Alligator

Novel by Shelley & Paul N Katz 1977.

Florida's Everglades, and a huge old alligator attacks and kills two local poachers. One bright spark figures that it would be a great idea if he put a thousand dollar bounty on the 'gator's head; it just might cause a profitable tourist boom. As it turns out, it causes the return to town of the none-too-popular Rye Whitman, a local who left the town to make his millions as a ruthless property magnate. He hooks up with the best local guide, a youngster named Lee Ferris, who is also none-too-popular and could just possibly be Rye's bastard son. With two of Rye's cronies tagging along, and most of the town as competition, they set off into the swamps on a dangerous 'gator hunt from which some will naturally never return.

Not the usual 'crocs in the sewers of New York' type yarn that seem two a penny, this is less of a gore novel and more of an insight into the differing character changes that are forced onto various people by the hunt: one of Whitman's cronies has always thought himself a coward and a born loser, but finds some worth in the swamp; and Whitman and Ferris find themselves in a constant character clash, alternating between the urge to kill each other and the urge to save each other's skins. And some things that seem all-consuming at the start of the hunt become unimportant under other circumstances. The cover blurb boasts that Alligator is "the greatest novel of courageous man against murderous beast since Jaws". Well, Peter Benchley certainly wrote a far more influential book with much higher sales figures, but Alligator is actually a far superior work that would surprise many readers expecting a second-rate gore novel. It's littered with interesting characters: the crazy convict who's been hiding deep in the swamp for over thirty years is a classic; the pace never lets up; and the brutal realism hits home here far more than in many highly respected novels. One not to miss.