Seeing Jaws on the big screen in 1975 was an unforgettable experience: on-screen thrills and nailbiting tension enhanced by John Williams’ eerie score. The movie was based on Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel of the same name, whose tagline screamed “One man against a giant killer shark and a town that won’t face the truth!”

In fact, there was someone else enlisted to help Police Chief Brody take down the great white shark terrorising Amity Island. Quint was a damaged, tough-as-nails shark bounty hunter who entered the film by scrapping his nails down a blackboard to gain everyone’s attention in a town hall meeting, before offering to deliver “the head, the tail, the whole damn thing,” and exited it sliding into the open mouth of the shark itself. Now, Robert Lautner’s Quint fleshes out the backstory of this heavy-drinking, thrice-married, arm-wrestling ex-naval seaman and USS Indianapolis survivor, who despised sharks – with good cause.

The prologue to Lautner’s book is a note written in 1977 by Larry Vaughn, mayor of Amity: he’s still in complete denial about the shark ever having terrorised his town, but he does at least acknowledge Quint. Otherwise, Lautner’s novel is very much a stage for Quint to tell his tale – rather than just being a straight-up prequel either to Benchley’s book or Steven Spielberg’s film – but those that have devoured either or both will become aware of how Quint paves the road, and how cleverly. Highly enjoyable, and a must-read for any Jaws aficionado.