Peter Benchley's the Beast

Graves Point has always been a paradise, but the unthinkable was about to happen. Mysterious things begin to happen, a local fisherman, Whip, finds an empty raft out in the ocean and a strange claw imbedded in it. When people start to vanish without a trace, he contacts a marine biologist who deduces that the people's disappearances, strange occurrences, and strange claw lead to one conclusion: there is a monstrous, insatiable giant squid terrorizing the coast, and it is up to Whip and his allies to stop it.