A writer who knows a thing or two about water-related mystery and man contending with nature, Steve Alten ("Trench," "Primal Waters") submerges us into the myth of the Loch Ness monster, one that dates back to 565 A.D. It's a journey in two time zones, encompassing the roads, castles and communities of The Great Glen that surround the lake, the secretive Black Knights who protect it, and a cast of Scotsmen who perpetuate the notoriety that ensures them a supporting stream of expectant tourists.

At the center of his drama is marine biologist Zachery Wallace whose repressed memory of a near-death experience in the Loch, and the divorce of his parents, caused him to leave his home in Drumnadrochit as a boy. At 25, a graduate of Princeton and UC San Diego, he is a success in the scientific community. His invention of an underwater acoustic device aimed at attracting elusive inhabitants of the abyss has led him to a deep water submersible expedition in the Sargasso Sea to test the invention -- a media event put on by the self-promoting hack of oceanography, David James Caldwell II.

The device works all too well, drawing creatures who have historically never been seen in or outside the darkest waters of their habitats. When a giant squid takes hold of the ship and begins ripping it apart with its tentacles, something else attacks the squid, "long brown forms darting in and out of the shadows... like a pack of starving wolves." With the remains of the squid carcass attached, the sub drops to 4,230 feet before a rescue vehicle latches on and pulls it toward the surface, causing it to implode, and killing the pilot. Desperately fighting panic, our scientist grabs the unconscious cameraman and kicks "toward the light," reaching the surface, and drowns.

When he's revived, old memories resurge, as does a terror of any body of water bigger than his bathtub. Panic nightmares return. As though that weren't enough, he's blamed for the disaster, dumped by his girl friend, the university fires him, and he's anathema in the community. His new liquid is alcohol, which lures him into a world of self-pity and loathing.

Just when the self-destruction seems inescapable, word comes from Scotland that his father Angus, a stiff-necked rogue from whom he's been estranged for his entire adult life, has been imprisoned under the charge of murder and desperately wants his support. The summons from Scotland provides Zach a reason to resurrect himself. He flies to Drumnadrochit and calls on dad in his prison cell.

Angus, accused of pushing a business rival off a cliff and into the Loch, from which no body has been found, claims that it was an accident, that the victim was alive when he hit the water, and that he was taken by none other than Nessie, the monster herself. His case rests on the credibility of the sighting and, for that, he needs the credentials of his son. If anyone can provide research data to prove the controversial monster's existence, Zach is still considered the one to do it.

Zach feels betrayed by his father's self-serving calculation, so typical of the man's character. Manipulation is Angus' take on fatherhood. The estrangement continues. When Zach refuses to head up an official research team, the call goes out and, soon, the Highlands are filled with competing scientists, including Caldwell. Using sonar arrays to probe the depths of the Loch, these teams grasp for Nessie fame as Zach pursues his own investigation. He teams up with his boyhood chum True MacDonald, now a giant of a man, and his sister Brandy, once Zach's playmate, now a living beauty trying to make a living with a tour boat.

Alten sprinkles his story with a compendium of quotes from personal sightings of the creature since the 1930's. Woven in, as well, are a series of excerpts from an ancient account of the Knights Templars, the original guardians of the Loch, with characters William Calder, second Thane of Cawdor; Sir James the Good, the "Black Douglas;" Sir Richard Wallace--ancestors of the Scottish Clans and our present-day characters. It's all in support of Alten's diversion in Loch lore, horror and the sciences of marine biology, hydrophobia, geology, and crypto-zoology.

This is the sci-fi realism of Michael Chrichton ("Jurassic Park") and Dan Brown ("The DaVinci Code") with a little "Jaws" by Peter Benchley everpresent. The educational aspects of it count for some value beyond thriller entertainment, with writing vivid enough to question where science ends and imaginative fiction takes over. Be that as it may, it's a riveting read and a refreshing escape.