History Literature / Carnosaur

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: It takes dropping a building on top of it to finally kill the ''Tarbosaurus''.]]

** 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 all 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 dinosaurs 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.

* BittersweetEnding: So much so it may border DownerEnding, especially if we consider how many bad things could happen due to the implications. [[spoiler: Penward is killed and his dinosaurs are destroyed, but not before they killing 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.]]

* AutoErotica: Horny teens Pat and Jeremy boink in a Bentley at the beginning, before getting rudely interrupted and eaten.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. Jenny gets some grievous injuries [[spoiler: and even has her arm ripped off! She gets better, sort of..]]
* BittersweetEnding: So much so it may border DownerEnding, especially if we consider how many bad things could happen due to the implications. [[spoiler: Pascal manages to find out about what Penward was doing, he gets killed and the dinosaurs are destroyed, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor but not before they murdered and hurt too many people all across Cambridgeshire, including Jenny's family]]. Pascal and Jenny themselves get horrifically mauled and almost die because of the ''Deinonychus'' and, while they survive, it almost didn't happen and they likely will carry horrifical lifelong sequels, both physical and psychological. To top it all off, at least two ''Tyrannosaurus'' survive to grow and they'll likely continue murdering more people, meaning the horror will likely continue later on down the line.]]
* {{Carfu}}: [[spoiler: The sub-adult ''Megalosaurus'' gets taken out by a 20-ton lorry on accident.]]
%%* CassandraTruth: David Pascal.

* DeathOfAChild: Fiona gets killed.
* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler: The ''Deinonychus'' that survived the military assault on Penward's estate about 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?]]

* 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 finally killed by collapsing a multistory building on top of it]]. And it wasn't even fully grown yet!

* PoliceAreUseless: Not only do they fail to investigate the very shady Penward even when he falsely admits several murders were from 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.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler: Two ''Tyrannosaurus'' hatch and no one knows where they are]]. Considering it's been about 30 years, and the author died, it's unlikely to be followed up on.
* SexSignalsDeath: In one of the few sequences that actually gets somewhat depicted in the film, two teenagers named Pat and Jeremy are mauled to death by a ''Deinonychus'' while getting it on in their car.

* TeensAreMonsters: The ''Tarbosaurus'' is big at roughly 9 meters (30 feet) long and virtually unstoppable, but in terms of age it's not fully grown yet. It also racks up one of the larger body counts among the prehistoric beasts.

** 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/JurassicPark''), 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 with alternatives enjoying much wider support until the 1970s; and even then well in the 1980s it was divisive.

* DeathBySex:
** In one of the few sequences that actually gets somewhat depicted in the film, two teenagers named Pat and Jeremy are mauled to death by a ''Deinonychus'' while getting it on in their car.
** Sort of applies to [[spoiler: the ''Megalosaurus'', an adolescent male who gets hit by a truck while searching in vain for a mate.]]

* KingOfTheDinosaurs: Subverted. Instead of ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', ''Tarbosaurus'' is given the role of the main big predator in the story. While ''T. rex'' is in the book, the only ones shown are a pair of hatchlings that [[spoiler: appear at the end to eat Lady Jane]].

** 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 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 with alternatives enjoying much wider support until the 1970s; and even then well in the 1980s it was divisive.

** 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 all 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, and indeed the idea of turning birds into dinosaurs 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.

** 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 all 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, and indeed the idea of turning birds into dinosaurs 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.

** 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. In ''Carnosaur'', on the other hand, the dinosaurs are created by using prehistoric DNA as a guide to alter the genetic structures of modern-day birds. This is theoretically doable, and indeed the idea of turning birds into dinosaurs 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.

* PredatorsAreMean: Almost all of the carnivorous dinosaurs (and one plesiosaur) are 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.

* StockDinosaurs: Some are featured. To wit:
** ''Brachiosaurus'' is briefly featured.
** ''Deinonychus'' is the most featured dinosaur of all, and it's arguably great stock in all but name. Interestingly, this was before raptors were made stock dinosaurs.
** ''Dilophosaurus'' is featured. This is also before it was made stock, and therefore it isn't depicted as frilled or venomous.
** ''Megalosaurus'' makes a few appearances.
** A plesiosaur (it's unknown exactly which kind but likely an ''Elasmosaurus'' given its size) is a big threat as well.
** ''Tarbosaurus'' is the main big predator, filling in for ''Tyrannosaurus''. Speaking of which...
** Lastly, two baby ''Tyrannosaurus'' are hatched.

** 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 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 with alternatives enjoying much wider support until the 1970s; and even then well in the 1980s it was divisive.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: Knight uses ''Tarbosaurus'' instead of a ''T. rex'' as the novel's main threat. ''Megalosaurus'', ''Altispinax'' and ''Scolosaurus'' all turn up as well.

** The manner in which the dinosaurs were created is actually much more realistic than the one presented in ''Franchise/JurassicPark'', leaving aside the impossibility of finding viable dinosaur DNA. While ''Jurassic Park'' shows its dinosaurs being produced through somatic cell transfer cloning, this is impossible for animals that lay shelled eggs. In ''Carnosaur'', on the other hand, the dinosaurs are created by using the prehistoric DNA as a guide to alter the genetic structures of modern-day birds. This is actually possible, and indeed the idea of turning birds into dinosaurs 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.

** So, to sum it up, 3 great stock, 1 secondary stock, 3 rarely-seen stock, and the rest are non-stock.

%%* RichBitch: Jane Penward.

* DeathOfAChild: Fiona gets killed.

* PredatorsAreMean: Almost all of the carnivorous dinosaurs (and one plesiosaur) are 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 smell like candy. 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.

* AristocratsAreEvil: Penward.

* CassandraTruth: David Pascal.

* FriendOnTheForce: Constable Keith Driscoll.

* RichBitch: Jane Penward.

* 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 novel and film format by six and nine years respectively. Especially {{JustForFun/Egregious}} considering the simple fact that neither of those characters are in the novel, although a reader who never saw the movie would just assume its what the two unrelated main characters of the novel look like. It even extends to the dinosaur on the cover, which is an adult ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. While the Tyrant Lizard King is present in the book, it's only in infant form and the main threat comes from a ''Tarbosaurus'' (which admittedly is a close relative, and very similar in size and appearance - most people even in Real Life, much like the characters in the book, would assume it was a ''T-Rex'' on first sight) who is a completely different coloration than the film beast.

* 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.

* 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.

* PoliceAreUseless: Not only do they fail to investigate the very shady Penward even when he falsely admits several murders were from a tiger he owned, but when Penward's animals break out they are hopelessly outclassed until the army shows up.
* PredatorsAreMean: Almost all of the carnivorous dinosaurs (and one plesiosaur) are extremely vicious, relentlessly hunting down and devouring humans. Justified in that they were fed cattle in captivity and thus view mammals as easy food. 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.

* QuizzicalTilt: Both the ''Deinonychus'' and the ''Tarbosaurus'' do this before attacking, in order to highlight their bird-like traits.
* 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.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: Knight uses ''Tarbosaurus'' instead of a ''T. rex'' as the novel's main threat. ''Megalosaurus'', ''Altispinax'' and ''Scolosaurus'' briefly turn up as well.

* 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 JP came out was as accurate (to what was known at the time) as it was about dinosaur physiology and behavior.

* 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."