Line #25 Literature/Carnosaur


1	[[quoteright:303:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carnosaur_novel_9820.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:303:"Candy-gram!"]]
3	A novel by [[FunWithAcronyms Harry Adam Knight]] (a penname of Australian science fiction author Creator/JohnBrosnan, used for his schlockiest work), written in 1984, six years before Creator/MichaelCrichton penned ''Literature/JurassicPark1990''. The novel's story is vastly different from the InNameOnly Roger Corman [[Film/{{Carnosaur}} film]]. In it, [[IntrepidReporter David Pascal]] in Cambridgeshire, England is trying to discover the causes of a recent rash of deaths. The local bigshot, Sir Darren Penward, who collects rare and exotic predators, insists it was a Siberian tiger that escaped from his private zoo. However the lone survivor of one of the attacks, a small boy, claims it was a dinosaur.
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5	Pascal investigates further (mostly through wooing and ultimately sleeping with Penward's wife, Jane) and discovers Penward's scientists have cloned predatory dinosaurs for him to add to his collection. Inevitably the dinosaurs escape and wreak carnage throughout Cambridgeshire as the local police attempt to battle them.
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7	----
8	!!Tropes used in this novel:
9	* ActionSurvivor: David and his girlfriend Jenny are really put through the wringer.
10	* AdvertisedExtra: The cover blurb for the paperback edition mentions ''T. rex, Deinonychus,'' and ''Brachiosaurus''. Out of those, only ''Deinonychus'' has a significant role in the story.
11	* AlwaysABiggerFish: Penward's private zoo has many big cats such as leopards, tigers, and a whole pride of lions. While dangerous, they're terrified of the dinosaurs on account of PrimalFear. During the breakout several lions go for Pascal, only for the ''Tarbosaurus'' to attack and kill the lions.
12	%%* AristocratsAreEvil: Penward.
13	* AutoErotica: The local MP's son and an underage girl are pulled over in a Bentley near the beginning, and become the second pair of victims to the escaped ''Deinonychus''.
14	* BadGuyBar: Penward's goons frequent a rural British version of one.
15	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. Jenny suffers grievous, life-changing injuries [[spoiler: and even has her arm ripped off! She gets better, sort of..]]
16	* BittersweetEnding: So much so it may border DownerEnding. [[spoiler: Penward is killed and his dinosaurs are destroyed, but not before they kill dozens of locals, including Jenny's family. Pascal and Jenny themselves almost die after being horrifically mauled by the final ''Deinonychus'', and they likely will carry lifelong physical and psychological injuries. To top it all off, at least two ''Tyrannosaurus'' survive, meaning the horror will likely continue later on down the line.]]
17	* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: The romantic subplot between David and Jenny is framed as one. The break-up happened before the events of the story, and they gradually get back together events transpire.
18	* ButNotTooBi: When they confront each other after [[spoiler: she frees the dinosaurs from containment]], Darren says to Jane that she's slept with "every male - ''and'' some of the females - under the age of thirty in Cambridgeshire." While her affairs with men have been well established by this point, this is the first time any lesbian affairs have been suggested. Of course, Darren could be exaggerating to sound more hurtful.
19	* {{Carfu}}: [[spoiler: The juvenile ''Megalosaurus'' is accidentally wiped out by a 20-ton lorry.]]
20	%%* CassandraTruth: David Pascal's guess that Penward somehow has dinosaurs in his zoo is proven correct, but no one will listen to his outlandish claims even after they begin their rampage through the countryside.
21	* CollectorOfTheStrange: Penward's hobby is collecting live predatory animals.
22	* CoversAlwaysLie: Tor released a movie tie-in version of the novel to coincide with Corman's film, whose cover, featuring the movie poster artwork, blurts, "[[BlatantLies In the Startling Tradition of Jurassic Park]]!". It gets double ironic when you consider the novel predates ''Jurassic Park'' in both [[Literature/JurassicPark1990 novel]] and [[Film/JurassicPark1993 film]] format by six and nine years, respectively.
23	* CurbStompBattle: A pride of lions panics at the escaping dinosaurs and a few attack the ''Tarbosaurus'' when it rams down their fence. We see the ''Tarbosaurus'' minutes later with none of the offending lions in sight and blood on its jaws, leaving little to suspect who was victorious between the 400-pound lions and the 7-ton dinosaur.
24	* DeathByIrony: Besides the dinosaurs, Sir Penward's estate houses all manner of nature's extant carnivores, many of which get loose when the dinosaurs go on the rampage. The animal that's ultimately responsible for doing Penward in? [[spoiler: One of the steers he kept as food for the dinosaurs gores him in the thigh]], and it's lampshaded several times throughout the novel.
25	* DeathOfAChild: A young girl is killed early in the story by the escaped ''Deinonychus''.
26	* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler: The ''Deinonychus'' that survived the military assault on Penward's estate homes right in on Jenny's home and slaughters her family and gravely wounds both her and Pascal. What are the chances it would pick her house?]]
27	* TheDreaded: The dinosaurs are this to humans and other mammals on account of PrimalFear. The scent and sound of the theropods causes humans to feel an instinctive panic.
28	* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: The ''Megalosaurus'' is run over by a truck while searching in vain for a mate, and never even attacks anyone. Penward potentially counts too, since despite all the dangerous dinosaurs and other carnivores in his zoo, he ultimately dies from being gored by an ordinary bull.]]
29	* DumbDinos: Played with. While the dinosaurs are overly violent and bold, they're also agile, warm-blooded, and smart enough to be threatening.
30	* EscapedAnimalRampage: Needless to say, the dinosaurs escape from Penward's estate and rampage across Cambridgeshire.
31	* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler:A mortally wounded Penward escapes with some dinosaur eggs at the end.]]
32	* FanDisservice: An in-universe example for David. He normally wouldn't mind seeing Jenny naked, but he's shocked to see her with another man having sex with her from behind.
33	* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: Lady Jane is slowly eaten alive chunk by chunk at the jaws of the baby ''Tyrannosaurus'' pair, taking hours to finally die.]]
34	* FragileSpeedster: The ''Deinonychus'' isn't especially durable, but is extremely agile and fast as it disembowels people with one slash; being compared to "a prehistoric exponent of kung-fu".
35	%%* FriendOnTheForce: Constable Keith Driscoll.
36	* GaiasVengeance: This is Penward's motive. [[spoiler: He believes that humans are not the rightful rulers of Earth, and plans to set his dinosaurs loose around the world to wipe out humanity and establish a new age of dinosaurs. Thanks to Pascal, he never got the chance.]]
37	* GentleGiantSauropod: The baby ''Brachiosaurus'' is the only one of Penward's dinosaurs that is docile.
38	* GladToBeAliveSex: David and Jenny make love after they escape from Penward's estate, which is the capstone to their relationship has been rekindled. This also functions as a PreClimaxClimax, as they then go on to warn others about the incoming dinosaur attacks.
39	* {{Gorn}}: People are killed and devoured in rather gruesome ways. Limbs get ripped off, guts spilled down, and the ''Deinonychus'' has a habit of going for people's face like a predatory bird.
40	* HellishCopter: Used several times by Penward and his men. [[spoiler: Their attempts to use it against the rampaging ''Tarbosaurus'' aren't very successful however.]]
41	* HerbivoresAreFriendly: Played straight with the ''Brachiosaurus'', but averted with the ''Scolosaurus''.
42	* IAmNotWeasel: Numerous characters--in fact, pretty much everyone except for Penward himself-- mistake the ''Tarbosaurus'' for a ''T. rex''.
43	* ImmuneToBullets: Subverted with the larger dinosaurs. Gun calibers meant to kill humans either fail to penetrate their hide or just get lodged in their dense muscle. The ''Tarbosaurus'' survives getting shot with multiple hunting rifles and a buckshot blast without issue. However when heavier implements are used, they do go down.
44	* IntrepidReporter: David Pascal, again.
45	* ItCanThink: Several characters remark on the ''Deinonychus'' having a cruel intelligence about it.
46	* TheJuggernaut: The ''Tarbosaurus'' tanks through attacks by a whole pride of lions, smashing through multiple metal fences, getting shot repeatedly, bashing over a helicopter, and forcing its way into a indoor mall without slowing down. The beast is only pushed back by firetruck hoses spraying into its ears [[spoiler:and is finally killed by collapsing a multistory building on top of itself]]. And it wasn't even fully grown yet!
47	* KarmicDeath: Lady Jane, who was [[spoiler: responsible for letting all of the dinosaurs loose is devoured by a pair of newly-hatched ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' infants at the end of the novel.]]
48	* LightningBruiser: The ''Tarbosaurus'' is the main large predator in the novel and alongside being strong enough to ram down walls and chew up a car, it is able to keep pace with a car until it shifts into higher gears. Even then it manages to maintain its speed long enough to catch back up to the protagonists when they get stopped. Numerous victims are caught off guard by the tyrannosaurid being much faster than its bulk would imply. TruthInTelevision as tyrannosaurs, other than ''Tyrannosaurus'' itself, were surprisingly fast runners.
49	* LousyLoversAreLosers: Darren Penward leaves Lady Jane sexually and emotionally dissatisfied, so she looks for pleasure and fulfillment through extramarital affairs.
50	* MercifulMinion: Penward's goons, unlike Penward himself, have more of a moral compass and are willing to spare the life of a boy they've been ordered to kill.
51	* MsFanservice: Both major female characters have their sexual appeal described from David's perspective:
52	** Jenny Stamper is a straightforward example, being twenty-three years old with a "splendid body" she tends to conceal behind tight clothes. David does say that her face isn't conventionally attractive; in his words, ''her nose was a little too broad and one of her front teeth was slightly crooked but the combination of large green eyes, wide, sensuous mouth, flawlwss skin and shoulder-length tumble of curly black hair was irresistible." All in all, David thinks of her as his sexual ideal, or his closest idea of one.
53	** Lady Jane Penward is more of a [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagging example]], as she is entered her forties and her body is showing signs of her age with stretch marks and sagging breasts. However, she is tall and slim with a face that is "handsome rather than attractive," which becomes beautiful WhenSheSmiles. David also finds that [[SexGoddess her sexual expertise more than makes up for any physical flaws]].
54	* OnlyAFleshWound: Subverted. Pascal and Jenny get slashed up and survive, but only with immediate, intensive medical care. [[spoiler: Averted with Penward, who dies from being gored in the thigh and groin by a steer.]]
55	* PantheraAwesome: In addition to the dinosaurs, Penward keeps many large cats such as tigers, lions, and leopards in his private zoo. They end up being released alongside the dinosaurs, and rack up a significant number of kills on their own.
56	* PoliceAreUseless: Not only do they fail to investigate the very shady Penward even when he falsely admits several deaths were caused by a tiger he owned, but when Penward's animals break out they are hopelessly outclassed until the army shows up. A constable stops and grills Penward and Jenny after they'd stopped the car, giving the ''Tarbosaurus'' time to catch up and kill the useless officer.
57	* PowerfulPeopleAreSubs: According to Jane Penward, her husband likes to be submissive and even wants to be whipped when they have sex. She actually doesn't like this, so she's evidently not a dom.
58	* PreClimaxClimax: David and Jenny have sex right before they go to warn others about the incoming dinosaur attacks. This also doubles as GladToBeAliveSex, as they made love after escaping from Penward's estate.
59	* PredatorsAreMean: The carnivorous dinosaurs (and plesiosaur) are all extremely vicious, relentlessly hunting down and devouring humans. Justified in that they were fed cattle in captivity and thus view mammals as easy food. They have no fear of humans and people basically smell like candy to them. In the case of the ''Megalosaurus'', it is an adolescent male going through sexual frustration, causing it to become more aggressive and dangerous than when it is hungry.
60	* PrehistoricMonster: Despite being fairly progressive in dinosaur depictions, it is still very much guilty of this. All but one of the carnivorous dinosaurs mercilessly hunt down humans and devour them long after their appetites should be sated. This is especially weird for creatures like the plesiosaur, which would not be very well equipped to eat large, fast-moving prey like human beings. However in the case of the larger carnivores like the ''Deinonychus'' and ''Tarbosaurus'', this could be [[JustifiedTrope explained]] in that mammals would have been a common food source for them as babies and they were fed cattle at Penward's estate. Just as humans have an atavistic fear of dinosaurs, the dinosaurs would have an atavistic instinct to equate mammals with easy food.
61	* PrimalFear: In addition to the obvious (the fear of large carnivores), this is discussed in the novel. Just the smell of the dinosaurs is enough to terrify people.
62	* QuizzicalTilt: Both the ''Deinonychus'' and the ''Tarbosaurus'' do this before attacking, in order to highlight their bird-like traits. Several times they are compared to looking like giant, toothy eagles.
63	* RaptorAttack: ''Deinonychus'' is the most common dinosaur in the book. Pretty commendable given this predates the TropeCodifier by six years, effectively making it one of the TropeMakers. The novel ''Deinonychus'' is arguable even closer to the truth than Crichton's, given they hunt alone, prefer prey their own size or smaller, and are compared to birds many times. All they're missing is feathers.
64	* RichBitch: Jane Penward, a nymphomaniac who offers David access to the estate in exchange of being committed to her, and when David goes to help Jenny, she becomes furious and releases all the dinosaurs in the zoo.
65	* RichReclusesRealm: Penward's estate, which is closed off to the public, so that no one can see what's actually going on inside it.
66	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Penward doesn't so much screw the rules as not even believe they exist in the first place.
67	* SequelHook: [[spoiler: Two ''Tyrannosaurus'' hatch and no one knows where they are]]. The final lines leave things open for a follow-up story, but none was ever written.
68	* SexSignalsDeath: In one of the few sequences that actually gets somewhat depicted in the film, two locals are mauled to death by a ''Deinonychus'' while getting it on in their car.
69	* ShownTheirWork: The author almost certainly did a lot of research for this and it shows. It's pretty impressive that a novel from several years before ''Jurassic Park'' came out was as accurate (to what was known at the time) as it was about dinosaur physiology and behavior.
70	** It's pointed out multiple times that plesiosaurs aren't dinosaurs!
71	** The book repeatedly emphasizes how bird-like some of the predatory dinosaurs look and behave, which causes an UncannyValley effect on anyone seeing them as most of the characters in-universe are expecting big, slow, lizard-like monsters. When the ''Deinonychus'' and ''Tarbosaurus'' feed, they're compared to carnivorous birds in how they pin their prey down with a foot and rip into it with their jaws. This theory actually is well accepted even today (and made its way into ''Film/{{Jurassic Park\|1993}}''), and all supporting evidence for it came ''after'' the book was published! One could say ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' is merely the TropeCodifier in the ''public's'' mind of dinosaurs being warm-blooded proto-birds rather than giant, cold-blooded lizards and this book, at least in fiction, is the TropeMaker. It's notable as while the bird-dinosaur connection theory had been around since the [=1860s=], it had largely been pushed to the wayside in the 1920s with alternatives enjoying much wider support until the 1970s; and even then well in the 1980s it was divisive.
72	** The manner in which the dinosaurs were created is actually much more realistic than the one presented in ''Jurassic Park''. While ''Jurassic Park'' shows its dinosaurs being produced through [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatic_cell_nuclear_transfer somatic cell transfer cloning]], this is actually impossible for animals that lay shelled eggs.[[note]]To clone an animal, you need to put new DNA into an egg cell, so it will grow into a copy of the DNA donor. You can't do this with birds and reptiles because the location of the embryo inside the egg makes implanting the donor DNA impossible. This is why most of the animals that have been cloned so far have been mammals. [[/note]] In ''Carnosaur'', on the other hand, the dinosaurs are created by altering the genetic structures of modern-day birds. This is theoretically doable (assuming we had dinosaur DNA to use) and indeed the idea of turning birds into dinosaur-like creatures has been [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/paleontologist-jack-horner-is-hard-at-work-trying-to-turn-a-chicken-into-a-dinosaur/2014/11/10/cb35e46e-4e59-11e4-babe-e91da079cb8a_story.html taken seriously]] by at least a few scientists.
73	* StormingTheCastle: Pascal manages to sneak his way into Penward's estate but is soon captured and more focused on escape for himself and his girlfriend to cause damage. [[spoiler: It's Lady Jane who causes chaos when she shuts off the fencing to turn the dinosaurs loose.]]
74	* SympatheticAdulterer: Lady Jane is a [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zagging case]]. Darren Penward is clearly an evil person, and this extends to being an unloving husband to her; she genuinely views her affair with David as a potential escape to a happier life. However, she has quite a few bad qualities of her own, and is ultimately responsible for [[spoiler: all the people killed after she releases the dinosaurs]].
75	* TerrifyingTyrannosaur: ''Tarbosaurus'' is given the role of the main big predator in the story. ''T. rex'' is also in the book, but the only ones shown are a pair of hatchlings that [[spoiler: appear at the end to eat Lady Jane]].
76	* ThisBearWasFramed: Penward blames the fatalities caused by his escaped ''Deinonychus'' on a tiger from his private menagerie.
77	* TokenGoodTeammate: The ''Brachiosaurus'' is the only dinosaur that isn't a hungry predator or territorial herbivore.
78	* ToughArmoredDinosaur: ''Scolosaurus'' is one of the only two herbivorous dinosaurs in Penward's zoo. It's also the one herbivore that's aggressive, attacking and destroying a tank.
79	* VillainBall: Penward's plan to have Pascal and Jenny fed to his lions and thinking that Jane would just take his treatment lying down were his plan's undoing. Had he simply shot all three dead, he could have probably spun any number of stories about them trespassing(in Jenny's and possibly David's case) and/or attacking him and forcing him to defend himself(regarding Jane and David's affair, for instance) and gotten away with it given his status.
80	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Regarding the above, David, at one point actually does attempt to throttle Penward, who then orders the guard accompanying them to simply knock David out as gently as possible, saying "The less bruising, the better."
81	* WouldHurtAChild: Penward plans to have Simon, the little boy that survived the third dinosaur attack, murdered, after his {{Mooks}} fail to do it themselves. [[spoiler:Fortunately he's distracted by more pressing matters before he can do so, as the dinos get loose, rendering the issue of the boy moot, and Penward forgets about him.]]
82	* WouldntHurtAChild: Unlike their boss, Penward's goons opt not to kill Simon, [[HalfheartedHenchman due to not liking the idea of killing a child]], reasoning no one would believe him.

Context Literature / Carnosaur