Beast is in many ways a rewrite of Jaws, following the formula that made the earlier work a blockbuster best seller.

Again the ocean is the source of a threat which seems indestructible to mere humans. Benchley, as usual, has done his research. Ordinarily Architeuthis dux poses no threat to human life, but human predators have eliminated its customary sources of food, and they have also greatly reduced the numbers of its only natural enemy in the ocean, the sperm whale.

Like the great white shark in Jaws, the creature becomes a source of evil for some of the novel's characters, notably Manning. He, like Quint in Jaws, becomes a sort of latter day Captain Ahab. Like Ahab, his vindictiveness costs him his life.

Benchley sacrifices a number of innocent people to the beast, strategically maintaining the suspense and excitement of his plot by carefully placing its appearances...