Overview

'Uncannily brilliant… a book to be swallowed whole' EVIE WYLD ‘Excellent… a profound portrait of a life dislocated by war and violence’ THE TIMES 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. ‘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 ‘Thrilling, brutal, poetic, literary and irresistible, one of the 21st century’s first great 20th-century American novels' LOUISA YOUNG

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9780008647476

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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 '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

Praise for THE DRAUGHTSMAN: ‘Absolutely exceptional. So beautifully written, with precision and wisdom and real emotional acuity. The horrors are illuminated and rendered on a human scale by Lautner’s wonderfully gripping narrative, drawing me in to the intimate story of Ernst and Etta, and their very affecting portrayal as individuals caught up in larger events. With outrage and tenderness he describes a moment in time most of us would say we knew too much about already – and sheds new light on it. A remarkable achievement’ STEPHEN KELMAN, author of Pigeon English ‘Gripping from beginning to end, The Draughtsman is a highly accomplished second novel … one of [its] greatest strengths is in offering a human side to the instigators of oppression and suffering, making each character even more complex and fascinating to pore over … Lautner skilfully links history with the present, and offers a beautifully written, painful reminder that history is often bound to repeat itself’ IRISH INDEPENDENT Praise for THE ROAD TO RECKONING: ‘It’s a thrilling, violent, dangerous piece of old-fashioned storytelling that is also humane and unshowily moving’ THE TIMES ‘A compelling read: wise, touching and with just the right amount of gun fights’ NATHAN FILER, author of The Shock of the Fall ‘As simply told tales go, this is one of the best. It shares with its hero a plain eloquence and a determination and a grace rare in the world and in books. Give The Road to Reckoning to every man you know and they'll thank you for it’ JOSHUA FERRIS, author of the Man Booker-shortlisted To Rise Again at a Decent Hour ‘This quiet triumph of a novel, a sad and impeccably nuanced tale set against a finely drawn landscape of early pioneer America, left me just amazed and delighted: it will surely establish Robert Lautner as a storyteller of the first order’ SIMON WINCHESTER, author of Atlantic: A Vast Ocean of a Million Stories

'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

Author Information

Robert Lautner was born in Middlesex in 1970. Before becoming a writer he owned his own comic-book store, worked as a wine merchant, photographic consultant and recruitment consultant. He now lives on the Pembrokeshire coast in a wooden cabin with his wife and children. He is the author of The Road to Reckoning, which was a Simon Mayo Book Club choice. His second novel The Draughtsman will be published in 2017.

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