Loch

With its prehistoric quarry and gore-spattered action (``Erdon's last conscious thought was the realization that he was being chewed in half''), Zindel's latest calls to mind a waterlogged version of Jurassic Park. For years, Loch and his spunky younger sister Zaidee have trailed after Dr. Sam, their renowned marine biologist father, as he travels the world searching for behemoths like Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster. Dr. Sam's boss is the wealthy and inexplicably evil Anthony Cavenger, the father of Loch's love interest Sarah, a spoiled but good-hearted clotheshorse saddled with the novel's most inane lines. Exploring a remote Vermont lake, Cavenger and his entourage have a brief but bloody encounter with what seems to be a Plesiosaurus, a fanged cousin of ``Nessie.'' The next day, Loch and his sister meet up with Wee Beastie, a playful infant Plesiosaurus that endears itself to the youngsters with its ``otherworldly singing.'' Determined to protect Wee Beastie and its fearsome kin, Loch, Zaidee and Sarah embark upon a muddled rescue plan that has the dubious virtue of bringing about the slaughter of nearly all the bad guys. The insight and wit of Zindel's best work are conspicuously absent. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)