In the Slick of the Cricket: The True Story behind the Jaws Epic [Hardcover]

Russell Drumm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 17, 1997

Winner of Pushcart's Sixteenth Annual Editor's Book Award, this first book reveals the captain behind the Jaws epic—a man even more fascinating than the movie and novel based on his life.

Russell Drumm, a local Long Island newspaper reporter, takes a five-day fishing trip aboard the charter boat Cricket II with Captain Frank Mundus, the godfather of Jaws. The trip's single charter is a Hawaiian developer and big-game hunter who has traveled all the way to Montauk, New York, so that the cantankerous Captain Mundus can guide him to the only trophy he lacks—a great white shark of the monster-size that Mundus has made his reputation catching. What begins as a short escape for Russell Drumm quickly turns into a storm-tossed odyssey in which Mundus, on the eve of his retirement, relives his forty years at sea. He recollects his ingenious methods, his weird collection of charter "Idiots," and his lasting bitterness toward Peter Benchley for never acknowledging him as the source of the Jaws story. From a few haunting obits and Captain Mundus's unending slick of stories, our reporter weaves a bleak, yet humorously portrayed vision of the apocalypse.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Who can forget the scene in Jaws when Quint, the weathered, steely-eyed captain scrapes his fingernails down the blackboard and announces to the quibbling town elders that they're dealing with a great white shahk? In all his hard-nosed glory, Quint might seem like a creation of Hollywood, but in fact he was based on a real fishing captain out of Montauk, Long Island--Frank Mundus, captain of the Cricket II. Mundus never got his due from the movie or from Peter Benchley, the author of the novel Jaws, and that irks him. Russell Drumm, a Montauk reporter, quickly learns this and a lot more during an adventure at sea with the famous shark hunter. Also aboard is the single charter, a big-game fisherman from Hawaii who has yet to grapple with the ultimate trophy: a great white shark. In the five days that follow, the three are tossed by storms during their pursuit of what has been called nature's perfect killing machine, and Mundus relives for the reporter his 40 years on the high seas. In the Slick of the Cricket is an engaging portrait of a driven man and his unusual occupation.

From Kirkus Reviews

A superb portrait of a white-shark fishing guide--deft and sparingly, beautifully written. You might never have laid eyes on this book save for the Pushcart Prize people, who rescued it from obscurity with their 16th annual Editor's Book Award for overlooked manuscripts. You wouldn't have had the chance to be stunned by the dexterous writing, deeply impressed by the layered understanding the writer has brought to the subject. Drumm covers the waterfront beat for the East Hampton Star, which means if you want a real story, you'll spend your time in Montauk. There he came across Frank Mundus, the captain of Cricket II, a 40-year veteran of charter boats specializing in sharks. Drumm spins a wonderful tale of Mundus's fishing days: The captain radiates from the page like a force, an Urcharter captain, all canny and crude, full of stories (of sharks stuffed into phone booths for a laugh, of sharks hung from fire escapes in New York City by proud fishermen) and deeds (standing on the floating carcass of a whale and tossing cookies to circling great whites; bagging the 4,500-pounder that brought him to the attention of Peter Benchley, who fashioned him into Quint). Mundus also exudes a spooky, vaguely sinister field of energy (sacrificing a goat to a shark helped here, as did allowing a shark to be turned into a pincushion of arrows). This is not strict journalistic fare, much of the book being a highly personal, apocalyptically inclined evocation of a five-day shark trip with Mundus. But Drumm is one of those rare journalists who know all the crannies and foibles of their home patch, have done all the legwork, and appreciate the difference between exploration and exploitation. A first-rate story of a person and place out of time; thanks Mundus, thanks Drumm, thanks Pushcart. (photos) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 313 pages
• Publisher: Pushcart Press; 1ST edition (December 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888889055
• ISBN-13: 978-1888889055
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,198,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, June 24, 2000

By 

Jim (Rockland New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Slick of the Cricket: The True Story Behind the JAWS Epic (Paperback)

I loved this book. You don't find a lot of books about Sharkin around. I swear that I could almost taste the salt air of the Atlantic Ocean while reading this. Hats off to the author and thanks for the wonderful bio of Frank Mundus.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great white shark is exposed to human exploitation., April 21, 1998

By 

Stephen Sloan - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Slick of the Cricket: The True Story behind the Jaws Epic (Hardcover)

Capt. Mundis hunt for the great white sharks off Montauk,NY is an expose of human foibles. The very people he took fishing,turn around and become a part of the feeding frenzy of exploitation of the oceans. Russel Drumm,the author,writes of subjects he knows intimately. The prose flows with the ebb and fall of the tides. This is a book of the sea by men of the sea.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fasted paced enjoyable read, breezy and informative, October 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Slick of the Cricket: The True Story Behind the JAWS Epic (Paperback)

Just when you thought it was safe to ..... read a book... "Cricket" offers an insight to the man that inspired the role of "Quint" in the movie "Jaws".

Frank Mundus is a unique character...honest, poetic, funny, intelligent, old school. Too bad there are not more fisherman like him....

I give it 4 fins.