Jaws

 Jaws by Peter Benchley (1974, 278 pages)

This review contains book and movie spoilers!

I was so excited to read this book because of course, I love the 1975 movie. Perhaps it's unfair to compare them. In my mind Chief Brody is Roy Scheider! But in the book, he's a completely different character. He's more aggressive, mean, and impatient. Perhaps most of it stems from the shark terrorizing the water, though. He has the same care for the general good of the townspeople as in the movie, but his interpersonal relationships are a mess.

I wish I were joking when I say. That sixty pages. SIXTY. Were not about the shark. Or even the effects of the shark on the town. It is about Chief Brody's wife cheating on him. With, of all people, the scientist Matt Hooper. It was cringey and boring. It's also pretty clear that Mr. Benchley had some misogynist views.

The action though? Incredible. It was only the final 30-40 pages, but the build up and suspense (minus the whole cheating subplot) was great. It was genuinely pretty scary and I couldn't put it down. The fear from something so unforgiving, so unrelatable, so unrelentless, attacking you just to attack is terrifying. I think what I was looking for was a novel version of the movie and while the plots are pretty much the same, this isn't it.