Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror is a techno-thriller novel by Steve Alten, and was first published in July 1997. Along with its sequels, the novel follows the underwater adventures of a Navy deep-sea diver named Jonas Taylor. In 2018, a film adaptation titled The Meg, was released. A revised and expanded version of the novel (also containing the prequel Meg: Origins) was also released to coincide with the film's debut. A graphic novel adaptation was also released in 2019 by Steve Alten, J.S. Earls, and Mike Miller. Plot summary (Revised and Expanded Edition) In the novel's prologue, during the Late Cretaceous Period, a Tyrannosaurus rex stumbles into the ocean while pursuing a herd of Shantungosaurus and is promptly attacked and devoured by a megalodon. The sequence is later revealed to be part of a slideshow by Jonas Taylor, a paleontologist and marine biologist, for his presentation on megalodon. In 1997, Jonas was working deep in the Mariana Trench with the United States Navy. His mission is top secret and involves the study of hydrogen nodules to solve any future energy crises using nuclear fission, but unfortunately, it was his third dive in eight days, and he was exhausted yet was checked out by the Navy's top medical officer Doctor Heller. While on the dive, Jonas watches in horror as a megalodon rises from the depths. Jonas panics and surfaces as fast as possible and escapes, but causes the death of the scientists as a result; unfortunately, the Navy does not believe his claims, labeling him a madman and ruining his career while simultaneously covering up the misjudgment of the medical officer. Years later, Jonas continues to try to prove that what he saw was real. His actions have also led Jonas to push away his estranged and separated wife, Maggie, and lead to her having an affair with his billionaire friend Bud Harris. He is later approached by an old friend, marine biologist Masao Tanaka, who lost a remote submersible that monitors seismic activity in the Mariana Trench and hopes to retrieve it. Seeing this as an opportunity to prove that the megalodon still exists, Jonas agrees to help Tanaka over the objection of Tanaka's daughter, Terry. Jonas and Tanaka's son, DJ, dive in small submersibles when they arrive at the Trench. A male megalodon rises from the depths and, despite Jonas' attempts to distract the creature, kills DJ.