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A review by henrymarlene
The Death of John Lacey by Ben Hobson
3.0
Reading this book was like reading about an outback renegade in the goldfields of the 1800s in Australia. A little Australia-western flair, a lot of violence and roughness, colonialism and its deep prejudice against Aboriginal people, greed and being above the law. This is a book about a fight with consciousness. And the centre of all this is John Lacey, and he is not a nice man. He lives for the power he wields in his namesake town, and is rather evil. He is the kind of man who will go to any length to achieve and hold onto a power that can rival none. Until, that is, it is challenged.
There are seven acts in this book, and we start with what seems the demise of John Lacey. We are told a story in this book. It is like an account of episodes, rather than a biography of a person or events. The style of capturing dialogue without quotation marks adds to this flow, almost a summary, but detailed enough to tell us a story from several points of view. It seems more abrupt which matched the danger and violence of the times and it took me very quickly into the 1850s and 1870s. The dust on the streets, the mud from the rain, the dirtiness and grittiness of it all.
The distorted story telling through the eyes of Joe and Ernst, as well as the Preacher Delaney, and the contrast between the Lacey townfolk in their lazy English to the properness of Delaney is quite a clever touch. Nothing is questioned, only when it suddenly seems not quite what it seems. And then everything is a fight till the bitter end. A very different look through a story set in 19th century Australia.
There are seven acts in this book, and we start with what seems the demise of John Lacey. We are told a story in this book. It is like an account of episodes, rather than a biography of a person or events. The style of capturing dialogue without quotation marks adds to this flow, almost a summary, but detailed enough to tell us a story from several points of view. It seems more abrupt which matched the danger and violence of the times and it took me very quickly into the 1850s and 1870s. The dust on the streets, the mud from the rain, the dirtiness and grittiness of it all.
The distorted story telling through the eyes of Joe and Ernst, as well as the Preacher Delaney, and the contrast between the Lacey townfolk in their lazy English to the properness of Delaney is quite a clever touch. Nothing is questioned, only when it suddenly seems not quite what it seems. And then everything is a fight till the bitter end. A very different look through a story set in 19th century Australia.