Whose debut novel was 'Jaws' in 1974?

'Jaws' is a 1974 American thriller novel by Peter Benchley (1940-2006). It is about a great white shark that eats several people in the ocean near a small town called Amity in Long Island, New York. Three men set out on a boat, determined to hunt and kill the shark. In 1975, a film based on the book was released and directed by Steven Spielberg.

The novel was a great success, staying on the bestseller list for 44 weeks and selling millions of copies.

Peter Benchley had been fascinated with sharks for a long time before he wrote his first novel. He had frequently encountered sharks in his childhood while fishing with his father in Nantucket. His idea for 'Jaws' developed after reading a news report about a fisherman catching a 4,550 pounds (2,060 kg) great white shark off the coast of Long Island in 1964.

Other books by Benchley include 'The Deep' (1976), 'The Island' (1979), 'The Girl of the Sea of Cortez' (1982) and 'White Shark' (1994).

Stephen King's (born 1947) debut novel was 'Carrie' (1974). William Peter Blatty (1928-2017) is known for writing 'The Exorcist' (1971), and Ira Levin (1929-2007) wrote 'Rosemary's Baby' (1967) and 'The Stepford Wives' (1972).