When even mentioning the book "Jaws" Spielberg's film from 1975 (the book was published in 74) will immediately come to mind. But I'm not talking about the film here, oh no, I'm talking about the novel written by Peter Benchley, (who was also involved in the adaptation of it to film) the OG "Jaws.
The premise of the novel is pretty much the same as the movie. The beach resort town of Amity comes under siege by ravenous shark. The town's sheriff, a marine biologist and a modern day Ahab.
Pretty much the same, save for several things. In the novel there's a lot more going on than what is in the film. There's also a subplot centering around the mafia, and also a little bit romance. And of course the characters are not exactly sympathetic at all, certainly not in the way that they are portrayed in the film. Hooper as he is in the novel is just such a horrible person, regardless of his education.
And of course, at the direction of the producer of the film adaptation, those things were not included in the movie.
But overall, I do like the novel. Obviously not anything like the movie but what the hell, sometimes I prefer a book over a movie any day of the week!
by i-the-muso-1968