Beast (Benchley novel)
{{Short description|1991 novel by Peter Benchley}}
{{For|the 2006 novel by Ally Kennen|Beast (Kennen novel)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{infobox book |
| name = Beast
| image = Peterbenchleybeast.jpg
| caption = First edition
| author = Peter Benchley
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| genre = Horror
| series =
| subject =
| publisher = Random House (US)
Hutchinson (UK)
| release_date = 1991
| english_release_date =
| media_type = Print
| pages =
| isbn =
| dewey =
| congress =
| oclc =
| preceded_by = Rummies
| followed_by = White Shark
}}
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; Elizabeth Griffin and Howard Griffin; their boat having mysteriously sank; towards their oceanic depths. 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 the millionaire father (Osborne Manning) of two of the victims (Scott Manning and Susie Manning) to fund a hunt for the creature. The local mayor (St. Liam John) attempts to overrule all parties and participates in an exploratory mission on a mini-submarine, but is killed when the creature destroys the vessel; alongside Captain Wallingford, Hector, Stephanie Carr, Andy and its driver (Eddie). Whip Darling's crewmate (Mike Newcombe) also perishes.
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) back 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 threatens to sink 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, (presumably the mother of a young whale the squid had eaten earlier) arrives and kills it.
Whip Darling’s ship 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 spawn have survived and due to overfishing will grow to adulthood unchallenged.{{cite web|title=Beast|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/825282.Beast|publisher=goodreads.com|accessdate=7 November 2013|archive-date=12 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012203757/http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/825282.Beast|url-status=live}}{{cite book|title=Beast|isbn=0449220893|last1=Benchley|first1=Peter|year=1992|publisher=Fawcett Crest }}{{cite web|last=Ellis|first=Richard|title=Book and Movie Review: BEAST|url=http://www.tonmo.com/reviews/beast.php|publisher=tonmo.com|accessdate=7 November 2013|archive-date=24 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224011701/http://www.tonmo.com/reviews/beast.php|url-status=live}}{{cite book|title = Beast|isbn = 9780679403555|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=a_Jv9reyfQsC|accessdate = 7 November 2013|last1 = Benchley|first1 = Peter|year = 1991| publisher=Random House |archive-date = 22 July 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220722124907/https://books.google.com/books?id=a_Jv9reyfQsC|url-status = live}}
Adaptation
Beast was adapted into a TV movie called The Beast in 1996, starring William Petersen as Whip Dalton (name change from Darling). Aside from an altered ending with the squid being killed by an explosion instead of a whale, Marcus's character being female, Manning being unrelated to any of the squid's victims and only wanting it as an exhibit for an ocean park, Whip's teenaged daughter having a subplot, and the setting being changed from Bermuda to the Pacific Northwest, the film is regarded as very faithful to the source material.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115109/|title=The Beast (TV Mini Series 1996) - IMDb|website=IMDb |access-date=2018-07-01|archive-date=2018-03-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326115157/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115109/|url-status=live}} The film was well received and earned high ratings, both earning a nomination in the Daytime Emmy Awards and encouraging future adaptations of Benchley's other works, such as White Shark being adapted as Creature in 1998.{{Cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/shows/peter-benchleys-beast|title=Peter Benchley's the Beast|access-date=2021-07-25|archive-date=2021-07-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725053548/https://www.emmys.com/shows/peter-benchleys-beast|url-status=live}}