Tooth and Claw features a giant shark (Tooth) and a giant crab (Claw). The book title borrows its nomenclature structure from old TV shows like Laverne and Shirley, Will and Grace and Mork and Mindy.

But Michael Cole’s monster novel wasn’t a fun-lovin’ sitcom romp. Instead, it was the story of two marine animals that ingest a deadly runaway mutagen created in a laboratory. 

Cole introduced the giant crab right away. Emerging from the shallows of Florida’s High Point Beach, the craggy sea beast resembled a small mountain. Two nearby tourists didn’t have time to scream before the crab snipped them into tiny pieces and sucked down their arms and legs like a bowl of ramen noodles. The crab had a voracious appetite and soon developed a taste for human flesh. 

When the giant shark showed up, it was like a locomotive tearing loose from its rails. With its newly enhanced muscularity and insane growth spurt, the shark was nearly unstoppable. No longer did it find satisfaction with skimpy sea-dwelling creatures; it craved larger prey, something that could provide adequate sustenance. Every time it spotted a boat from below, the shark knew it had found a smorgasbord of fatty man meat.

The shark’s rampage was absolute, but one scene in particular will undoubtedly have readers squirming in their seats. Hungry and impatient, the shark swallowed the local sheriff in one greedy gulp.  

I’ll spare you the gory details, but here, in part, was how the author described it: “A surge of water carried the sheriff into the tooth-lined tunnel. Miraculously, he didn’t feel any pain initially. His first thought was that his death was instant. Darkness surrounded him.” Is this what death was like? he thought to himself.

After a few pages describing thoracic confinement and hydrostatic pressure, the author continued: “It suddenly became clear that he wasn’t dead yet. He was slowly being eaten alive! Doomed to suffer the agonies of digestion. This wasn’t hell, he realized—it was just the warmup.”

It didn’t take long for the crab and shark to start competing for food, and their novel-ending battle lasted 50 pages. The survivor would become the undisputed apex predator of High Point Beach. 

The deformed titans brawled tooth and claw in the shallow water. The crab resembled a professional boxer in its technique; its pincers had the power of 12-ton hydraulic presses. The shark was ravenous, unbowed and seemingly possessed by the devil. The audience on the beach were awestruck by the majesty of witnessing two gigantic sea beasts locked in combat. Both creatures were incapable of showing emotion, but they certainly looked pissed off during their endgame death match. 

[ Tooth and Claw / By Michael Cole / First Severed Press Edition: January 2026 / ISBN: 9781923663053 ]