book forty-eight: Three Crooked Kings

Sunday 10 November 2013

A new non-fiction book by Brisbane journalist and author Matthew Condon.  It is a story of corruption in Queensland from 50s to the 80s, focussing on Terry Lewis's career, including his rise to Commissioner of Police in Queensland before his downfall and imprisonment after the Fitzgerald Inquiry in the late 1980s.  

Companion piece:  Bonus points for bookclubbers who also watch the 1987 Four Corners episode, The Moonlight State, which aired the night before a judicial inquiry into all these shenanigans was announced.

We met at Maree's place and she also brought the shortlist based on her friend's bookshelf!

Scores:

Wendy 11 - will finish it.  Average writing but interesting content 

Leigha 9 - high hopes. Not the explosive true story that it promised. 

Maree 15 - wrote really well given it was written in recent history and you cant embellish too much, because its dealing with people who are still living and their children. Looking forward to next book. 

Tim 6 - not explosive,  more of a damp squib.  Interesting subject matter, just told in a very boring and frustrating way. 

Mari 7 - turns out I only read 9%. I can't tell that he's interviewed people. He will introduce a character and then tell you what the character is doing in 10 years time. I am interested in the history but would prefer a Wikipedia page. Prose was poor. Badly written. 

Jim  8 for same reasons as everyone. Should have been more engaging. 

Jo  8- first few pages I thought I'd enjoy it but then it went on and on, in same journalistic style and it never went any deeper.  Very cautious. 

Average: 9.1