The book was Shunt by Tom Rubython, and I personally would rate James Hunt more highly than Reutemann or Scheckter (Gilles Villeneuve is more difficult as he was quite inconsistent, but on a good day he was as good as Prost or Senna, but in 1979 he was beaten by Scheckter over the season). Also, I thought that before I read the book, it is not just recency bias
I agree that Hunt somewhat lucked into his title, but even after Lauda's accident he still had something of a mountain to climb, and I'm not sure even Fittipaldi would have delivered the title under those circumstances that season. The McLaren didn't seem like the class of the field but Hunt consistently dominated Jochen Mass and beat the Tyrrells which were on a similar level (perhaps slightly ahead pre-Paul Ricard, and behind after), one of which was Jody Scheckter. I also think Hunt really seemed to punch above his weight when driving for Hesketh in the earlier seasons, in a way that was never really seen from Reutemann or Scheckter. Reutemann was very good on his day but quite inconsistent, and I think he was somewhat put in the shade by both Niki Lauda and Alan Jones when teammate to them, although he was evenly-matched with Mario Andretti.
I wrote these articles about the drivers which might explain a bit why I rate Hunt higher than the others. Although obviously it is impossible to know for sure who was the best of the four, but that is why it is an enjoyable debate!
https://f1frogblog.wordpress.com/202...ody-scheckter/
https://f1frogblog.wordpress.com/202...los-reutemann/
https://f1frogblog.wordpress.com/202...es-villeneuve/
https://f1frogblog.wordpress.com/202...17-james-hunt/