When the people of a Long Island resort town abandon themselves to lives of carnal frolic, suburban complacency, and underworld corruption, only a 20-foot Great White shark can set them on the path to righteousness. So goes one reasonable takeaway from this bestseller.
Another would be that this is nothing like the classic movie it would spawn the following summer, though that isn’t so bad a thing. Jaws the novel is just a different kind of fish.
Martin Brody, sheriff of the economically struggling shoreline town of Amity, has two problems. One is a shark that has begun feeding off its population. The other is his community wants the beaches kept open for the tourist money it brings.
