Who wrote the 1974 novel Jaws?

Who wrote the 1974 novel Jaws? Peter Benchley wrote it. The American author’s thriller follows a great white shark attacking the fictional Long Island resort town of Amity, and three men who set out to kill it.

Benchley’s idea developed after he read about Montauk fisherman Frank Mundus, who caught a 4,550-pound great white shark near Long Island in 1964. Doubleday editor Thomas Congdon commissioned the novel in 1971, and Benchley researched shark biology and attack accounts while developing the manuscript.

Jaws was published in February 1974 and became a major bestseller; its hardcover edition remained on bestseller lists for 44 weeks. The book’s success quickly attracted Hollywood attention, and Universal bought the film rights before publication. Steven Spielberg’s 1975 adaptation became a landmark blockbuster.

A common mix-up is confusing the novelist with the film’s principal screenwriter, Carl Gottlieb, or with Stephen King, another prolific writer of suspense fiction. Benchley also wrote the early screenplay drafts, but the novel itself is solely credited to him.