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 horror novel by American writer Peter Benchley, published 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 learned about the exploits of Montauk, New York shark fisherman Frank Mundus in 1964. Doubleday commissioned him to write the novel in 1971, a period when Benchley 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. After first publication in February 1974, the novel was a great success, with the hardback remaining on the bestseller list for 44 weeks and the subsequent paperback edition selling millions of copies the following year. Reviews of the novel were mixed, with many literary critics finding the prose and characterizations amateurish and banal, despite the novel's effective suspense.

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. Jaws became the highest-grossing movie in history up to that time, becoming a watershed film in motion picture history and credited as the first summer blockbuster film. Three sequels followed the film, which were met with mixed to negative responses.