Quint

By: Robert Lautner

Narrated by: Nick Landrum

‘Puts some of the balls back into serious English fiction’ GILES COREN, THE TIMES

‘Whisky-soaked, guttural, stinking and funny' EVIE WYLD, OBSERVER

‘Thrilling, brutal, poetic, literary and irresistible, one of the 21st century’s first great 20th-century American novels' LOUISA YOUNG

Before there was Jaws, there was… QUINT

You already know the end of his story: now find out where it all began.

Quint: the taciturn and grizzled sea captain who survived the shark-ridden sinking of the USS Indianapolis, only to meet his maker in the maw of a Great White at the end of JAWS. So much more than a fisherman – a survivor, a fighter, a man who has left three wives in his wake.

In this vivid and utterly compelling masterpiece, Robert Lautner reimagines the life of a truly iconic character.

‘Excellent… a profound portrait of a life dislocated by war and violence’ THE TIMES, Best Summer Reads

‘If Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea was doused in whiskey and strained through the gills of a tiger shark, it would not sound dissimilar… one of this year’s literary miracles' IRISH INDEPENDENT

©2024 Robert Lautner (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

'QUINT is more than an uncannily brilliant impersonation of voice, it's a story that feels like it was there from the start. This is a book to be swallowed whole' EVIE WYLD

‘Excellent… a profound portrait of a life dislocated by war and violence’ THE TIMES, Best Summer Reads

'Lautner … has carved out the literary missing link between Moby Dick and The Old Man and the Sea, and gone a long way to putting some of the balls back into serious English fiction' Giles Coren, THE TIMES

‘Whisky-soaked, guttural, stinking and funny' Evie Wyld, OBSERVER

'QUINT brilliantly deconstructs a savage archetype that is scarce in today’s sanitised world… if Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea was doused in whiskey and strained through the gills of a tiger shark, it would not sound dissimilar… one of this year’s literary miracles' IRISH INDEPENDENT

'Clear your diary. Strong, silent Quint is going to tell you his story — and it’s the bastard child of WW2 and Moby Dick, the sweet spot between thrilling, brutal adventure and the poetic voice of the American working man, as if Raymond Chandler were a veteran deep-sea fisherman, steeped in Steinbeck and sneering at Hemingway… thrilling, brutal, poetic, literary and irresistible, one of the 21st century’s first great 20th-century American novels' LOUISA YOUNG

'An act of literary ventriloquism… uncanny… one of the most surprising literary miracles I’ve come across in a long time' Hilary White, RTÉ

'Highly enjoyable, and a must-read for any Jaws officionado' BUZZ magazine

'I loved its urgent voice, its layering of such a complex character, and its deft handling of the uncanny valley between Benchley’s character and Robert Shaw’s enduring screen portrayal’ SCOTTISH FIELD

Poor Herbie Robinson from Cleveland, bosuns mate…..

Best idea for a book since George McDonald Fraser took Harry Flashman out of Tom Browns School Days. The author caught Quints tone perfectly and the narrator brought him to life. A haunted man, we follow Quint from the navy to Amity with flashbacks to the USS Indianapolis. I ripped through this audiobook and the hairs on my arms stood up nearly the whole time. Listen now and one things is for sure…. you’ll never put on a life jacket again.