Book Review: Jaws by Peter Benchley

The Granddaddy Of Them All. With A Lot Of Surprises For Those Only Familiar With The Movie. More than The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico. More than Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorpe (the book Die Hard is based on). More than For Love Of The Game by Michael Shaara. More than The Postman by David Brin. More than Meg by Steve Alten (a derivative work in more ways than the obvious, as we shall see below). More than any of these other books that later became movies, *this* is the book that effectively created Hollywood as we know it today, over 50 years after the book was published and the movie released. The movie *created* the Summer Blockbuster as we know it today, and in the process gave us two of the most recognizable icons of Hollywood in Steven Spielberg and John Williams.

AND YET... Peter Benchley's original book that created the entire world and story has largely been forgotten over that same period.

Which is a shame, because in its complexities, in the very things the movie *had* to leave out to make it's own form of the tale as compelling as it became in that medium, this story does in fact prove itself to be, once again, *so much better* than even *this* movie.

Benchley understood this. In this late edition of the book I read, it includes notes and ideas from Benchley about the movie after the end of the story itself, as well as an introduction before the story by Benchley discussing the legacy and fallout of the story and specifically all that came in the years after the movie.

But it is Benchley's creation that truly stands out. That shows the magic Spielberg and Williams recreated in the film. Because it is Benchley's creation that truly allows us to feel these characters more than even Spielberg ever could. We feel the tension in Chief Brody as he agonizes over his town... and his family (in scenes never included in the movie). We feel the agony of Alex Kirtner's mom as she berates Brody. We feel the sadness, tension, and desperation of the town's other leaders - yes, including the Mayor. We even get a better understanding of *why* the Mayor was so desperate, both from him (eventually) telling Brody what is happening... and from Brody getting a taste of it himself.

Now, this is absolutely a tale of its mid 1970s era and *will* be offensive to those with particularly delicate modern (2020s) sensibilities. There is a throwaway scene that even I cringe at how racially awkward it is, though it seems true for the era (which was nearly a decade before I was born, to be clear). There is LGB representation... and mockery. There is quite a bit of cussing. There are guns. There is wanton slaughter and there are monsters - of both the human and animal varieties. There is an extended and rather open door (in a way) adultery scene that the "sex-positive" and MeToo crowds are *really* going to hate (and has been discussed in at least a few other reviews I saw as I prepared to write this one). The ending? Let's just say one of the movie's most famous lines doesn't exist in the book form of the tale. ;)

There is even, way back in 1974, a Latin term I personally first encountered when I read Alten's Meg 20 ish years ago... Carcharadon Megalodon. That's right, Jaw's bigger, nastier, much more extinct cousin is in fact discussed in this very text, long before Alten ever thought of his world.

Read this book whether you ever saw the movie or not. Then go watch the movie, either for the first time or perhaps for the most recent time. I plan to in the coming days - I currently sit at Universal Orlando Resort itself as I write this review, and I'll watch the movie once I get home to my bluray collection. After you read the book, make sure you leave a review wherever you found this one. I'm interested in seeing how the two compare in your eyes too.

Very much recommended.

This review of Jaws by Peter Benchley was originally written on September 9, 2026.