Only Killers and Thieves: A Novel

Written by Paul Howarth

Narrated by David Linski

Two brothers are exposed to the brutal realities of life and the seductive cruelty of power in this riveting debut novel—a story of savagery and race, injustice and honor, set in the untamed frontier of 1880s Australia—reminiscent of Philipp Meyer’s The Son and the novels of Cormac McCarthy.

An epic tale of revenge and survival, Only Killers and Thieves is a gripping and utterly transporting debut, bringing to vivid life a colonial Australia that bears a striking resemblance to the American Wild West in its formative years.

It is 1885, and a crippling drought threatens to ruin the McBride family. Their land is parched, their cattle starving. When the rain finally comes, it is a miracle that renews their hope for survival. But returning home from an afternoon swimming at a remote waterhole filled by the downpour, fourteen-year-old Tommy and sixteen-year-old Billy meet with a shocking tragedy.

Thirsting for vengeance against the man they believe has wronged them—their former Aboriginal stockman—the distraught brothers turn to the ruthless and cunning John Sullivan, the wealthiest landowner in the region and their father’s former employer. Sullivan gathers a posse led by the dangerous and fascinating Inspector Edmund Noone and his Queensland Native Police, an infamous arm of British colonial power charged with the ""dispersal"" of indigenous Australians to ""protect"" white settler rights. As they ride across the barren outback in pursuit, their harsh and horrifying journey will have a devastating impact on Tommy, tormenting him for the rest of his life—and will hold enduring consequences for a young country struggling to come into its own.

Recreating a period of Australian and British history as evocative and violent as the American frontier era, Only Killers and Thieves is an unforgettable story of family, guilt, empire, race, manhood, and faith that combines the insightfulness of Philipp Meyer’s The Son, the atmospheric beauty of Amanda Coplin’s The Orchardist, and the raw storytelling power of Ian McGuire’s The North Water.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Feb 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9780062798619

Paul Howarth

Paul Howarth is a British-Australian author and former lawyer who holds an MA in creative writing from University of East Anglia, where he was awarded the Malcolm Bradbury Scholarship. In 2018 his debut novel, Only Killers and Thieves, was published to international acclaim, winning the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for best fiction, and appearing on numerous other awards and books of the year lists.

Reviews for Only Killers and Thieves

[Linda Mooney · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent excellent book! It was hard to listen to sometimes because of the brutality towards the blacks. But really an excellent book worth the read. Looking forward to listening to the sequel. The narrator was phenomenal.

[fhudnell-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is a coming of age story, a western, a depiction of Australia's racist past and a really good book. Blurbs generally oversell, but in this case I believe that the comparison of this book to the work of Philipp Meyer and Cormac McCarthy is justified, although I liked this book a lot more than I liked "The Son" by Meyer. In 1885 Tommy (14) and Billy (16) McBride live on a Queensland cattle ranch with their sister Mary (11) and their parents. They are in the midst of a drought and their cattle are starving and worthless, the family's credit is used up and the father has a fraught relationship with their wealthy neighbor John Sullivan who has managed to amass most of the land in the area. Sullivan has a teenaged wife who is more possession than wife. The McBrides have only two Aborigines workers left, long-time employee Arthur and the new hire Joseph. During a cattle muster, the men encounter the lynched remains of two Aborigines from Joseph's clan and he leaves the McBrides, after an argument, to tend to their burial. Shortly thereafter, the boys come home to discover the dead bodies of their parents, their wounded sister and Joseph's gun which is left at the scene.Billy lies and says that he saw not only Joseph but a group of Aborigines fleeing from the crime scene. This damning statement is the catalyst for a manhunt consisting of the sadistic Inspector Noone, who is in charge of native police troops, Sullivan and the McBride brothers. Sullivan and Noone have reasons for their actions that are unrelated to the McBride murders. The group goes on a spree of killing and raping the natives they encounter along their way to Joseph's clan. This is a story of unbelievable cruelty, violence, greed and bigotry. Almost everyone in this book is detestable, with the most significant exception being Tommy. Tommy and Billy return from the rampage physically and emotionally damaged, estranged from each other and vulnerable to further treachery. A somewhat satisfying example of rough justice is eventually meted out. The book concludes with a coda set in 1904. It's a very credible ending to the story. Tommy, Billy, Noone and Sullivan are all interesting characters. This is the second book I've read this month about Australia's past and this one was much more direct about it. It's hard to believe that this is the first book by this author. It was a very compelling and well written book. I'd be happy to read anything else he writes.

[castlelass · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[lauralkeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tommy and Billy McBride have grown up on an Australian cattle farm. In 1885, the farm was threatened by severe drought and the ensuing economic hardship. Their father refused help from his former employer John Sullivan, the wealthiest landowner in the district. The small staff of indigenous people left to find better work and escape the tensions of life on a struggling farm. And then one day, traged strikes.. Tommy and Billy are forced to get help from Sullivan, who forms a posse to seek revenge on the indigenous community he unquestionably believes was responsible. The boys join the search, which affects each of them profoundly, but in different ways. As unthinkable acts of violence are committed against indigenous people, Tommy realizes his idea of justice is radically different from Sullivan’s, and he pays a high price to extricate himself from this web of cruelty.On the surface, this novel was a fast-paced story of revenge. But Paul Howarth is going for something deeper here: an indictment of white colonialism through a heartbreaking account of its bigotry-driven violence.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth is an epic story about the Australian frontier in 1880s. It tells the story of the MacBride family, scratching a living out of raising cattle in the Outback wilderness of Queensland. Australia was finding that as more white people moved into the area with their livestock and fences, the aborigines were being forced off their ancestral lands. With no place for these natives to go, eventually the policy became one of genocide. Ned McBride tries to avoid the racial tensions and hold his ranch together with the help of his two teenage sons. Their rich neighbour, John Sullivan, has become associated with Inspector Edmund Noone, the leader of the Native Mounted Police, and on whose authority the killing of natives becomes one of law rather than murder. One day the boys come home to find their father and mother have been shot dead. They blame the killings on a disgruntled native stock-man and appeal to Sullivan and Noone for their help. What follows is a sickening bloodbath as a small posse is formed to hunt down the killers, or any native they find, and extract revenge. Eventually the real facts of the murders are exposed, leaving the two boys to deal with their consciences as best they can.Only Killers and Thieves takes an unflinching look at the brutality of the genocide that was carried out in the name of progress. And while the author definitely wants to expose this policy, the resulting story is riveting, well written and draws the reader into the Australian outback to experience first hand the reality of the violence and cruelty that was unleashed upon the indigenous population. If you can handle the violence, this is an excellent read.

[brenzi_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"History is forgetting. Afterward we write the account, the account becomes truth, and we tell ourselves it has always been this way, that others were responsible, that there was nothing we could have done."Central Queensland, Australia, 1885Billy and Tommy McBride are teenagers, nearly men, who live in the unforgiving Australian bush with their parents. The drought has devastated their family farm and the worries about how they will survive is consuming them all. As the boys are out hunting any kind of animal that can provide their family with a meal, they witness a horrific murder of a native by the man who pretty much controls the entire district. Although they are sworn to secrecy in exchange for their lives, events turn ugly and brutal in no time at all.I had never heard of Paul Howarth, but I will follow him to the ends of the earth. A tremendously skilled writer with the ability to take terrible events and the treatment of the native population in Australia and write one of the most moving narratives I've ever read. My heart went out to these boys who were forced to grow up overnight and end up taking very different paths. Make no mistake, this is absolutely brutal stuff and the ultimate revenge novel, but so incredibly well done that I was holding my breath as I listened to the wonderful audio rendition by David Linski. The evil characters are incredibly evil and the good characters are incredibly good. The ending makes perfect sense but tore my heart out. Fabulous read.

[dave068-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Outstanding and profoundly moving

[zmagic69 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

To write a story this dark, with only a hint of redemption in it, requires an expert writing ability. The fact that this is the author’s fist book is nearly impossible to believe. It’s not filled with gimmicks, he doesn’t show off, he simply writes a story that takes place in the late 1800’s in Australia, and does so so effortlessly that it is so easy to feel that you are right there.This is not a pleasant subject that is covered. Two boys parents are killed, by aboriginal’s and the decision is made to track them down and bring them to “justice”.This is a truly, ugly, dark violent time in in Australian history and what is described in this book may be difficult for some people to read. The writing is what elevates this book way above most new books on the shelves today.The comparisons to the American west are certainly present, and yes the storyline is what you will likely assume it to be. It doesn’t matter, even the worst characters- from this fiction book, which is deeply built around facts from the period- are written is such a way that you can identify who they are and why they believe what they do. You won’t like them or agree with them- thank god, but you will be compelled to see the story through until the end.This will easily make the top lists of a number of those who read it.

[lauranthalas-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite books for 2018! A Western and a wonderful coming-of-age novel.Two brothers, Tommy and Billy McBride, come from a struggling farm due to a long drought. One day after it rains and the boys come home from a swimming hole, they find their parents murder and their sister on the verge of death. Going to the man their father hated for help, the boys begin their journey of justice/revenge while experience the brutal realities of the world.I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway.

[carolee888 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This historical fiction book set in Central Queensland, Australia in 1885 is a very difficult book to read. It is a coming of age book, a book filled with violence, brutality, racism and vengeance. While reading it, I kept saying to myself that I was so glad there at that time. There two boys, Billy, who is 16, and Tommy who is 14. . They live with their father, mother and younger sister on a cattle ranch plagued with drought. The cattle are dying, and their father father refuses to ask for help from his wealthy neighbor, John Sullivan. He had worked for Sullivan in the past and felt nothing but anger at him. He will not tell why he feels that way. The worse the times were, the more he drank. There is an Aborigine living apart from the house. There used to be more more in the area and on the ranch.When Billy and Tommy return from a trip and find their dogs dead, later in the house, they find their father and mother also killed and their sister, alive but not speaking. They start out to take their sister to the doctor in town which is a long drive. But their sister is in very bad shape so they go to the John Sullivan ranch which is closer. Billy starts to the tell the story and and John Sullivan shapes his words so Billy ends up lying about the deaths. saying that they were done by the Aborigines because of a gun that was found there. It is not the truth and the story gets much worse from thereon. The boys are encouraged to join John Sullivan, Noone, from the Naive Police to extract justice.This is a brutal chapter in Australian history. It is so horrible that it is difficult to read. I took a long time reading this book, I had to stop and think about what I had read so often. I am now interested in reading more of Australian history now and comparing it to what happened the American West Frontier history.I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the Publisher as a win from FirstReads but that in no way made a difference in my thoughts or feelings in this review.

[msf59 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“The guilt is collective, the responsibility shared. In a hundred years no one will even remember what happened here and certainly no one will care. History is forgetting. Afterward we write the account, the account becomes truth, and we tell ourselves it has always been this way, that others were responsible, that there was nothing we could have done.”“The frontier crossing turned Tommy's gut. Their passing from settled land to wild. All his life he feared it, the uncharted west, looming like a shadow on the edge of the world.”It is 1885, Queensland, in the Australian outback. The McBride family are struggling to survive on a drought-ridden piece of land. There are two teenage sons and a younger daughter. When tragedy strikes the family, the sons are set adrift and take refuge with John Sullivan, a local, rich, landowner. Sullivan is convinced that the crime was committed by avenging aborigines and hires a posse to track down the perpetrators. The brothers are allowed to come along, on this nightmarish hunt, shedding their boyhoods, as they share and hold witness to violence and racial genocide, on this bloody crusade.This is a well-crafted and powerful work, with echoes of Cormac McCarthy, capturing the moody and brutal landscape, of an unforgiving frontier. What a strong and accomplished debut.