The Book of Quint

This novel, the result of extensive research by the author, expands the Jaws universe, and adds crucial backstory that enhances the experience of watching what many still consider to be the greatest movie ever made.

＂1100 men went into the water...＂ So begins the critically acclaimed and haunting monologue by actor Robert Shaw as grizzled shark hunter Quint in the movie Jaws, in which he describes his experience as a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in the dying days of the Second World War.

The USS Indianapolis was returning from delivering the first atomic bomb to Tinian, and on her way to the Philippines when a Japanese submarine hit her with two torpedoes. The ship sank in twelve minutes, leaving hundreds of crew members floating in the ocean with hardly any food, water, or lifeboats. During the next five days most died from exposure, salt poisoning, dehydration, and the worst mass shark attacks in recorded history. Only 316 of 1195 crew survived. This historic event provides the motivation for the iconic character Quint in Jaws.

As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Jaws, the first summer blockbuster, author and host of the podcast The Jaw Obsession Ryan Dacko has written the definitive prequel novel to the movie Jaws, telling the story of Quint. Beginning with him adrift in the Philippine Sea after the sinking, and after the end of the war following him first to San Fransisco and then to Amity Island, we read of how and when he acquires his many scars, of how he comes to own his boat The Orca and how he develops his technique for hunting sharks as seen in the movie. Along the way we meet figures from history such as Charles McVay, captain of the doomed Indianapolis, and characters from the movie Jaws such as Larry Vaughan, the slippery Mayor of Amity Island, Ichthyologist Matt Hooper and Quint’s mate Herschel Salvatore.

This novel, the result of extensive research by the author, expands the Jaws universe, and adds crucial backstory that enhances the experience of watching what many still consider to be the greatest movie ever made. It is a story of overcoming odds, survivor’s guilt, PTSD, one man’s quest for justice, and lots of sharks.

Ryan Dacko is a US Coast Guard veteran, who served as a search and rescue boat operator in the North Atlantic and on the US Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star from the North Pole to Antarctica. He is a licensed underwater welder and worked as a professional commercial deep-sea diver.

Ryan operated an independent film company where he received awards on film festival circuits and sold his award-winning documentary Plan 9 from Syracuse to Netflix in 2007. Ryan keeps a writing notebook on the dashboard of his line truck while working as a high-voltage line mechanic, living with his wife and three kids in Syracuse, New York. He is the host and creator of The Jaws Obsession podcast, ranked in the top 3% of all podcasts around the world by ListenNotes.com. The Book of Quint is his debut novel.