I ran right out to buy this after hearing it advertised repeatedly on NPR during the week of July 10, 2006. I was sorely disappointed -- not in the factual, first-person, superbly edited contents (I found NO misspellings and only the perfect and proper use of semi-colons …more and dashes), but in the, shall we say, "meat of the matter." itself. It was touted as being thrilling! Exciting! A real page-turner and nail-biter! In short, I'd expected it to be as exciting and heart-stopping as Peter Benchley's "Jaws." I stayed up most of the night, waiting to be terrified.
Sadly, "The Devil's Teeth" is, instead, a nonfiction account of Ms. Casey's visit to the Farollones to study Great White Sharks; and the book smacks, to me, of a novice's reaction to--and romanticization of--a years-long scientific effort in the midst of rough seas, barren rock islands, and lousy weather.
Future marine biologists will love this book, as will budding meteorologists.
But I found myself quickly scanning page after page, looking for the "good parts"--subjective stories and close-up encounters with the beasts, themselves. In short, I wanted to be as scared as I was reading "Jaws."
TDT didn't even come close. (less)