The Legacy of Heorot — Larry Niven; Jerry Pournelle

Light years from Earth, the pinnacle of mankind's genius is reached: two hundred men and women carve an idyllic, self-sufficient colony out of the vast planet Tau Ceti Four. Among the biologists, genetic engineers and farmers is one man who urges caution--Colonel Cadmann Weyland, a warrior among strangers...

They ignore his warnings and tear down his defenses--until a monster of lightning speed and awesome brutality threatens to destroy their peaceful, fragile world. Now Weyland leads the colonists into a deadly, desperate battle that is only the beginning of Tau Ceti Four's nightmare...