Jaws (novel)

Jaws

Cover of the first hardcover edition, illustrated by Paul Bacon
Author	Peter Benchley
Cover artist	Paul Bacon (hardcover) Roger Kastel (paperback)
Language	English
Genre	Thriller
Publisher	Doubleday (hardcover) Bantam (paperback)
Publication date	February 1974[1]
Publication place	United States
Pages	278
LC Class	PS3552.E537

Jaws is a novel by American writer Peter Benchley, published by Doubleday in 1974. It tells the story of a large great white shark that preys upon a small Long Island resort town and the three men who attempt to kill it. The novel grew out of Benchley's interest in shark attacks after he read about the exploits of Frank Mundus, a shark fisherman from Montauk, New York, in 1964. Doubleday commissioned Benchley to write the novel in 1971, a period when the writer worked as a freelance journalist.

Through a marketing campaign orchestrated by Doubleday and paperback publisher Bantam Books, Jaws was incorporated into many book sales clubs catalogues and attracted media interest. First published in February 1974, Jaws was a great success; the hardback remained on the bestseller list for 44 weeks and the subsequent paperback edition sold millions of copies, beginning in 1975. Although literary critics acknowledged the novel's effective suspense, reviews were generally mixed, with many finding Benchley's prose and characterizations amateurish and banal.

Film producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown read the novel before its publication and purchased the film rights. Steven Spielberg was selected to direct the movie adaptation, Jaws, released in June 1975. The film omitted all of the novel's subplots and focused primarily on the shark and the characterizations of the three protagonists. The film version of Jaws is credited as the first summer blockbuster and was the highest-grossing film in motion picture history up to that time. Three sequels followed the film, which were met with mixed to negative responses.