Jaws / by Peter Benchley

Amity Island is a tourist town. Year-long residents number out at approximately 1,000 while its summer population is annually 15,000 mostly native New Yorkers--"summer people"--vacationing at their Long Island beach homes. Despite this yearly swell, year-rounders have it hard financially, often barely breaking even and finding themselves desperately dependent on tourist season. So when, over the course of three days, 5 people are attacked and killed by a shark, the unthinkable happens: the authorities close the beaches indefinitely. Though mayhem over the situation on land ensues, Police Chief Martin Brody knows that it's nothing compared to the savage fury and carnage the shark, a Great White, would continue to perpetrate if the beaches were left open because even as no one's actually seen the beast, few doubt its ferocity and the un-likelihood of its departure from Amity's shore while food is still 'provided'. Left with few alternatives, Brody and two other men, both well-aware of the shark's destructive capacities, embark on seemingly their only other option: hunt down the beast down and kill it.

Already respected for several previous novels, Peter Benchley's Jaws was a best-seller upon publication, meriting even further approval after Stephen Spielberg brought his own personalized version to the screen. While perhaps not as visually dynamic as the movie, its a book recognizable for its vivid descriptions of a small town, its residents and a monster of indescribable power. Benchley manages to generate a very viable and imminent threat while maintaining a genuine realism amid a frenzy of panic and upheaval. Subtly he shows how an inhuman presence deftly seeps through into the human conscience, culminating in a fatal conclusion on both literal and figurative levels. Subplots and side stories like the tenuous relationship of year-rounders vs. "summer people", the town chairman's dubious dealings with loan 'sharks' and the love triangle between Chief Brody, his wife and scientist Matt Hooper give the book a well-rounded sense of just how volatile the situation is. (FIC BENCHLEY)