beast is a 1991 novel by Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws.
Plot
A fishing community in Bermuda is disrupted by a series of mysterious disappearances at sea, including the vanishing of wealthy couple Howard Griffin and Elizabeth Griffin, their boat having mysteriously sunk. Veteran fisherman Whip Darling suspects the truth, and after discovering two large hooks alongside first mate Mike Newcombe, Whip Darling advises confidant Marcus Sharpe, a local Navy pilot, that the culprit is Architeuthis dux: a giant squid.A marine biologist called Herbert Talley also guesses the truth after the latest disaster and convinces Osborne Manning, the millionaire father of two of the victims, to fund a hunt for the creature. Local mayor St. Liam John attempts to overrule all parties and participates in an exploratory mission on a mini-submarine, but he is killed when the creature destroys the vessel, alongside Captain Wallingford, Hector, Stephanie Carr, Andy, Eddie, and Mike Newcombe.
Although reluctant to participate any further, Whip Darling is blackmailed when Osborne Manning assumes ownership of his outstanding mortgage. Leaving wife Charlotte Darling and daughter Dana Darling at home, Whip Darling, Marcus Sharpe, Herbert Talley, and Osborne Manning embark on a new hunt, although Osborne Manning is later killed in an accident. The creature is attracted by hormones Herbert Talley cultivated from a pair of dead giant squid in an attempt to trap it. The trap fails, and the enraged squid attacks their vessel. Whip Darling wounds the creature with an explosive he and Marcus Sharpe had made, but the creature survives. Before the squid can kill them, however, a sperm whale, arrives and kills it.
Whip Darling’s vessel is lost, but the group survive on a floating piece of debris and are driven back to land by the current. However, they are oblivious to the fact that an abnormally large number of the squid's offspring have survived and, due to overfishing, will grow to adulthood unchallenged.