Judas Boys

by Joel Deane

'When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon.'

What happens when the future falls as dark as your past? When all that you have seduced and betrayed, rises up to drown you?

In the aftermath of professional catastrophe and public disgrace, a man’s life unravels. All that remains is the strangeness of the present and the ghosts of the past.

Judas Boys is a suburban de profundis — love and betrayal and forgiveness resonate with the human voice fractured in extremis.

Genres: Fiction

229 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2023

About the author

Joel Deane is a poet, novelist, journalist and speechwriter. He lives in Melbourne and works as a freelance writer.

Reviews

[Jillwilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading this novel after Martin Flanagan’s book ‘The Empty Honour Board’. It’s almost impossible to read a book set in a Catholic boys’ school and not have the spectre of abuse lurking at the edges – or front and centre.

Pin (short for Pinnock, his surname) is a scholarship boarder at St Judes, an elite Catholic boys school in Melbourne. He has come to the school in Year 11 so he sits a bit outside the established pecking order. He shares a room with Cox, a boy on a mission. Of him, Pin says: “Cox is a trophy hunter. Everything he thinks, says, does is geared to winning the silverware. He’s never told me what prize he’s after. He doesn’t have to. I can guess. Some trophy hunters just want a seat in parliament, others want to be a minister, but they’re just making up the numbers. The thoroughbreds, the egomaniacs, dream big. They want to be prime minister, want it so much, they fire themselves like a human cannonball at the world in the hope that the arc of their ambition falls in sync with the vagaries of the political gods.”

So, Cox is a bit of an arsehole. The other boy we meet is OB, a day boy, who is being bullied at school. Soon after Pin’s arrival at the school, he intervenes and protects OB and in return, OB invites him home for a weekend. The chapters focussing on this weekend are evoked really well – all the awkwardness of teenage boys, the mood swings, the boredom, the casual drinking, OB’s dysfunctional parents. This reviewer describes an incident well: “The image Deane renders of OB jumping on a 20-cent kids ride outside a supermarket underscores this painful purgatory, which Pinnock can’t fix. OB acts like a wilful child – “pulling on the horse’s reins so hard I thought he was going to yank its head off” – and yet by society’s definition he is almost a man.” (https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/c....)

OB’s funeral (after suicide) is the basis for the first chapter of the novel.

The novel flicks between two main time periods, the weekend when Pin is about 17 and maybe 20 years later when Pin has been fired from his job as Press Secretary for Cox who is now an Assistant Minister in federal government. Pin is not in good shape in these later scenes- he does not spell out why he has been sacked but he has attracted press attention for whatever it is, he is drinking too much, and the side window of his old BMW has been punched in by a mystery woman.

The blurb on the back describes the novel as a suburban de profundis (referencing the letter written by Oscar Wilde during his imprisonment in Reading Gaol, to "Bosie" and recounting their previous relationship and extravagant lifestyle as well as Wilde’s life in prison). Deane in an interview said the novel was about grief, betrayal and disgrace.

Deane said in an interview that we wanted to leave lots of things out, to be slightly elliptical and let the reader join the dots. I think this is an admirable ambition, but it can leave some characters and situations feeling a bit underdone. I felt that both Cox and OB fell into this category – they were both a little one-dimensional. It’s a short novel so the bulk of the attention is on Pin – whose entire life has been affected by the relationships he fell into in this school. He makes some terrible decisions – it’s not easy to read. There is a lot of anger in the book. I noticed that most of the people who have reviewed the book have been men – I think it might appeal more to men in its portrayal of the difficulty of making positive connections with other people and the vulnerability of men and boys in patriarchal and punishing power structures.

[Alistair · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an interesting novel; I had to check if it was the author’s first. It is not. The narrative flips between “Pin” at school, St. Jude’s, and Pin’s adult life, ostensibly a life of failure; as husband, father, employee, friend. I couldn’t ever quite get a grip on where I was, and more importantly, what Pin had done. Events are described in detail, both as the young boy and the adult man. But I missed the motivation for the story’s progress. Why did OB kill himself? (This is not a spoiler); what was Pin’s relationship with OB’s mother about? Cox, the ever-present bully, and Pin’s son, now named Anna, to his fury. This novel needed an editor, but, oh, I forgot, editors no longer exist.

[MargCal · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐

Finished reading: Judas Boys / Joel Deane ... 17 December, 2023
ISBN: 9780648848158 ..... 225 pp.

A quick and easy read, yet not an easy book. It alternates from past to present, showing, through fiction, how the lives of some students at Australian Christian Brothers schools were ruined by the CBs, by sexual and physical violence and by a lack of human feeling for the boys in their care.

Many depicted incidents leave you hanging - you want to know what happened, how that turned out. Yet, unusually - for me at least, that wasn't a problem. You knew the outcome would be bad.

The author's dedication is to "all the Judas Boys who lost their way and never made it back." While you can feel anger at those CBs who destroyed so many lives over generations, in the end it left me with a profound sadness for the lost lives of innocent young boys who became damaged men, or who chose not to grow old at all.

Highly recommended... but with a warning that this could be a trigger for some people.


Borrowed from my local library.

[Gavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devastatingly good; compelling. A fairly quick read - but certainly not an easy one. The subject matter is grim. I've read that the author lists them as grief, betrayal and disgrace. Certainly a good summary, but I'd add love to the list. I'd like to add redemption to the list of themes - but maybe it should just be the hope of redemption? Many characters are incredibly unlikeable which sometimes makes novel hard work; but not in this instance.

[Chew · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first reading, the unrealised potential and the unfinished sub-plots annoyed me, but then it occurred to me that this was deliberate, and then the story made sense; it wasn't meant to be a coherent tale, just like the life of the main character.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been a great book but for me it was just okay.
Catholic schools and its predilections are sadly well known....
An unlikeable main character which I have no doubt was the intention.
JD's writing skills are clearly evident.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bleak and unsettling story that reveals the toxic masculinity of elite boys schools and the effects of that environment on vulnerable boys. Not a likeable character in the book. Hard to decide which character was the most flawed. Very good writing.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was short, and I found the disjointed style compelling. No, the main character is not likeable, but I could see why he has gone through life the way he has. I ultimately felt respect for his willingness to seek atonement, though it’s clear how difficult this will be.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the writing style but the story and character development was a little thin.

[Cheyenne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure how I felt about this one but I do know there is one scene that I hated and really cemented how awful the main character is

[Jayden · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3.5 stars⭐️

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book needs to come with a "does the dog die" warning. While not specific about whether the dog dies, it's horrifying content. I largely enjoyed the story and writing style until this point, and then couldn't focus for the end

[Matthew Muller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant and riveting until the final verse.
So many questions left open, unsaid, wondered.

The story is set in two timeframes, the current day and our protagonist's 17th year in high school.

A scholarship boarder to a prestigious Catholic private school, the novel follows the competing and conflicting friendships made, the altercations that ensue, and ultimately delves into the how these formative conscious and unconscious decisions reverberated across adulthood.

Wonderfully written, it was a book I consumed easily in two days.
It's probably close to 4.5 stars .. I just wanted to know more, understand certain elements that occurred within the book from the retrenchment to the haircut; what happened with Berkeley and the aftermath; and even more from OB. However I guess a great element of this book is it leaves you wanting more.

Thank you Hill of Content in Balmain for presenting me with an enticing Sunday/Monday read.

[Audrey B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really easy book to read in one sitting. Personally I despised the main character, but I feel that is the purpose of the book. To hear his sympathies, innermost thoughts and reasoning behind his actions and be revolted by them. I enjoyed the way the book switched between the past and present from chapter to chapter, I feel this allowed me to maintain my interest for longer and become more invested in how the two would connect in the end. I liked the ambiguous ending. This novel delves into the trauma many young men and women have faced at private boarding schools and how social corruption can have a severe impression on the young mind.

[Sean Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea what was happening or where this was going