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DS George Manolis #1
The Stoning
A small town in outback Australia wakes to a crime of medieval savagery.
A local schoolteacher is found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Suspicion instantly falls on the refugees at the new detention centre on Cobb's northern outskirts. Tensions are high, between whites and the local indigenous community, between immigrants and the townies.
Still mourning the recent death of his father, Detective Sergeant George Manolis returns to his childhood hometown to investigate. Within minutes of his arrival, it's clear that Cobb is not the same place he left. Once it thrived, but now it's a poor and derelict dusthole, with the local police chief it deserves. And as Manolis negotiates his new colleagues' antagonism, and the simmering anger of a community destroyed by alcohol and drugs, the ghosts of his past begin to flicker to life.
Vivid, pacy and almost dangerously atmospheric, The Stoning is the first in a new series of outback noir featuring DS Manolis, himself an outsider, and a good man in a world gone to hell.
A local schoolteacher is found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Suspicion instantly falls on the refugees at the new detention centre on Cobb's northern outskirts. Tensions are high, between whites and the local indigenous community, between immigrants and the townies.
Still mourning the recent death of his father, Detective Sergeant George Manolis returns to his childhood hometown to investigate. Within minutes of his arrival, it's clear that Cobb is not the same place he left. Once it thrived, but now it's a poor and derelict dusthole, with the local police chief it deserves. And as Manolis negotiates his new colleagues' antagonism, and the simmering anger of a community destroyed by alcohol and drugs, the ghosts of his past begin to flicker to life.
Vivid, pacy and almost dangerously atmospheric, The Stoning is the first in a new series of outback noir featuring DS Manolis, himself an outsider, and a good man in a world gone to hell.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 7, 2021
93 people are currently reading
929 people want to read
About the author
Peter Papathanasiou
14 books42 followersPeter Papathanasiou was born in northern Greece in 1974 and adopted as a baby to an Australian family. His debut book, a memoir, was published in 2019 as "Son of Mine" by Salt Publishing (UK) and "Little One" by Allen & Unwin (Australia). His debut novel, a work of crime fiction, was published in 2021 as "The Stoning" by MacLehose Press (UK) and Transit Lounge (Australia), and in 2022 by Polar Verlag (Germany). Peter's writing has otherwise been published by The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Seattle Times, The Guardian UK, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Good Weekend, ABC and SBS. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from City, University of London; a Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences from The Australian National University (ANU); and a Bachelor of Laws from ANU specialising in criminal law.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeterPapatha...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 203 reviews
August 23, 2021
Peter Papathanasiou writes a gritty Aussie outback noir set in the remote town of Cobb, a place that just might make you lose all your faith in humanity and despair. A broken down, sweltering Cobb seethes with sky high racial tensions, violence, and demonises the asylum seekers imprisoned in the Brown House, run by the officious and unhelpful Frank Onions. The sexism, misogyny and never ending harassment, abuse and disrespect, makes life for women hard, DC Kate Kerr carries a bat in her boot for those instances when the men of Cobb want to express their undying 'love' for her. The pubs are segregated into black and white, and the young Aboriginal DC Andrew Smith, aka Sparrow, is gay, and upfront about it, resulting in him being constantly beaten up, a fate he cannot avoid. A life of the demon drink, has residents comatose, belligerent and aggressive and drug use is open, prolific and blatant, all self destructive efforts to escape the tedium of life and Cobb.
In this volatile and incendiary climate, the local schoolteacher, Molly Abbott, is found taped to a tree, stoned to death. Virtually everyone is certain the killer is one of the hateful, sponging asylum seekers, who are finding themselves firebombed, and pelted with rocks and stones. Greek DS George Manolis is sent to Cobb, a place he lived in as a child, to find a murderer, but shockingly he finds mayhem and incompetence, the officer in charge, Sergeant Bill Fyfe, is a drunk, incapable of providing any case details, and a police station where what evidence has been gathered is unsecured. There is nothing in the way of an investigation, and Manolis has to start from the beginning, Fyfe is a lost cause, and he has the task of training and directing Sparrow and Kate. It's a dangerous investigation, of lies, secrets and silence, with Manolis made to feel unwelcome right from the beginning.
It is not made clear if this is the start of a series, but I was so impressed with this that I sincerely hope that it will be. The story is from the perspective of Manolis, a vegetarian, separated from his lawyer wife, Emily, and desperately missing her and their young son. His father, Con, has recently died, and Manolis remembers him running Cobb's popular Milk Bar, but why, when he was 8 years old, did his father pack up everything, take his family, and leave for the city in the middle of the night? This is very dark, intense, and riveting Aussie crime fiction, set in a economically impoverished, run down town, with a prejudiced and fearful community that has no future, sees all its problems emanating from asylum seekers and will not be persuaded otherwise, and an outsider police officer determined to get to the truth, despite the obstacles he faces. I can see this appealing to those who love Aussie noir and many other fans of the crime and mystery genre. Highly recommended! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
In this volatile and incendiary climate, the local schoolteacher, Molly Abbott, is found taped to a tree, stoned to death. Virtually everyone is certain the killer is one of the hateful, sponging asylum seekers, who are finding themselves firebombed, and pelted with rocks and stones. Greek DS George Manolis is sent to Cobb, a place he lived in as a child, to find a murderer, but shockingly he finds mayhem and incompetence, the officer in charge, Sergeant Bill Fyfe, is a drunk, incapable of providing any case details, and a police station where what evidence has been gathered is unsecured. There is nothing in the way of an investigation, and Manolis has to start from the beginning, Fyfe is a lost cause, and he has the task of training and directing Sparrow and Kate. It's a dangerous investigation, of lies, secrets and silence, with Manolis made to feel unwelcome right from the beginning.
It is not made clear if this is the start of a series, but I was so impressed with this that I sincerely hope that it will be. The story is from the perspective of Manolis, a vegetarian, separated from his lawyer wife, Emily, and desperately missing her and their young son. His father, Con, has recently died, and Manolis remembers him running Cobb's popular Milk Bar, but why, when he was 8 years old, did his father pack up everything, take his family, and leave for the city in the middle of the night? This is very dark, intense, and riveting Aussie crime fiction, set in a economically impoverished, run down town, with a prejudiced and fearful community that has no future, sees all its problems emanating from asylum seekers and will not be persuaded otherwise, and an outsider police officer determined to get to the truth, despite the obstacles he faces. I can see this appealing to those who love Aussie noir and many other fans of the crime and mystery genre. Highly recommended! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.
October 15, 2021
EXCERPT: Heavy footsteps were soon around her ears, hands on her hair pulling backwards, dragging her limp body further east. They were leaving the oval, heading for the copse of gum trees behind the scoreboard. Dry sheets of sharp bark clawed at her skin, leaving dark red whiplashes across her milky white back. The next sound was of her spine crunching against one of the thick trunks as she was moved into position and fixed with a thick roll of gaffer tape around her shoulders, breasts, torso, thighs, ankles.
She was left there for some time - several minutes. Ample opportunity for her to be found had it not been such a late hour or desolate part of town. She hung there, strung like a puppet. Something began to crawl up her leg.
ABOUT 'THE STONING': A small town in outback Australia wakes to a crime of medieval savagery.
A local schoolteacher is found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Suspicion instantly falls on the refugees at the new detention centre on Cobb's northern outskirts. Tensions are high, between whites and the local indigenous community, between immigrants and the townies.
Still mourning the recent death of his father, Detective Sergeant George Manolis returns to his childhood hometown to investigate. Within minutes of his arrival, it's clear that Cobb is not the same place he left. Once it thrived, but now it's a poor and derelict dusthole, with the local police chief it deserves. And as Manolis negotiates his new colleagues' antagonism, and the simmering anger of a community destroyed by alcohol and drugs, the ghosts of his past begin to flicker to life.
MY THOUGHTS: Set in the fictional town of Cobb, somewhere in outback Australia, The Stoning is a richly atmospheric story of the brutal stoning to death of a young woman, a much loved and admired teacher in the community.
DS Georgios Manolis is sent out from 'the city' to oversee the investigation, the local police force of three being largely inept and mostly drunk, with the exception of Kate Kerr, the only female on the force. Even she carries a baseball bat in the boot of her car to ward off unwanted attention and even she, initially, resents Manolis' intrusion.
Manolis, a man used to doing things by the book and following procedures, struggles with policing in this small town where there's no chain of command and no recognition given to the need to preserve the scene of the crime or establish a chain of evidence.
The people are a mystery to him. Angry, resentful and bigoted, they seem content to blame Molly's death on the inmates of the local refugee detention centre. After all, it's their sort of crime. But for Manolis, there's a few things that just don't seem to add up.
As much as I loved this story, there were a few things that didn't add up for me either. Molly must have had some friends amongst the townspeople. No mention is made of them, the question is never asked, and thus no one, other than the principal of the school where she worked, is interviewed about her.
Small towns like this thrive on gossip. That is never tapped. And believe me, the men gossip just as much as the women. Georgios could have done with spending a bit more time on a bar stool in the top pub, shouting a few rounds, with his ears open.
And speaking of women, where are they? Other than the dead Molly, Kate the copper, Ida the old gin soak and newspaper thief who found Molly's body, and Vera from the holiday park, there are no women!
I would also have liked a better sense of place. Beyond the fact that we're in the Australian outback, which is two-thirds of Australia, a bloody big place, we have no idea where we are.
But, beyond that, the writing is superb. Manolis portrays an impoverished and dying town, badly impacted by the detention centre meant to bring jobs and prosperity to the area, but which has instead brought crime and drugs and hostility.
I loved the underlying thread of Manolis' family background that runs through this story. In the course of the investigation into Molly's death, he learns more about his own family, and clears up a mystery from his childhood.
The ending to The Stoning was unexpected, but strangely satisfying.
I believe this to be the first in a series featuring Georgios Manolis. I will definitely be in line for the next.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.1
#TheStoning #NetGalley
I: @petepapathanasiou @quercusbooks
T: @peteplastic @QuercusBooks
#australianfiction #contemporaryfiction #crime #detectivefiction #murdermystery #thriller
THE AUTHOR: Peter Papathanasiou was born in northern Greece in 1974 and adopted as a baby to an Australian family. His debut book, a memoir, was published in 2019 as "Son of Mine" by Salt Publishing (UK) and "Little One" by Allen & Unwin (Australia). His debut novel, a work of crime fiction, was published in 2021 as "The Stoning" by MacLehose Press (UK) and Transit Lounge (Australia), and in 2022 by Polar Verlag (Germany). Peter’s writing has otherwise been published by The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Seattle Times, The Guardian UK, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Good Weekend, ABC and SBS. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from City, University of London; a Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences from The Australian National University (ANU); and a Bachelor of Laws from ANU specialising in criminal law. (Amazon)
DISCLOSURE: Thanks to Quercus Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Stoning for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
She was left there for some time - several minutes. Ample opportunity for her to be found had it not been such a late hour or desolate part of town. She hung there, strung like a puppet. Something began to crawl up her leg.
ABOUT 'THE STONING': A small town in outback Australia wakes to a crime of medieval savagery.
A local schoolteacher is found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Suspicion instantly falls on the refugees at the new detention centre on Cobb's northern outskirts. Tensions are high, between whites and the local indigenous community, between immigrants and the townies.
Still mourning the recent death of his father, Detective Sergeant George Manolis returns to his childhood hometown to investigate. Within minutes of his arrival, it's clear that Cobb is not the same place he left. Once it thrived, but now it's a poor and derelict dusthole, with the local police chief it deserves. And as Manolis negotiates his new colleagues' antagonism, and the simmering anger of a community destroyed by alcohol and drugs, the ghosts of his past begin to flicker to life.
MY THOUGHTS: Set in the fictional town of Cobb, somewhere in outback Australia, The Stoning is a richly atmospheric story of the brutal stoning to death of a young woman, a much loved and admired teacher in the community.
DS Georgios Manolis is sent out from 'the city' to oversee the investigation, the local police force of three being largely inept and mostly drunk, with the exception of Kate Kerr, the only female on the force. Even she carries a baseball bat in the boot of her car to ward off unwanted attention and even she, initially, resents Manolis' intrusion.
Manolis, a man used to doing things by the book and following procedures, struggles with policing in this small town where there's no chain of command and no recognition given to the need to preserve the scene of the crime or establish a chain of evidence.
The people are a mystery to him. Angry, resentful and bigoted, they seem content to blame Molly's death on the inmates of the local refugee detention centre. After all, it's their sort of crime. But for Manolis, there's a few things that just don't seem to add up.
As much as I loved this story, there were a few things that didn't add up for me either. Molly must have had some friends amongst the townspeople. No mention is made of them, the question is never asked, and thus no one, other than the principal of the school where she worked, is interviewed about her.
Small towns like this thrive on gossip. That is never tapped. And believe me, the men gossip just as much as the women. Georgios could have done with spending a bit more time on a bar stool in the top pub, shouting a few rounds, with his ears open.
And speaking of women, where are they? Other than the dead Molly, Kate the copper, Ida the old gin soak and newspaper thief who found Molly's body, and Vera from the holiday park, there are no women!
I would also have liked a better sense of place. Beyond the fact that we're in the Australian outback, which is two-thirds of Australia, a bloody big place, we have no idea where we are.
But, beyond that, the writing is superb. Manolis portrays an impoverished and dying town, badly impacted by the detention centre meant to bring jobs and prosperity to the area, but which has instead brought crime and drugs and hostility.
I loved the underlying thread of Manolis' family background that runs through this story. In the course of the investigation into Molly's death, he learns more about his own family, and clears up a mystery from his childhood.
The ending to The Stoning was unexpected, but strangely satisfying.
I believe this to be the first in a series featuring Georgios Manolis. I will definitely be in line for the next.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.1
#TheStoning #NetGalley
I: @petepapathanasiou @quercusbooks
T: @peteplastic @QuercusBooks
#australianfiction #contemporaryfiction #crime #detectivefiction #murdermystery #thriller
THE AUTHOR: Peter Papathanasiou was born in northern Greece in 1974 and adopted as a baby to an Australian family. His debut book, a memoir, was published in 2019 as "Son of Mine" by Salt Publishing (UK) and "Little One" by Allen & Unwin (Australia). His debut novel, a work of crime fiction, was published in 2021 as "The Stoning" by MacLehose Press (UK) and Transit Lounge (Australia), and in 2022 by Polar Verlag (Germany). Peter’s writing has otherwise been published by The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Seattle Times, The Guardian UK, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Good Weekend, ABC and SBS. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from City, University of London; a Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Sciences from The Australian National University (ANU); and a Bachelor of Laws from ANU specialising in criminal law. (Amazon)
DISCLOSURE: Thanks to Quercus Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Stoning for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com
This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...
April 30, 2022
4.5 stars rounded to 5.
This is a book for readers who enjoy dark, gritty Aussie thrillers. This debut book, seeped in Outback Noir, is darker and grittier than any I have read. It should establish the author, Peter Papathanasiou, among those great writers of Australian crime thrillers. The Stoning was a compulsive and repulsive read, highly suspenseful and disturbing while touching on important social issues.
Set in Cobb, a remote, dusty, and dying town, it is highly atmospheric but avoids most Outback beauty and focuses on the repugnant town and its inhabitants. The story is one of despair, violence, death, loathing, and much sadness. It is fast-paced, well-written, and peppered with Aussie slang, and contains nasty racial slurs.
There is animosity by the Whites of Cobb towards the Aboriginal community and hatred towards the detainees housed in the recent government immigration detention center. These are mainly undocumented Muslim asylum seekers who have escaped war and terrorism in countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. The townspeople are resentful, believing that these immigrants live a more comfortable life than the conditions they struggle with each day. In fact, some of the immigrants feel that they would be better of in prison. They are allowed out at certain hours to mingle in the town, but fear prevents them from doing so. Cobb residents dull their hopeless lives with alcohol and drugs, often leading to violence.
Detective Sergeant George Manolis lives in the city but has been assigned to Cobb, his childhood hometown, to investigate a horrifying murder. The well-liked local schoolteacher, Molly Abbott, was found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Manolis is still mourning the recent death of his father and misses his ex-wife and child who have left him. His father ran a successful Cafe/milk bar in Cobb when the town was more peaceful and prosperous. He suddenly fled Cobb undercover of the night, moving his family to the city. Manolis never learned why his father left so quickly when he was an eight-year-old child.
When arriving in Cobb, he learns its conditions have changed for the worse. The officer in charge is an incompetent falling-down drunk, unwilling or unable to provide details of Molly's murder, and that the murder scene and evidence were never secured. He realizes he must retrain the officers assigned to him.
DC Kate Kerr has recently lost her fiance in an accident and cares for her mother, who has dementia. She carries a bat in the trunk of her car to defend herself from harassment and unwanted attacks from the misogynistic drunken men. Young Aboriginal DC Andrew Smith(Sparrow) is the victim of violence due to his race and position as a police officer and because he is gay.
Manolis, regarded as an outsider, finds a hostile, unpleasant welcome from the beginning. First, his fancy car is vandalized by children and soon destroyed by fire at the tourist park where he is staying. The proprietor of the park and his wife are friendly and lend him their beat-up, ancient truck. Their meals are delicious, but their dinner conversation revolves around hatred towards the detention center and racism towards the immigrants. At night he is awakened by the sound of fireworks that announces the arrival of a new illegal drug shipment.
Manolis is a dedicated policeman determined to follow a proper police investigation by the rules and to train his team with the same values. I liked him immediately due to his kindness to animals and his refusal to believe rumors about the victim and conclusions about people deemed guilty without proof by townspeople and the police. He is faced with a dangerous and complex investigation while working in a town in turmoil with its secrets, lies, and silence. He is also burdened with the newfound information about the reason his family fled the town. There will be further violence and death before the mysteries are solved.
This is highly recommended to readers who enjoy an intense, character-driven crime novel with a dark well-plotted, story. I was pleased that there are plans for a follow-up series featuring DC Manolis.
This is a book for readers who enjoy dark, gritty Aussie thrillers. This debut book, seeped in Outback Noir, is darker and grittier than any I have read. It should establish the author, Peter Papathanasiou, among those great writers of Australian crime thrillers. The Stoning was a compulsive and repulsive read, highly suspenseful and disturbing while touching on important social issues.
Set in Cobb, a remote, dusty, and dying town, it is highly atmospheric but avoids most Outback beauty and focuses on the repugnant town and its inhabitants. The story is one of despair, violence, death, loathing, and much sadness. It is fast-paced, well-written, and peppered with Aussie slang, and contains nasty racial slurs.
There is animosity by the Whites of Cobb towards the Aboriginal community and hatred towards the detainees housed in the recent government immigration detention center. These are mainly undocumented Muslim asylum seekers who have escaped war and terrorism in countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. The townspeople are resentful, believing that these immigrants live a more comfortable life than the conditions they struggle with each day. In fact, some of the immigrants feel that they would be better of in prison. They are allowed out at certain hours to mingle in the town, but fear prevents them from doing so. Cobb residents dull their hopeless lives with alcohol and drugs, often leading to violence.
Detective Sergeant George Manolis lives in the city but has been assigned to Cobb, his childhood hometown, to investigate a horrifying murder. The well-liked local schoolteacher, Molly Abbott, was found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Manolis is still mourning the recent death of his father and misses his ex-wife and child who have left him. His father ran a successful Cafe/milk bar in Cobb when the town was more peaceful and prosperous. He suddenly fled Cobb undercover of the night, moving his family to the city. Manolis never learned why his father left so quickly when he was an eight-year-old child.
When arriving in Cobb, he learns its conditions have changed for the worse. The officer in charge is an incompetent falling-down drunk, unwilling or unable to provide details of Molly's murder, and that the murder scene and evidence were never secured. He realizes he must retrain the officers assigned to him.
DC Kate Kerr has recently lost her fiance in an accident and cares for her mother, who has dementia. She carries a bat in the trunk of her car to defend herself from harassment and unwanted attacks from the misogynistic drunken men. Young Aboriginal DC Andrew Smith(Sparrow) is the victim of violence due to his race and position as a police officer and because he is gay.
Manolis, regarded as an outsider, finds a hostile, unpleasant welcome from the beginning. First, his fancy car is vandalized by children and soon destroyed by fire at the tourist park where he is staying. The proprietor of the park and his wife are friendly and lend him their beat-up, ancient truck. Their meals are delicious, but their dinner conversation revolves around hatred towards the detention center and racism towards the immigrants. At night he is awakened by the sound of fireworks that announces the arrival of a new illegal drug shipment.
Manolis is a dedicated policeman determined to follow a proper police investigation by the rules and to train his team with the same values. I liked him immediately due to his kindness to animals and his refusal to believe rumors about the victim and conclusions about people deemed guilty without proof by townspeople and the police. He is faced with a dangerous and complex investigation while working in a town in turmoil with its secrets, lies, and silence. He is also burdened with the newfound information about the reason his family fled the town. There will be further violence and death before the mysteries are solved.
This is highly recommended to readers who enjoy an intense, character-driven crime novel with a dark well-plotted, story. I was pleased that there are plans for a follow-up series featuring DC Manolis.
February 21, 2022
First time Aussie crime fiction author Peter Papathanasiou’s The Stoning, introduces Detective Sergeant George Manolis, the son of Greek immigrants who returns to the home town of his early childhood. A horrific crime has been committed with the stoning death of a local school teacher and the locals blame the refugees in the nearby Immigration Detention Centre. Detective Manolis’ presence is obviously unwelcomed and the lack of proper crime scene processing and poor investigation a major setback. As George searches for leads, he is forced to confront a decaying community, his family’s past and the inhuman treatment of refugees. The narrative clearly captures the ambiance of the setting with its wealth of characters and spectrum of views on race, immigration and the meaning of being an ‘aussie’. At its heart, this is a robust police procedural with psychological insight and earthy compassion that makes for an irresistible five-star rating.
June 22, 2021
This was an excellent read- Outback noir with a weirdly compelling cast of characters, a small town mystery and a culture clash of prejudice into which our main protagonist arrives to try and discover the truth behind a death.
The writing is superb, immersing you into these people's lives and experiences and the plot is both socially relevant and entertaining. It is in a lot of ways a quietly observant novel, telling a truth of our time and is hugely thought provoking throughout.
The unpredictable mystery is more of person than it is of action and this is a book that affects you on many levels without you realising it until you are done.
Recommended.
The writing is superb, immersing you into these people's lives and experiences and the plot is both socially relevant and entertaining. It is in a lot of ways a quietly observant novel, telling a truth of our time and is hugely thought provoking throughout.
The unpredictable mystery is more of person than it is of action and this is a book that affects you on many levels without you realising it until you are done.
Recommended.
Read
July 22, 2021The murder of a local school teacher in a small town in the Australian outback causes fear and anger in the small community.
A gritty novel with some interesting characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
A gritty novel with some interesting characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
September 12, 2022
The murder of a young school teacher in a lonely fly-speck of an Australian town is made notable by the method in which she was killed. Stoning is not something seen every day and brings with it a unique set of problems when trying to investigate it. This is the premise behind Peter Papathanasiou’s debut police procedural rural crime novel that introduces Detective Sergeant George Manolis.
Bringing a city cop into a rural town to run a murder investigation is always fraught with tension. No-one appreciates the presence of the city slicker and appreciates even less advice on how their town should be run. Although he’s returning to the town he grew up in, Manolis is definitely the outsider and quickly learns his job is going to be a tough one.
The local police are not exactly running through what might be considered standard police procedures. Much to Manolis’ chagrin there is little evidence of any relevant investigation work having been done before he had arrived. Marking out a crime scene, securing evidence, taking witness statements…nope.
Manolis has to start from a point of less than zero. The crime scene is now over a day old, the police aren’t exactly falling over themselves to help and the locals want nothing to do with the outsider.
But he is investigating a murder, a point he makes numerous times in an effort to highlight the urgency of the matter. And this means he has to interview witnesses and potential suspects, gather clues and learn about any relationships between Molly, the dead woman, and the town’s residents.
Cobb is a town in serious decline. The locals spend their days drinking or taking drugs. There is no regard for the law and racism and misogyny is rampant throughout. The only thing keeping the town running economically is the refugee detention centre which, itself, is viewed with hatred by the locals.
The refugee detention centre provides a further difficulty to Manolis’ investigation because the inmates are granted day release giving them access to the town. This means the potential suspect list is far greater than just the town’s residents.
The strength of the story lies in the microscope placed over the shameful social issues that we’d like to kid ourselves don’t take place in our own society. Casual racism, overt misogyny, xenophobia, alcohol and illegal drug abuse play a big role. And while there is no real answer on how to fix these problems, pointing them out and underlining them sparks a valuable conversation.
The Stoning is a solid police procedural wrapped up in a narrative of today’s social problems. It takes some time to gain any real momentum before things take off in a rush (perhaps too much of a rush?).
Although I could see where Papathanasiou was attempting to take the story it tended to overwhelm the mystery itself. Ultimately, I was left somewhat dissatisfied with the ending and felt too much was left unresolved.
“The ramshackle ugliness of Cobb appeared, expanding into the surrounding bushland like a malignant disease. My glorious hometown, thought Manolis.”
Bringing a city cop into a rural town to run a murder investigation is always fraught with tension. No-one appreciates the presence of the city slicker and appreciates even less advice on how their town should be run. Although he’s returning to the town he grew up in, Manolis is definitely the outsider and quickly learns his job is going to be a tough one.
The local police are not exactly running through what might be considered standard police procedures. Much to Manolis’ chagrin there is little evidence of any relevant investigation work having been done before he had arrived. Marking out a crime scene, securing evidence, taking witness statements…nope.
Manolis has to start from a point of less than zero. The crime scene is now over a day old, the police aren’t exactly falling over themselves to help and the locals want nothing to do with the outsider.
But he is investigating a murder, a point he makes numerous times in an effort to highlight the urgency of the matter. And this means he has to interview witnesses and potential suspects, gather clues and learn about any relationships between Molly, the dead woman, and the town’s residents.
Cobb is a town in serious decline. The locals spend their days drinking or taking drugs. There is no regard for the law and racism and misogyny is rampant throughout. The only thing keeping the town running economically is the refugee detention centre which, itself, is viewed with hatred by the locals.
“He’d grown tired of the fear-stoking, race-baiting, red-meat brainwashing that had been deliberately designed to appeal to residents’ basest instincts. It had been annoying at first, but now it was just plain exhausting.”
The refugee detention centre provides a further difficulty to Manolis’ investigation because the inmates are granted day release giving them access to the town. This means the potential suspect list is far greater than just the town’s residents.
The strength of the story lies in the microscope placed over the shameful social issues that we’d like to kid ourselves don’t take place in our own society. Casual racism, overt misogyny, xenophobia, alcohol and illegal drug abuse play a big role. And while there is no real answer on how to fix these problems, pointing them out and underlining them sparks a valuable conversation.
The Stoning is a solid police procedural wrapped up in a narrative of today’s social problems. It takes some time to gain any real momentum before things take off in a rush (perhaps too much of a rush?).
Although I could see where Papathanasiou was attempting to take the story it tended to overwhelm the mystery itself. Ultimately, I was left somewhat dissatisfied with the ending and felt too much was left unresolved.
March 15, 2022
The STONING by Peter Papathanasiou is book one in the DS George Manolis series. Manolis is sent to Cobb, a fictitious rural town in outback Australia, to investigate the stoning death of a respected teacher.
Manolis spent his early childhood Cobb, but the few memories he has of the place are far removed from what it is today: a declining town verging on lawlessness, where drug and alcohol abuse is rampant. A town with a nearby refugee detention centre that incenses residents, promoted as a boost to the community, it only seems to have brought a transient workforce and the refugees, who, in the eyes of the residents are better treated than they are.
Reading some interviews and publicity material about the book, it’s clear that the author is well versed in the issues he writes in the book. As a reader, I felt this was both an advantage and disadvantage. The story premise is compelling – the first chapter definitely draws you in - and I was interested enough to continue reading. On the other side, I found the ever increasing agenda-pushing and at times fanciful language (‘wild refugee blood’ . . . ???) became a drawback.
My favourite character was Constable Andrew ‘Sparrow’ Smith. He’s young, Aboriginal, gay, and a police officer. In an insular town like Cobb where racism is widespread, homosexuality is condemned, and the police are despised, Sparrow has definitely got the deck stacked against him. And yet, he still picks himself up, time and again. I would have loved to learn more about him – he deserves his own book.
This book firmly sits in the ‘outback noir’ genre, and I think fans of this genre will appreciate that the book brings something a little different with an unusual crime and the atypical setting of an insular town sitting alongside a refugee detention centre.
2.5 stars
Manolis spent his early childhood Cobb, but the few memories he has of the place are far removed from what it is today: a declining town verging on lawlessness, where drug and alcohol abuse is rampant. A town with a nearby refugee detention centre that incenses residents, promoted as a boost to the community, it only seems to have brought a transient workforce and the refugees, who, in the eyes of the residents are better treated than they are.
Reading some interviews and publicity material about the book, it’s clear that the author is well versed in the issues he writes in the book. As a reader, I felt this was both an advantage and disadvantage. The story premise is compelling – the first chapter definitely draws you in - and I was interested enough to continue reading. On the other side, I found the ever increasing agenda-pushing and at times fanciful language (‘wild refugee blood’ . . . ???) became a drawback.
My favourite character was Constable Andrew ‘Sparrow’ Smith. He’s young, Aboriginal, gay, and a police officer. In an insular town like Cobb where racism is widespread, homosexuality is condemned, and the police are despised, Sparrow has definitely got the deck stacked against him. And yet, he still picks himself up, time and again. I would have loved to learn more about him – he deserves his own book.
This book firmly sits in the ‘outback noir’ genre, and I think fans of this genre will appreciate that the book brings something a little different with an unusual crime and the atypical setting of an insular town sitting alongside a refugee detention centre.
2.5 stars
October 11, 2021
There is just something about small towns in crime fiction novels that will always grab my attention and let’s face it, any crime fiction fan worth their salt is surely swayed by that opening line of the book description. A stoning! In Australia? For real?! WTF!
The outback community of Cobb is a pretty miserable place, to be fair. It seems the residents feel the same way and so they spend pretty much their entire days in the pub, drinking to forget or just because there doesn’t seem to be anything better to do. This apparently includes the local law enforcement, whose incompetence and uselessness really comes to the fore when there is a brutal killing.
Local schoolteacher, Molly, is found tied to a tree and stoned to death. Fingers are pointing to the immigration detention centre just outside of town. Tensions in Cobb were already pretty high, but now they’re only rising. Yet, nobody seems to be doing much of anything. Detective Sergeant George Manolis is sent from the “big city” to help solve this horrific murder but he is met with resistance and silence pretty much every way he turns. Will he be able to solve who killed Molly and why?
‘The Stoning‘ is a really impressive crime fiction debut from Peter Papathanasiou. It oozes atmosphere and you can almost feel the relentless Australian heat rising from the pages. The murder mystery is a complicated one to solve. Just like Manolis, I often became rather frustrated at the lack of evidence and the apparent lack of interest in Molly’s death. I had a theory but in the end, it turned out I was only half right and the ultimate reveal was far, far worse than my wee feeble mind could have imagined.
There is so much more to ‘The Stoning‘ than this murder though. It is incredibly apt for our times but also lays bare atrocities from the past, ultimately making the reader realise that history has taught us absolutely nothing. This small town is overrun by misogyny and racism. Not just towards the residents at the immigrant detention centre but also their own neighbours, so to speak. White versus black, being the Aboriginals in this case. There are often many uncomfortable moments due to this topic, as is always the case when being faced with the worst humanity has to offer, but they make for one thought-provoking read.
A compelling murder investigation, a brilliant cast of characters (even if there were a few I really wanted to punch in the face), atmosphere dripping from the pages and topics to make you think … there is so much to like about ‘The Stoning‘. Often harrowing, sometimes heartbreaking, always thought-provoking, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to the opportunity of hanging out with Manolis again.
The outback community of Cobb is a pretty miserable place, to be fair. It seems the residents feel the same way and so they spend pretty much their entire days in the pub, drinking to forget or just because there doesn’t seem to be anything better to do. This apparently includes the local law enforcement, whose incompetence and uselessness really comes to the fore when there is a brutal killing.
Local schoolteacher, Molly, is found tied to a tree and stoned to death. Fingers are pointing to the immigration detention centre just outside of town. Tensions in Cobb were already pretty high, but now they’re only rising. Yet, nobody seems to be doing much of anything. Detective Sergeant George Manolis is sent from the “big city” to help solve this horrific murder but he is met with resistance and silence pretty much every way he turns. Will he be able to solve who killed Molly and why?
‘The Stoning‘ is a really impressive crime fiction debut from Peter Papathanasiou. It oozes atmosphere and you can almost feel the relentless Australian heat rising from the pages. The murder mystery is a complicated one to solve. Just like Manolis, I often became rather frustrated at the lack of evidence and the apparent lack of interest in Molly’s death. I had a theory but in the end, it turned out I was only half right and the ultimate reveal was far, far worse than my wee feeble mind could have imagined.
There is so much more to ‘The Stoning‘ than this murder though. It is incredibly apt for our times but also lays bare atrocities from the past, ultimately making the reader realise that history has taught us absolutely nothing. This small town is overrun by misogyny and racism. Not just towards the residents at the immigrant detention centre but also their own neighbours, so to speak. White versus black, being the Aboriginals in this case. There are often many uncomfortable moments due to this topic, as is always the case when being faced with the worst humanity has to offer, but they make for one thought-provoking read.
A compelling murder investigation, a brilliant cast of characters (even if there were a few I really wanted to punch in the face), atmosphere dripping from the pages and topics to make you think … there is so much to like about ‘The Stoning‘. Often harrowing, sometimes heartbreaking, always thought-provoking, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to the opportunity of hanging out with Manolis again.
May 3, 2022
1.5 rounded up (because of one female cop with a small role - perhaps the only redeeming character for me)
"Was this the 'true Australia' that so many proudly put forth as the nation's indomitable identity? The much revered and iconic outback that the country so readily plastered across tourist posters to entice overseas visitors? Were the resourceful small business owner, the wise Aboriginal elder and the resilient outback farmer no more than bigots, drunks and sexual predator's?"
Well in this book they certainly are as virtually every character in this outback town is a drunk, a drug addict, a misogynist, a racist, violent and out for all they can get, including the local police chief, and that's just before lunch! As the book regularly tells us. This is another in the perhaps now over popular/populated genre of crime novels set in the Australian outback. Unlike some other examples (The Dry, Cutters End and others) I really struggled with this one. DS Manolis, like the author, is of Greek heritage and much is made of migrants that come legally and the asylum seekers, or according to the residents of this town illegal con men criminals who come to rip off Australia as they are housed in the nearby detention centre.
The plot was a slow burn, some of the action and motives simply unbelievable, the ending quick, neat and almost "happy" and I felt dirty and disheartened by the awful characters that populated the pages. Fellow Australian writer Peter Temple once said in an interview - you have to tell it how it is, if it is racist then it is racist - or words to that effect. While I accept this, as I accept Temple's other words of wisdom re authors raising social issues in crime fiction, in this instance I simply felt lectured to, in quite an ineffectual way, to the point of wanting to scream. I have nothing against a book with a morale compass or unlikable characters but in this case it felt too much like an agenda, there was no subtlety, no nuance, just a rather large mallet. Not for me as shown by the fact that it took me over a week to read - I regularly needed to escape to something else.
"Was this the 'true Australia' that so many proudly put forth as the nation's indomitable identity? The much revered and iconic outback that the country so readily plastered across tourist posters to entice overseas visitors? Were the resourceful small business owner, the wise Aboriginal elder and the resilient outback farmer no more than bigots, drunks and sexual predator's?"
Well in this book they certainly are as virtually every character in this outback town is a drunk, a drug addict, a misogynist, a racist, violent and out for all they can get, including the local police chief, and that's just before lunch! As the book regularly tells us. This is another in the perhaps now over popular/populated genre of crime novels set in the Australian outback. Unlike some other examples (The Dry, Cutters End and others) I really struggled with this one. DS Manolis, like the author, is of Greek heritage and much is made of migrants that come legally and the asylum seekers, or according to the residents of this town illegal con men criminals who come to rip off Australia as they are housed in the nearby detention centre.
The plot was a slow burn, some of the action and motives simply unbelievable, the ending quick, neat and almost "happy" and I felt dirty and disheartened by the awful characters that populated the pages. Fellow Australian writer Peter Temple once said in an interview - you have to tell it how it is, if it is racist then it is racist - or words to that effect. While I accept this, as I accept Temple's other words of wisdom re authors raising social issues in crime fiction, in this instance I simply felt lectured to, in quite an ineffectual way, to the point of wanting to scream. I have nothing against a book with a morale compass or unlikable characters but in this case it felt too much like an agenda, there was no subtlety, no nuance, just a rather large mallet. Not for me as shown by the fact that it took me over a week to read - I regularly needed to escape to something else.
August 3, 2021
I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of The Stoning, the first novel in a projected series set in the Australian outback to feature DS George Manolis.
When the local schoolteacher is found tied to a tree and stoned to death DS Manolis is sent from the city to the town of Cobb to investigate. He finds a town fallen on hard times and seething with resentment at the recently opened refugee detention centre.
I enjoyed The Stoning, which is an atmospheric novel with an interesting plot and a well disguised perpetrator. It is told entirely from Manolis’s point of view, so the reader sees and learns what he does. His point of view is original because of who he is. He spent his formative years in Cobb, moving to the city when he was eight, so he is a sort of native son, but not really. This is nuanced by the fact that his parents were Greek immigrants, so again not quite a native son. Now he’s a big city detective in a rural location so the outsider status builds and builds. I think it’s fair to say that he has nothing in common with the locals and the contrast couldn’t be starker.
The novel isn’t exactly a police procedural as the local officers couldn’t care less about procedure and there is no forensic support, but apart from that there are things that could be done and aren’t. But then, I don’t get the impression that the investigation is the author’s main focus. He is much more interested in the plight of refugees and the hostile reception they receive in local communities, which doesn’t seem so different in any corner of the world. It is interesting but depressing and the same could be said of his portrayal of Cobb and its inhabitants. The author also has room to present the treatment of Aborigines and I found that informative as his aboriginal character, Sparrow, is trenchant in his views. There’s not a lot of space for optimism on the human condition in this novel.
I think the plot is well conceived. Manolis spends a lot of time investigating in the dark as information is hard to come by, possibly by intent on the author’s part, as some of it lacks a little credibility. The solution, however, when it comes, is surprising, but entirely in keeping with the location and its problems.
I was very taken with DS George Manolis, who, despite being a seasoned homicide detective, is a bit of an idealist, determined to get justice for the victims. I like his attitude.
For a crime novel The Stoning is a bit issue heavy, but that didn’t stop me from devouring the pages, so I have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.
When the local schoolteacher is found tied to a tree and stoned to death DS Manolis is sent from the city to the town of Cobb to investigate. He finds a town fallen on hard times and seething with resentment at the recently opened refugee detention centre.
I enjoyed The Stoning, which is an atmospheric novel with an interesting plot and a well disguised perpetrator. It is told entirely from Manolis’s point of view, so the reader sees and learns what he does. His point of view is original because of who he is. He spent his formative years in Cobb, moving to the city when he was eight, so he is a sort of native son, but not really. This is nuanced by the fact that his parents were Greek immigrants, so again not quite a native son. Now he’s a big city detective in a rural location so the outsider status builds and builds. I think it’s fair to say that he has nothing in common with the locals and the contrast couldn’t be starker.
The novel isn’t exactly a police procedural as the local officers couldn’t care less about procedure and there is no forensic support, but apart from that there are things that could be done and aren’t. But then, I don’t get the impression that the investigation is the author’s main focus. He is much more interested in the plight of refugees and the hostile reception they receive in local communities, which doesn’t seem so different in any corner of the world. It is interesting but depressing and the same could be said of his portrayal of Cobb and its inhabitants. The author also has room to present the treatment of Aborigines and I found that informative as his aboriginal character, Sparrow, is trenchant in his views. There’s not a lot of space for optimism on the human condition in this novel.
I think the plot is well conceived. Manolis spends a lot of time investigating in the dark as information is hard to come by, possibly by intent on the author’s part, as some of it lacks a little credibility. The solution, however, when it comes, is surprising, but entirely in keeping with the location and its problems.
I was very taken with DS George Manolis, who, despite being a seasoned homicide detective, is a bit of an idealist, determined to get justice for the victims. I like his attitude.
For a crime novel The Stoning is a bit issue heavy, but that didn’t stop me from devouring the pages, so I have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.
July 19, 2021
This is an absolutely stunning crime novel, and not just a whodunit. It showcases Australia in all its rawness and ugliness, which I found utterly fascinating. It evoked in me memories of the classic Australian novel "Wake in Fright", and also reminded me of the great Australian crime writer, the late Peter Temple. Both books and authors were adapted to the screen, and I can definitely see "The Stoning" on the screen one day, too.
The writing is first class and the characters memorable. We meet Detective Sergeant George Manolis, who is of Greek-Australian heritage, in his first adventure. I can't wait to read the next instalment in the series.
I enjoyed the author's first book, a memoir, and it is great to see his writing career has kicked on with such a vivid and strong debut novel. The story stayed with me long after the final page, which to me is the sign of a truly exceptional book.
Very highly recommended!
The writing is first class and the characters memorable. We meet Detective Sergeant George Manolis, who is of Greek-Australian heritage, in his first adventure. I can't wait to read the next instalment in the series.
I enjoyed the author's first book, a memoir, and it is great to see his writing career has kicked on with such a vivid and strong debut novel. The story stayed with me long after the final page, which to me is the sign of a truly exceptional book.
Very highly recommended!
November 16, 2021
A murder and a building fire take place in the outback of Australia. The local police can not handle the investigation and as a result a city detective born in the outback is sent to investigate. The town suffers from high unemployment, drunkenness, drug abuse and a plethora of problems. In addition there is an immigrant camp in this town along with segregated aborigines. The author uses the murder investigation to point out all the problems which now exist in Australia outback and the government's responses to it. The investigation itself is more of police procedural, but the social problems seem to dominate the narrative. Well written book with some good character development. The narrative is logical albeit a little slow in parts.
May 1, 2022
SUPERB. I wasn´t expecting much,after trying several relatively new authors and being dissapointed, so this was a doubly pleasant surprise. Well written,really atmospheric, with a likeable main character,good plot. Treats serious issues with respect and compassion too;I´m tired of bad books that use migration/human trafficking/dead end towns simply as props for an empty-and often silly-plot. As tired as I am of authors creating "tormented" protagonists just as yet another prop to hide empty plots and bad writing.
Manolis is solid, has layers, as do the rest of the cast; it feels believable. This is a welcome addition to the genre, and I´m glad there´s already a second book.
Manolis is solid, has layers, as do the rest of the cast; it feels believable. This is a welcome addition to the genre, and I´m glad there´s already a second book.
March 17, 2022
In a conversation with a well known author of Australian Rural/Regional crime fiction on twitter recently, we talked about the differences between "rural noir" and "rural crime". She clarified the difference between rural crime fiction and rural noir fiction for me perfectly - a projection from the author about the place that they are writing. In noir you get the sense that the author feels this place is without hope, lost and struggling to find a future. In rural crime there's more of a sense of affection or hope for a setting, both of which often extends to the handling and depiction of characters.
All of which makes THE STONING one of the most pitch perfect examples of that rural noir definition that you're going to come across. There's something brutal and utterly bereft about the childhood hometown of central character DS George Manolis. Cobb is now a shadow of it's past, with loss of population and prospects, stacked up against community dysfunction and the tension - and what, upon reflection really feels like shame - that comes with being the host town for a detention centre. Sure "community leaders" might have seen the centre as an exciting purveyor of jobs and a future, but it's turned out to create an "us and them" scenario which a town with very few of "us" left can do without.
The crime at the centre of the novel is shocking enough - a local schoolteacher, tied to a tree and stoned to death. There's something very medieval about the crime, and this is all that's needed for some people to connect the dots with potential suspects in the detention centre. Nicely wrapping up the idea that the killer couldn't be a local and demonising a group of people that simply don't need further demonising. Helps that there's connections between the victim and the centre.
Stepping back into the town as the "big city cop", it takes a while for Manolis to process his personal connection to Cobb, understandable really when the local population seems to spend their entire lives obsessed with alcohol, fighting, prejudice and finding anybody else to blame for their plight. The dysfunction nicely reflected by local cops - a sergeant with a drinking problem; a bereaved female constable; and an indigenous, gay young constable who is bullied by just about everybody.
There are absolutely no punches pulled by the author in THE STONING. This is Australian rural noir at it's scathing, pointed absolute best. Uncomfortable reading, it was nonetheless absolutely riveting and it nailed everything about the environment, people, weather and desperation that makes up the subgenre. The sense of place is spot on, the characters utterly believable, the action unrelenting and the reality in your face, brutal and unapologetically so.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
All of which makes THE STONING one of the most pitch perfect examples of that rural noir definition that you're going to come across. There's something brutal and utterly bereft about the childhood hometown of central character DS George Manolis. Cobb is now a shadow of it's past, with loss of population and prospects, stacked up against community dysfunction and the tension - and what, upon reflection really feels like shame - that comes with being the host town for a detention centre. Sure "community leaders" might have seen the centre as an exciting purveyor of jobs and a future, but it's turned out to create an "us and them" scenario which a town with very few of "us" left can do without.
The crime at the centre of the novel is shocking enough - a local schoolteacher, tied to a tree and stoned to death. There's something very medieval about the crime, and this is all that's needed for some people to connect the dots with potential suspects in the detention centre. Nicely wrapping up the idea that the killer couldn't be a local and demonising a group of people that simply don't need further demonising. Helps that there's connections between the victim and the centre.
Stepping back into the town as the "big city cop", it takes a while for Manolis to process his personal connection to Cobb, understandable really when the local population seems to spend their entire lives obsessed with alcohol, fighting, prejudice and finding anybody else to blame for their plight. The dysfunction nicely reflected by local cops - a sergeant with a drinking problem; a bereaved female constable; and an indigenous, gay young constable who is bullied by just about everybody.
There are absolutely no punches pulled by the author in THE STONING. This is Australian rural noir at it's scathing, pointed absolute best. Uncomfortable reading, it was nonetheless absolutely riveting and it nailed everything about the environment, people, weather and desperation that makes up the subgenre. The sense of place is spot on, the characters utterly believable, the action unrelenting and the reality in your face, brutal and unapologetically so.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
November 10, 2021
This book was reviewed under Fiction. It should have been under Science Fiction. Everything was an exaggeration of real life. A reasonable story, involving a decaying Australian town, with a merciless Immigration Facility. But, even though the author made good points about the treatment of illegal immigrants and the rough justice of an outback town, the over-the-top descriptions lessened their impact.
May 5, 2023
He wanted to ask when compassion had become a geographical concept, and what was its precise, latitude and longitude. Instead, he ate some peas. P 280.
The Stoning delivers a massive punch of Outback Australian Noir, dark, a bit depressing but a bloody good Aussie yarn. Peter Papathanasiou brings an authentic voice to Australian crime fiction, introducing Detective Sergeant George Manolis, Australian born Greek policeman who comes across as a very human and real character that I found myself easily drawn to.
The Stoning takes place in the fictitious outback town of Cobb, once a thriving community but now increasingly derelict and forgotten. Papathanasiou depicts the plight of some of Australia’s rural and remote locations with accuracy, bringing to bear the salient elements of a community that has succumbed to both natural and economic forces, slowly being strangled as it struggles for breath to survive.
The author also grapples controversial topics of racism, refugees, border protection, ‘boat people’, immigration, politics and detention. The presence of the detention centre on the outskirts of the town is quite provocative and the subject of ‘irregular maritime arrivals’ is poignant and has certainly been a point of contention within the Australian community. Papathanasiou doesn’t shy away from highlighting some of the prejudices that exist and that as an Australian myself, cause me to cringe and shudder somewhat as I read this novel. A fictional story with all too real elements of tensions that exist up to this very day.
The Stoning is actually set around an horrific crime, primitive, sadistic, and gruesome. Set against this backdrop, DS Manolis revisits the town of his early childhood, piecing together long forgotten memories of a town from a different era. The tale twists and turns, has some slightly predictable elements but all in all is a great read. Papathanasiou handles sensitive topics with care.
A great read. Four stars of the southern cross for sure.
The Stoning delivers a massive punch of Outback Australian Noir, dark, a bit depressing but a bloody good Aussie yarn. Peter Papathanasiou brings an authentic voice to Australian crime fiction, introducing Detective Sergeant George Manolis, Australian born Greek policeman who comes across as a very human and real character that I found myself easily drawn to.
The Stoning takes place in the fictitious outback town of Cobb, once a thriving community but now increasingly derelict and forgotten. Papathanasiou depicts the plight of some of Australia’s rural and remote locations with accuracy, bringing to bear the salient elements of a community that has succumbed to both natural and economic forces, slowly being strangled as it struggles for breath to survive.
The author also grapples controversial topics of racism, refugees, border protection, ‘boat people’, immigration, politics and detention. The presence of the detention centre on the outskirts of the town is quite provocative and the subject of ‘irregular maritime arrivals’ is poignant and has certainly been a point of contention within the Australian community. Papathanasiou doesn’t shy away from highlighting some of the prejudices that exist and that as an Australian myself, cause me to cringe and shudder somewhat as I read this novel. A fictional story with all too real elements of tensions that exist up to this very day.
The Stoning is actually set around an horrific crime, primitive, sadistic, and gruesome. Set against this backdrop, DS Manolis revisits the town of his early childhood, piecing together long forgotten memories of a town from a different era. The tale twists and turns, has some slightly predictable elements but all in all is a great read. Papathanasiou handles sensitive topics with care.
A great read. Four stars of the southern cross for sure.
December 11, 2021
This was a tautly written Australian thriller. I could FEEL the heat on my skin, the dust in my throat and visualise the roos everywhere.
George Manolis returns to the town where his parents once had a successful milkbar, only to find that the town has fallen apart. Racial tension, a lack of industry and a new detention centre all adding to the misery that is now Cobb. The cops don't care, the locals are either drunk or high and the heat sends everyone a little crazy.
It is hard to describe the feeling of menace that hangs over this entire book, but it is there for a reason. As a first-generation Aussie myself (with parents who lived in a migrant camp initially), I understand some of what George felt about his parents and the straddling of two cultures. This book, however, covers that and much more. The tension between the white and Aboriginal inhabitants and then the refugees who rachet up the tension even more - wow!
An excellent, if uneasy, read. It really made me think.
5 stars.
George Manolis returns to the town where his parents once had a successful milkbar, only to find that the town has fallen apart. Racial tension, a lack of industry and a new detention centre all adding to the misery that is now Cobb. The cops don't care, the locals are either drunk or high and the heat sends everyone a little crazy.
It is hard to describe the feeling of menace that hangs over this entire book, but it is there for a reason. As a first-generation Aussie myself (with parents who lived in a migrant camp initially), I understand some of what George felt about his parents and the straddling of two cultures. This book, however, covers that and much more. The tension between the white and Aboriginal inhabitants and then the refugees who rachet up the tension even more - wow!
An excellent, if uneasy, read. It really made me think.
5 stars.
October 2, 2021
I spotted The Stoning on Twitter and felt myself drawn in by that gorgeous cover. It spoke of hot and dusty desolation and set all my spidey senses atingle. Reading the blurb, I knew it was a done deal. Outback noir? Hell yeah! In a world rife with thrillers of all sorts, I’m always on the look-out for elements that set them apart from all others, and a not-quite-common setting does wonders.
Although I have to admit I don’t think Cobb is really the place to be. For starters, a woman had just been murdered. I mean, murder happens in the best of towns, it’s not something that should prevent us from going somewhere or living there, murder is all around us. Or do you suppose I read too many thrillers? Yet, this particular murder was particularly brutal: this woman was stoned to death. With the so-called brown house, Cobb’s immigration detention centre, just around the corner, the locals are eager to point the finger at refugees from countries where stoning is still common practice.
DS Manolis is sent from the city to Cobb, where he was born and raised, to help the local police force, such as it is, to find the culprit. The poor man has been there for all of 2 minutes and some so-and-so burns down his car. See what I mean about Cobb not being the place to be?
Manolis is a brilliant character, though. Anyone who shares their crackers with a possum and prevents someone from driving down a kangaroo, is a good person in my book, I don’t care how many crops said kangaroo might have destroyed. He’s originally Greek and he has some lingering Greek habits, he’s a bit of an outlier himself, which I think really helps him understand the refugee issues. He feels very authentic, he’s very hands-on, wants to get the job done but keeps hitting his head against a brick wall every which way he turns. His frustration is palpable but he never loses his wry sense of humour. I just love it when a book makes me snort wholly unladylike.
Strictly speaking a police procedural, The Stoning is very different from your average murder investigation. Cobb is like the wild west, with Manolis as acting sheriff trying to figure everything out while keeping everyone in line, including the actual sheriff. I adore small town settings with the characters veering from slightly off to completely bonkers, and the author did an amazing job with Cobb. The Stoning has a brilliant small town vibe that I’m sure fans of Chris Whitaker will lap up.
The refugee issues are a vital story element, and one that captured and kept my attention throughout, to some extent because it was completely new territory for me. It made me realise that I must have subconsciously considered Oceania so remote that it would not have any refugees, let alone that it would need halfway houses where refugees are detained until they either get permission to stay or are thrown out.
The Stoning also touches upon the Aboriginals and how they have been mistreated throughout history and that there is still racism towards them today. Again, something I had never considered. I’ve heard and read about the struggle of native Americans but I never realised that a native people on the other side of the world had gone through and are going through the same thing.
Last year, Gabriel Bergmoser introduced me to outback horror, now The Stoning has given me a taste of outback noir, and I have to say the Australian outback makes for a perfect setting! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with The Stoning, it’s both entertaining and thought-provoking, it’s extremely atmospheric throughout, and I can’t wait to be reunited with DS Manolis. Recommended.
Massive thanks to MacLehose Press and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
Although I have to admit I don’t think Cobb is really the place to be. For starters, a woman had just been murdered. I mean, murder happens in the best of towns, it’s not something that should prevent us from going somewhere or living there, murder is all around us. Or do you suppose I read too many thrillers? Yet, this particular murder was particularly brutal: this woman was stoned to death. With the so-called brown house, Cobb’s immigration detention centre, just around the corner, the locals are eager to point the finger at refugees from countries where stoning is still common practice.
DS Manolis is sent from the city to Cobb, where he was born and raised, to help the local police force, such as it is, to find the culprit. The poor man has been there for all of 2 minutes and some so-and-so burns down his car. See what I mean about Cobb not being the place to be?
Manolis is a brilliant character, though. Anyone who shares their crackers with a possum and prevents someone from driving down a kangaroo, is a good person in my book, I don’t care how many crops said kangaroo might have destroyed. He’s originally Greek and he has some lingering Greek habits, he’s a bit of an outlier himself, which I think really helps him understand the refugee issues. He feels very authentic, he’s very hands-on, wants to get the job done but keeps hitting his head against a brick wall every which way he turns. His frustration is palpable but he never loses his wry sense of humour. I just love it when a book makes me snort wholly unladylike.
Strictly speaking a police procedural, The Stoning is very different from your average murder investigation. Cobb is like the wild west, with Manolis as acting sheriff trying to figure everything out while keeping everyone in line, including the actual sheriff. I adore small town settings with the characters veering from slightly off to completely bonkers, and the author did an amazing job with Cobb. The Stoning has a brilliant small town vibe that I’m sure fans of Chris Whitaker will lap up.
The refugee issues are a vital story element, and one that captured and kept my attention throughout, to some extent because it was completely new territory for me. It made me realise that I must have subconsciously considered Oceania so remote that it would not have any refugees, let alone that it would need halfway houses where refugees are detained until they either get permission to stay or are thrown out.
The Stoning also touches upon the Aboriginals and how they have been mistreated throughout history and that there is still racism towards them today. Again, something I had never considered. I’ve heard and read about the struggle of native Americans but I never realised that a native people on the other side of the world had gone through and are going through the same thing.
Last year, Gabriel Bergmoser introduced me to outback horror, now The Stoning has given me a taste of outback noir, and I have to say the Australian outback makes for a perfect setting! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with The Stoning, it’s both entertaining and thought-provoking, it’s extremely atmospheric throughout, and I can’t wait to be reunited with DS Manolis. Recommended.
Massive thanks to MacLehose Press and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.
October 15, 2021
A great crime read with a deep theme about multiculturalism in Australia. Loved the characterisation and description of setting. Lots of twists and turns. A gripping read
March 12, 2022
Despatched to his childhood country town of Cobb, a hot, dry, dusty town slowly dying due to an immigration detention centre built nearby, Detective Sergeant George Manolis (a Greek by-the-book-cop and ridiculed for both) is shocked at the changes he sees during his investigations into the appalling murder of well-liked schoolteacher Molly Abbott.
The immersive atmosphere of crime and decay is strong. The townspeople are alcoholics, fireworks go off in the middle of the night to signal a drug drop, and everyone is outnumbered by rabid kangaroos. Manolis suffers destruction of his property; he does not get a straight answer from anyone, the local police included, except for his helpful offsiders Kerr and Sparrow.
A large proportion of this book is about finding Molly's killer while the rest vividly describes inhumane treatment of anyone who is seen as different; characters with varied ethnicity, European, Indigenous, overseas refugees who have seen more horrors than I could possibly comprehend but instead of finding a new life, bureaucracy locks them behind bars.
There are many Aussie slang words which I liked for outback authenticity and the ending fairly rips along. Yep, more kangaroos! Manolis has family flashbacks 'Why did his father leave a thriving business to pursue city life?' Manolis has other family issues and this is book #1 so it will be interesting to see if or how he solves the family discord.
The immersive atmosphere of crime and decay is strong. The townspeople are alcoholics, fireworks go off in the middle of the night to signal a drug drop, and everyone is outnumbered by rabid kangaroos. Manolis suffers destruction of his property; he does not get a straight answer from anyone, the local police included, except for his helpful offsiders Kerr and Sparrow.
A large proportion of this book is about finding Molly's killer while the rest vividly describes inhumane treatment of anyone who is seen as different; characters with varied ethnicity, European, Indigenous, overseas refugees who have seen more horrors than I could possibly comprehend but instead of finding a new life, bureaucracy locks them behind bars.
There are many Aussie slang words which I liked for outback authenticity and the ending fairly rips along. Yep, more kangaroos! Manolis has family flashbacks 'Why did his father leave a thriving business to pursue city life?' Manolis has other family issues and this is book #1 so it will be interesting to see if or how he solves the family discord.
October 6, 2024
Setting: 'Cobb', outback Australia; modern day.
D.S. George Manolis is sent to his former hometown of Cobb to investigate the murder by stoning of local teacher, Molly Abbott. Local suspicion falls on the residents of a local facility housing asylum seekers, especially due to the method of the murder. But Manolis, whose Greek background makes him all too aware of racial bias, is not convinced. Having his own car torched whilst parked outside his motel room and then a loan vehicle sabotaged, Manolis feels that he must be getting close to the truth, although he has to plough almost a lone furrow as local sergeant Fyfe seems reluctant to help and conspicuous by his absence. But, when the truth finally comes out, Manolis is shocked by the identity of the culprit and also by something which is revealed about his own father, who ran a Greek cafe in the town during his childhood.....
This was the first in a new Aussie crime series which has a genuine Aussie vibe, although strangely the book never identifies which state the story is set in! It was interesting to read about the refugee situation from an Australian perspective although some of the themes were perhaps somewhat belaboured at times. I still thought it was a good read with interesting characters and excellent storylines so am looking forward to further books in the series - 8.5/10.
D.S. George Manolis is sent to his former hometown of Cobb to investigate the murder by stoning of local teacher, Molly Abbott. Local suspicion falls on the residents of a local facility housing asylum seekers, especially due to the method of the murder. But Manolis, whose Greek background makes him all too aware of racial bias, is not convinced. Having his own car torched whilst parked outside his motel room and then a loan vehicle sabotaged, Manolis feels that he must be getting close to the truth, although he has to plough almost a lone furrow as local sergeant Fyfe seems reluctant to help and conspicuous by his absence. But, when the truth finally comes out, Manolis is shocked by the identity of the culprit and also by something which is revealed about his own father, who ran a Greek cafe in the town during his childhood.....
This was the first in a new Aussie crime series which has a genuine Aussie vibe, although strangely the book never identifies which state the story is set in! It was interesting to read about the refugee situation from an Australian perspective although some of the themes were perhaps somewhat belaboured at times. I still thought it was a good read with interesting characters and excellent storylines so am looking forward to further books in the series - 8.5/10.
June 27, 2024
Rep: Iraqi side character, Aboriginal gay side character
CWs: racism, racist violence, mentions of paedophilia & rape, homophobic violence, gore
CWs: racism, racist violence, mentions of paedophilia & rape, homophobic violence, gore
January 6, 2022
Having thoroughly enjoyed Jane Harper’s crime novels set in the Australian Outback, I desperately wanted to read this after I reading rave reviews a few months ago. Just like the aforementioned books there is wonderful sense of place in this novel. You can feel the heat, the dust, and desolation of Cobb. It’s definitely not a place I’d want to visit, and the main character wasn’t keen either. The crime was as brutal as the town and the majority of it’s residents, shocking and hard to believe. Fortunately Detective Sergeant George Manolis is there to do a proper job and find out exactly want happened and why, despite the lack of evidence and openly racist and hostile locals. This was a fantastic start to a new series featuring DS George Manolis, and I can’t wait for the next book! Highly recommended if you enjoy gritty crime novels.
October 14, 2021
A woman stoned to death in an outback town. With the nearby detention center the likely source of suspects the town's racism comes to the boil. Australian noir at its darkest with some hard hitting truths.
August 23, 2021
Possible spoilers
I do enjoy a bit of outback noir ,always full of racist,sexist behind the times people that you just can't fathom in these times.
Throw in a police force that just works to its own idea of rules and you've usually got a winner.
This one goes a step further,having our copper return to his childhood hometown and confront it,now he's used to more civilized city ways.
A good mix of investigating the crime of murder,and keeping himself alive I'd say.
Some great characters,that give you hope things might improve in the future.
I look forward to seeing what comes next.
I do enjoy a bit of outback noir ,always full of racist,sexist behind the times people that you just can't fathom in these times.
Throw in a police force that just works to its own idea of rules and you've usually got a winner.
This one goes a step further,having our copper return to his childhood hometown and confront it,now he's used to more civilized city ways.
A good mix of investigating the crime of murder,and keeping himself alive I'd say.
Some great characters,that give you hope things might improve in the future.
I look forward to seeing what comes next.
October 9, 2021
I adore an outback thriller just as much as I love one that is set in a place bedecked with ice and snow. There is something about extremes of temperature that seems to bring out the very worst in people, especially in a claustrophobic small town environment, and in this delicious debut thriller Peter Papathanasiou presents us with a cast of characters who fit the bill beautifully.
The outback town in question is Cobb, a small community that has definitely seen better days - something that is immediately apparent to DS George Manolis when he is sent back here, his boyhood home, to investigate the brutal stoning to death of a local school teacher. The Cobb that greets him is nothing like the bustling town he remembers from the days when his father ran the popular milk bar, instead it is a place without hope, full of drunks and junkies, characterised by tension between whites and Aboriginals, and overshadowed by the unwanted refugee detention centre located on the outskirts.
Reeling from the recent death of his father and break up of his marriage, Manolis is not in a good place and the realisation that this is going to be a thankless task given the state of the run-down local police force, the hostile locals, and the general conviction that the crime is the work of one of the immigrants housed in the 'brown house', makes him want to climb back into his car and head straight back to civilisation. However, he is a man with a mission and he must see it through.
The local officer in charge Sergeant Fyfe is mostly absent, emotionally and physically, and his colleagues are not pleased about accepting the authority of a know-it-all cop from the city, but Manolis soon develops a working relationship with two promising constables who desperately need leadership - Constable Smith, known as Sparrow, the only Black cop in town, and Constable Kerr, Cobb's lone female cop.
There are sinister goings on in Cobb: crime and truculent kangaroos are rife, and there is zero respect for law and order from either the human or animal population. The town almost universally lays the blame for its ills on the refugee detention centre - although no one seems to know the truth about what goes on within its secretive walls - and the angry residents are spoiling for a lynching rather than a professionally conducted police investigation. As Manolis does his best to run the gauntlet of the town's simmering anger, and follow the sketchy trail of evidence to find a murderer, the ghosts of his own past start to haunt him by throwing up questions about his family's past. There is more than one truth to uncover in this town and Manolis is just the outsider for the job.
The Stoning is a gripping outback murder mystery that dials the noir gauge up the max. Papathanasiou writes so convincingly that you can feel yourself right there in the midst of the scorching heat and dust, surrounded by the flora and fauna of the outback. Ostensibly a slick police procedural about a new cop in town, it works in a host of complex themes around small town dynamics and the fear of those that are different, that give it real depth and emotional intelligence.
I really enjoyed how Papathanasiou infuses this story with many layered threads around the subject of alienation, contrasting instances where this can bind people together and cause irrevocable divisions in a small community, in society at large, and throughout history. This divides the well drawn characters into two separate types - the ones that despise outsiders of all types, and those that feel a kinship with them. For the most part it is the discrimination of the first set of characters that drive this story, building incredible tension and a very real feeling of danger as Manolis goes about trying to solve this case. The sense that barely contained violence lies just under the surface of this small community, and that it might explode at any time is tangible.
But it is not just the neatly created small town suspense that makes this such a great read, because Papathanasiou brings in an extra dimension which is rather clever, and that is the presence of a refugee detention centre in Cobb. If weird insular community affairs were not enough to cause trouble, this opens up a whole new can of worms. It becomes very easy for Cobb to lay the blame for their ills at the door of the refugees foisted upon them, particularly given the religious overtones of the killing, and some of the residents of the town are not afraid to play on this for their own ends. There are some pretty hateful views expressed in these pages, but it also explores some thought provoking issues around the subject of immigrants, both in contemporary and historical terms - particularly through the history of Manolis' own father's Greek heritage, and his grandfather's flight to safety during the break up of the Ottoman Empire.
I think my favourite thing about this book is the way it brings together an engaging little band of outsider crime fighters in Manolis, Sparrow and Kerr, and develops their relationships over the course of the story. Manolis is a good man, but he feels adrift in his own life following the loss of father and his divorce, and he is the obvious outsider despite his roots in Cobb. Sparrow is an Aboriginal man in a white world, alienated from his own people and his colleagues by his race, choice of job and sexuality. Kerr is the lone female on the force, facing discrimination from not only her boss and colleagues, but also through the backward attitude towards women in Cobb, especially because of her choice of career. Their joint status as outsiders of one sort or another binds them to each other, and eventually makes them not only friends, but successful in their endeavours - even though plenty of sparks fly between them as we learn of the history of their trials and tribulations. Through them we get the sense that hope and decency can prevail, which was much needed after being put through the mill with such a dark and disturbing plot.
This is a gripping and thoroughly compelling read: at times funny in that sardonic noir way, while also being heart-piercingly sad, and profoundly shocking, with beautifully conceived twists and turns - and a chilling revelation at the end. I read the whole thing in one jaw-dropping session, delighted when I turned he final page to know that this is the first part in a new series following DS Manolis. I cannot wait for the next instalment.
The outback town in question is Cobb, a small community that has definitely seen better days - something that is immediately apparent to DS George Manolis when he is sent back here, his boyhood home, to investigate the brutal stoning to death of a local school teacher. The Cobb that greets him is nothing like the bustling town he remembers from the days when his father ran the popular milk bar, instead it is a place without hope, full of drunks and junkies, characterised by tension between whites and Aboriginals, and overshadowed by the unwanted refugee detention centre located on the outskirts.
Reeling from the recent death of his father and break up of his marriage, Manolis is not in a good place and the realisation that this is going to be a thankless task given the state of the run-down local police force, the hostile locals, and the general conviction that the crime is the work of one of the immigrants housed in the 'brown house', makes him want to climb back into his car and head straight back to civilisation. However, he is a man with a mission and he must see it through.
The local officer in charge Sergeant Fyfe is mostly absent, emotionally and physically, and his colleagues are not pleased about accepting the authority of a know-it-all cop from the city, but Manolis soon develops a working relationship with two promising constables who desperately need leadership - Constable Smith, known as Sparrow, the only Black cop in town, and Constable Kerr, Cobb's lone female cop.
There are sinister goings on in Cobb: crime and truculent kangaroos are rife, and there is zero respect for law and order from either the human or animal population. The town almost universally lays the blame for its ills on the refugee detention centre - although no one seems to know the truth about what goes on within its secretive walls - and the angry residents are spoiling for a lynching rather than a professionally conducted police investigation. As Manolis does his best to run the gauntlet of the town's simmering anger, and follow the sketchy trail of evidence to find a murderer, the ghosts of his own past start to haunt him by throwing up questions about his family's past. There is more than one truth to uncover in this town and Manolis is just the outsider for the job.
The Stoning is a gripping outback murder mystery that dials the noir gauge up the max. Papathanasiou writes so convincingly that you can feel yourself right there in the midst of the scorching heat and dust, surrounded by the flora and fauna of the outback. Ostensibly a slick police procedural about a new cop in town, it works in a host of complex themes around small town dynamics and the fear of those that are different, that give it real depth and emotional intelligence.
I really enjoyed how Papathanasiou infuses this story with many layered threads around the subject of alienation, contrasting instances where this can bind people together and cause irrevocable divisions in a small community, in society at large, and throughout history. This divides the well drawn characters into two separate types - the ones that despise outsiders of all types, and those that feel a kinship with them. For the most part it is the discrimination of the first set of characters that drive this story, building incredible tension and a very real feeling of danger as Manolis goes about trying to solve this case. The sense that barely contained violence lies just under the surface of this small community, and that it might explode at any time is tangible.
But it is not just the neatly created small town suspense that makes this such a great read, because Papathanasiou brings in an extra dimension which is rather clever, and that is the presence of a refugee detention centre in Cobb. If weird insular community affairs were not enough to cause trouble, this opens up a whole new can of worms. It becomes very easy for Cobb to lay the blame for their ills at the door of the refugees foisted upon them, particularly given the religious overtones of the killing, and some of the residents of the town are not afraid to play on this for their own ends. There are some pretty hateful views expressed in these pages, but it also explores some thought provoking issues around the subject of immigrants, both in contemporary and historical terms - particularly through the history of Manolis' own father's Greek heritage, and his grandfather's flight to safety during the break up of the Ottoman Empire.
I think my favourite thing about this book is the way it brings together an engaging little band of outsider crime fighters in Manolis, Sparrow and Kerr, and develops their relationships over the course of the story. Manolis is a good man, but he feels adrift in his own life following the loss of father and his divorce, and he is the obvious outsider despite his roots in Cobb. Sparrow is an Aboriginal man in a white world, alienated from his own people and his colleagues by his race, choice of job and sexuality. Kerr is the lone female on the force, facing discrimination from not only her boss and colleagues, but also through the backward attitude towards women in Cobb, especially because of her choice of career. Their joint status as outsiders of one sort or another binds them to each other, and eventually makes them not only friends, but successful in their endeavours - even though plenty of sparks fly between them as we learn of the history of their trials and tribulations. Through them we get the sense that hope and decency can prevail, which was much needed after being put through the mill with such a dark and disturbing plot.
This is a gripping and thoroughly compelling read: at times funny in that sardonic noir way, while also being heart-piercingly sad, and profoundly shocking, with beautifully conceived twists and turns - and a chilling revelation at the end. I read the whole thing in one jaw-dropping session, delighted when I turned he final page to know that this is the first part in a new series following DS Manolis. I cannot wait for the next instalment.
December 4, 2021
Yet another fantastic Australian outback rural crime noir novel debut for your holiday reading: The Stoning (Transit Lounge 2021) by Peter Papathanasiou. The first in a planned series (yay!), The Stoning features Detective Sergeant George Manolis, a richly captured policeman of Greek heritage who is summoned to the small outback town where he grew up to investigate a brutal murder. Local loved schoolteacher, Molly Abbott, was discovered taped to a tree and cruelly stoned to death. So many aspects don’t add up – she was a well-liked member of the community so who would want her dead? The manner of death seems to point directly at ‘the brown house’, the immigration detention centre that has become the dying town’s main source of income; stoning is a notorious method of killing in some of the society’s most represented in the facility. And yet Molly was a staunch supporter of the asylum seekers and in fact spent her spare time teaching them English and helping them with their visa applications. The treatment of the refugees then comes under scrutiny, with cracks appearing in the supposedly state-of-the-art facility. Meanwhile, suspicion falls on others including widow Molly’s ex-lovers.
The dual narrative is that of the town itself – poor, derelict and failing – a very far cry from the home Manolis remembers from his childhood, when his father ran the local milk bar. The police force is a joke, managed by a frequently drunk, lazy and corrupt chief who turns a blind eye to most crimes, particularly if they involve crimes against the local Aboriginal population. The tiny station has one First Nations constable who is discriminated against for more than one reason, and another female constable who also suffers her fair share of prejudice. The town of Cobb is brimming with drugs, alcohol, violence, racism, intolerance, ignorance, corruption, secrets and lies.
This novel has all the great features of an excellent crime read: a nuanced and flawed cop protagonist with secrets and pain in his own past; an outback town with a complicated history and present-day cover-ups; a seemingly innocent victim; a cast of suspects (some of whom may be guilty of something, if not the crime itself); and lots of red herrings and genuine clues seeded throughout the story. And of course the setting is pure Australian noir. A small, rundown town that has seen better days and a more profitable time, now home to loners and old-timers and those without the wherewithal or the energy to leave. The sense of place is exquisitely rendered.
The Stoning is a gritty, sinister and compulsive page-turner. While it is part police procedural, it is also a damning depiction of a community under threat from within, with the dark shadows of historical racism and violence reaching forward to the present. Add to this the controversy of the treatment of refugees, and the story reaches a critical mass boiling point of conflict.
The ending is satisfying in several ways – firstly because after the climactic penultimate scene, the reader is still unsure of the fate of several of the characters (only revealed right at the end); secondly because there is still one final twist in the tale; and thirdly because the ending leaves us with the sense that Monolis is a character who has a long journey ahead of him, hopefully played out in the next book/s.
The dual narrative is that of the town itself – poor, derelict and failing – a very far cry from the home Manolis remembers from his childhood, when his father ran the local milk bar. The police force is a joke, managed by a frequently drunk, lazy and corrupt chief who turns a blind eye to most crimes, particularly if they involve crimes against the local Aboriginal population. The tiny station has one First Nations constable who is discriminated against for more than one reason, and another female constable who also suffers her fair share of prejudice. The town of Cobb is brimming with drugs, alcohol, violence, racism, intolerance, ignorance, corruption, secrets and lies.
This novel has all the great features of an excellent crime read: a nuanced and flawed cop protagonist with secrets and pain in his own past; an outback town with a complicated history and present-day cover-ups; a seemingly innocent victim; a cast of suspects (some of whom may be guilty of something, if not the crime itself); and lots of red herrings and genuine clues seeded throughout the story. And of course the setting is pure Australian noir. A small, rundown town that has seen better days and a more profitable time, now home to loners and old-timers and those without the wherewithal or the energy to leave. The sense of place is exquisitely rendered.
The Stoning is a gritty, sinister and compulsive page-turner. While it is part police procedural, it is also a damning depiction of a community under threat from within, with the dark shadows of historical racism and violence reaching forward to the present. Add to this the controversy of the treatment of refugees, and the story reaches a critical mass boiling point of conflict.
The ending is satisfying in several ways – firstly because after the climactic penultimate scene, the reader is still unsure of the fate of several of the characters (only revealed right at the end); secondly because there is still one final twist in the tale; and thirdly because the ending leaves us with the sense that Monolis is a character who has a long journey ahead of him, hopefully played out in the next book/s.
November 17, 2021
Thriller set in OUTBACK, Australia
TripFiction's Book of the Month November 2021
4.5*
Welcome to fictional Cobb, a small town that sits in the dusty landscape, a truly derelict dust hole. It has seen better days and now the locals have to come to terms with the detention centre thrust into the heart of this unwilling, rural community. People are incarcerated there, who have entered Australia illegally, who have stayed beyond their visa period, desperate souls seeking to find their forever home. Criminals amongst their number for sure! The locals are incensed, and oh, does the author capture the racism, prejudice and antipathy in choice prose!
When a popular school teacher is found dead, seemingly stoned to death, the clamour for retribution reaches dizzying and desperate heights.
George Manolis is sent from the big smoke to investigate, in part because he grew up in Cobb, at a time when things were so very different, when the town had a soul and life was agreeable. He is pretty shocked to see what has become of his home town, where his father ran a thriving eatery and milk bar.
He, of course, has his own issues (which fictional detectives don’t?). He lodges in a local American themed hotel but it soon becomes clear that someone in the town is really trying to frighten him off. Manolis is a sanguine man and approaches the situation with perspicacity and reason, as he pokes around looking for clues. He is taken aback by the shoddy investigating to date, central investment just doesn’t seem to have made its way to this barren part of Australia. A community that is forgotten, a community that is angry and hell bent on punishment, regardless of guilt and innocence.
This is a terrifically atmospheric read. The Australian tourist authority won’t be knocking on this author’s door and yet, this feels in part like the real country – it is unforgiving and hostile and the heat permeates every pore. The wildlife encroaches on everyday life and Manolis is solicitous when he encounters a variety of creatures. The setting is portrayed so convincingly, that you feel you are there with characters. An excellent read for literary tourism.
TripFiction's Book of the Month November 2021
4.5*
Welcome to fictional Cobb, a small town that sits in the dusty landscape, a truly derelict dust hole. It has seen better days and now the locals have to come to terms with the detention centre thrust into the heart of this unwilling, rural community. People are incarcerated there, who have entered Australia illegally, who have stayed beyond their visa period, desperate souls seeking to find their forever home. Criminals amongst their number for sure! The locals are incensed, and oh, does the author capture the racism, prejudice and antipathy in choice prose!
When a popular school teacher is found dead, seemingly stoned to death, the clamour for retribution reaches dizzying and desperate heights.
George Manolis is sent from the big smoke to investigate, in part because he grew up in Cobb, at a time when things were so very different, when the town had a soul and life was agreeable. He is pretty shocked to see what has become of his home town, where his father ran a thriving eatery and milk bar.
He, of course, has his own issues (which fictional detectives don’t?). He lodges in a local American themed hotel but it soon becomes clear that someone in the town is really trying to frighten him off. Manolis is a sanguine man and approaches the situation with perspicacity and reason, as he pokes around looking for clues. He is taken aback by the shoddy investigating to date, central investment just doesn’t seem to have made its way to this barren part of Australia. A community that is forgotten, a community that is angry and hell bent on punishment, regardless of guilt and innocence.
This is a terrifically atmospheric read. The Australian tourist authority won’t be knocking on this author’s door and yet, this feels in part like the real country – it is unforgiving and hostile and the heat permeates every pore. The wildlife encroaches on everyday life and Manolis is solicitous when he encounters a variety of creatures. The setting is portrayed so convincingly, that you feel you are there with characters. An excellent read for literary tourism.
October 4, 2021
A girl is propped up against a tree her body fixed with gaffer tape to hold her up and then stoned to death; later to be found by Ida Jones. Who would have been capable of such a barbaric act against the seemingly sweet and liked school teacher?
Called in from the city to look into the murder, George Manolis return to Cobb, the town of his birth. But the poor "city mouse" has his work cut out to solve this case. Something that will come at a cost. At the centre of the murder investigation lies the new immigration detention Centre. Was an immigrant responsible for this seemingly ritual stoning? It seems like no one wants to cooperate especially the police chief and someone is definitely trying to scare Manolis off.
What an amazingly atmospheric and at times sad read!
At times I could taste the dirt and feel the warm sun on my skin.
"A cloud of grasshoppers swarmed across the verandah, leaping like sprung mousetraps as he walked to the pickup."
Peter Papathanasiou is definitely up there with Chris Hammer and Jane Harper when it comes to outback noir.
I loved every single minute and I'm so excited for the rest of the series!
Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion
Called in from the city to look into the murder, George Manolis return to Cobb, the town of his birth. But the poor "city mouse" has his work cut out to solve this case. Something that will come at a cost. At the centre of the murder investigation lies the new immigration detention Centre. Was an immigrant responsible for this seemingly ritual stoning? It seems like no one wants to cooperate especially the police chief and someone is definitely trying to scare Manolis off.
What an amazingly atmospheric and at times sad read!
At times I could taste the dirt and feel the warm sun on my skin.
"A cloud of grasshoppers swarmed across the verandah, leaping like sprung mousetraps as he walked to the pickup."
Peter Papathanasiou is definitely up there with Chris Hammer and Jane Harper when it comes to outback noir.
I loved every single minute and I'm so excited for the rest of the series!
Thank you to Netgalley and Quercus Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion
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