Born on this day – Peter Benchley:

Peter Benchley

Writer

May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006

Jaws

By Peter Benchley.

Published by Ballantine Books.

First published 1974.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0345544145

ISBN-13: 978-0345544148

Description from the original hardcover inner sleeve:

A girl swims lazily in the cool midnight sea - the shark, attracted by the movement, glides unerringly on to its prey; and the girl is next seen as a hideously mangled carcass in the flotsam left by the receding so begins the terror which will reign in Amity, a holiday resort on Long Island which is just preparing for another successful summer season.

Sharks are rare in those waters; and great white sharks – three-ton, thirty-foot eating machines which hunt alone – are almost unheard of. But Martin Brody, Amity’s police chief, realizes that the killer must be a shark, and begins to suspect which kind. The beach, he sees at once, must be closed.

But Amity depends on its summer season, and there are people behind the town’s development who are not prepared to contemplate a financial loss. The shark will surely move on. The girl’s death must be ‘an accident’. Reluctantly Brody gives way to pressure.

From that moment the monster in the sea becomes more than the killer of individual victims. It becomes an evil presence felt throughout the town, shaking it out of its complacency and exposing its innermost fears and tensions; and Brody will not be able to face himself again until he has cleared the ocean of its menace. Peter Benchley’s magnificent story ends with a sea-chase which for tension and drama is second to none.

This novel is a spectacular achievement, and ensures that Benchley will be the most avidly read novelist of the year.

Credits:

Books:

Jaws (1974); The Deep (1976); The Island (1979); The Girl of the Sea of Cortez (1982); Q clearance (1986); Rummies / Lush (1989); Beast (1991); White Shark / Peter Benchley's Creature (1994); Time and a Ticket (1964); Ocean Planet (1995); Shark Trouble (2002); Shark! (2002); Shark Life (2002); The Movie Book (2016).

Movies, video and television:

A Quint-mas Carol (2016); Amazon (1999–2000); Byline Showtime (1988); CBS Summer Playhouse (1987); Creature (1998); Cruel Jaws (1995); Dolphin Cove (1989); E! True Hollywood Story (2002); Expedition Earth (1990); Film '80 (1980); Good Morning America (1976–1994); Great White Shark: Truth Behind the Legend (2000); Hollywood Insider (2020); Hunt for the Great White Shark (1994); Hunters of the Reef (1978); I Love 1970's (2000); In the Teeth of Jaws (1997); Jaws (1975); Jaws (1987); Jaws (2000); Jaws (2009); Jaws 2 (1978); Jaws 3-D (1983); Jaws Unleashed (2006); Jaws: Deleted Scenes (2000); Jaws: From the Set (1974); Jaws: The Revenge (1987); Jaws: Ultimate Predator (2011); Jeremiah of Jacob's Neck (1976); Jordan Hates (2016); Les nouveaux rendez-vous (1980); Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994); MythBusters (2005); Personal History: Foreign Hitchcock (2004); Shark (1975); Shark Week (2018); Sharksploitation (2023); The American Sportsman (1982); The Beast (1996); The Book Programme (1974–1975); The Deep (1977); The Great Houdini (1976); The Island (1980); The Making of 'Jaws' (1995); The Man Who Loves Sharks (1992); The Merv Griffin Show (1986); The Mike Douglas Show (1976–1977); The Reader (2008); The Search for Atlantis (2000); The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy of 'Jaws' (2007); The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1974–1980); Today (1976); Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure (2001); Wogan (1991); World of Audubon (1988).