<P> Through a marketing campaign orchestrated by Doubleday and paperback publisher Bantam, Jaws was incorporated into many book sales clubs catalogues and attracted media interest . After first publication in February 1974, the novel was a great success, with the hardback staying on the bestseller list for some 44 weeks and the subsequent paperback selling millions of copies in the following year . Reviews were mixed, with many literary critics finding the prose and characterization lacking despite the novel's effective suspense . </P> <P> Film producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown read the novel before its publication and bought the film rights, selecting Steven Spielberg to direct the film adaptation . The Jaws film, released in June 1975, omitted many of the novel's minor subplots, focusing more on the shark and the characterizations of the three protagonists . Jaws became the highest - grossing movie in history up to that point, becoming a watershed film in motion picture history and the father of the summer blockbuster film . Three sequels followed the film . </P> <P> The story is set in Amity, a seaside resort town on Long Island, New York . One night, a massive great white shark kills a young tourist named Chrissie Watkins while she skinny dips in the open waters . After finding what remains of her body washed up on the beach, investigators realize she was attacked by a shark . Police chief Martin Brody orders Amity's beaches closed, but mayor Larry Vaughn and the town's selectmen overrule him out of fear for damage to summer tourism, the town's main industry . With the connivance of Harry Meadows, the editor of the local newspaper, they hush up the attack . </P> <P> A few days later, the shark kills a young boy named Alex Kintner and an old man not far from the shore . A local fisherman, Ben Gardner, is sent by Amity's authorities to kill the shark but disappears on the water . Brody and deputy Leonard Hendricks find Gardner's boat anchored off - shore, empty, and covered with large bite holes, one of which has a massive shark tooth stuck in it . Blaming himself for these deaths, Brody again tries to close the beaches, while Meadows investigates the Mayor's business contacts to determine why he wants to keep the beaches open . Meadows uncovers links to the Mafia, who pressure Vaughn to keep the beaches open in order to protect the value of Amity's real estate, in which the Mafia invested a great deal of money . Meadows also recruits marine biologist Matt Hooper from the Woods Hole Institute to advise them on how to deal with the shark . </P>

Where does jaws take place in the book