Paul Howarth

Here I was thinking I'd made a serendipitous 'discovery' of an obscure writer in Paul Howarth's when I read his ONLY KILLERS AND THIEVES (2018), because it was a $1 remainder brought home by my wife in a bag of bargain books. It's a novel of lies and deceit, murder and greed, set in 1870s Australia in the Queensland region, filled with fully realized characters both good and evil, told mostly from the vantage point of 15 year-old Tommy McBride, who is forced to grow up fast as he and his brother Billy accompany a squad of Native Police that travels deep into the Western outback, ostensibly in pursuit of the killers of the two boys' parents. In reality the expedition is a small part of what was a systematic attempt by white colonizers to wipe out the aboriginal tribes of Australia. The white leader of the Native police, a tall, forbidding presence dressed all in black, Inspector Noone, is perhaps one of the scariest, most purely evil fictional villains I have encountered in decades. He brought to mind the imported gunfighter of SHANE, or maybe even Melville's Ahab, in his cold-blooded obsession to wipe out the native population. Indeed, this whole novel seemed very much like American Westerns - think THE SEARCHERS, or MAJOR DUNDEE. or CHEYENNE AUTUMN.

In short, this story, with its startlingly real characters, is an absolutely riveting read. And I discovered I'm not alone in this assessment, as I found over 1,200 reviews of the book on Amazon almost all positive. (And I was also pleased to find there is a sequel.) Well, me too. Bravo, Mr Howarth. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER… (meer)

Set in Queensland, Australia, in 1885, brothers Billy and Tommy McBride are part of a ranching family struggling to survive in a harsh environment. After a tragic loss, they join the deceitful neighboring landowner on a hunt for those responsible. There is only one problem. The people they are hunting are innocent. The landowner is taking advantage of the situation to conduct a genocide.

This novel is a story of brothers driven apart by differing convictions. It is a story of twisting the “law” for nefarious purposes. It is a historic novel based on the Native Police of the time, conducting “dispersal” of native people to accommodate colonial settlers. Unfortunately, frontier Australia was not much different from frontier America in the terrible treatment of the indigenous people.

As a warning, this book contains many grisly descriptions of brutality, rape, and murder. Though the protagonist brothers are teens, it is not a young adult novel. The ending includes a small element of redemption. I found it well-crafted and extremely disturbing. It has inspired me to read more about Australian history.
… (meer)

Dust Off the Bones by Paul Howarth is the sequel to Only Killers and Thieves that introduced the two McBride Brothers, Billy and Tommy, and explained how the rest of their family was murdered and aborigines were wrongly blamed. A posse led by a very evil man wiped out a whole tribe in retaliation. This book picks up five years later and follows both brothers and how their lives developed all the while they were under the eye of Noone, the evil man who wants to make sure they keep their mouths shut.

The villain of the book, Noone, is truly one of the most vicious bad guys I have read about. As he and his psychopath assistant move through life, systematically eliminating any opposition, you lost hope that somehow justice will be served. The author obviously wants to shine a light on the attempted extermination of the aborigine population, but he does this through a well thought-out and vividly executed story that pulls the reader into the lives of the two McBride brothers who are both truly haunted by their role in the massacre and terrified at the thought of Noone.

Dust Off the Bones was an excellent sequel, a story of violence and redemption set in Colonial Australia that the author gives colour and realistic detail to. I was totally enthralled by this novel.… (meer)