Dust Off the Bones: A Novel

Billy McBride #2

by Paul Howarth

The author of the acclaimed Only Killers and Thieves returns to 1890s Australia in this powerful sequel that follows the story of Tommy and Billy McBride, the widow of their family’s killer Katherine Sullivan, and the infamous Native Police officer Edmund Noone.

In 1890, estranged brothers Tommy and Billy McBride are living far apart in Queensland, each dealing with the trauma that destroyed their family in different ways. Now 21, Billy bottles his guilt and justifies his crimes while attempting to revive his father’s former cattle run. He’s drawn to his boss’s widow, Katherine Sullivan, yet refuses to confront his feelings for her. Katherine cherishes her newfound independence, and struggles to establish herself as head of the vast Broken Ridge cattle empire her corrupt late husband controlled with violence and money.

But even in the outback, the past cannot stay buried forever. When the McBride family murders and the subsequent reprisal slaughter of the Kurrong people become the subjects of a judicial inquest, both Billy and infamous Police Inspector Edmund Noone are called to testify. The inquiry forces Billy to relive events he has long refused to face. He desperately needs to find his brother, Tommy, who for years has been surviving in the wilderness with Arthur, the McBrides’ Indigenous stockman. But Billy is not the only one looking for Tommy. The ruthless Noone is determined to find the young man as well, and silence the brothers for good.

An enthralling, propulsive adventure that builds in suspense, told in gorgeous prose and steeped in history and atmosphere, Dust Off the Bones raises timeless issues of injustice, honor, morality, endemic racism, and violence. With an unflinching eye, Paul Howarth examines the cruelty of power and the brutal realities of life in a world familiar to our own.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Westerns, Australia, Crime, Historical, Audiobook

1 pages, Audio CD

First published June 8, 2021

About the author

Paul Howarth is a British-Australian author and former lawyer who holds an MA in creative writing from UEA, where he was awarded the Malcolm Bradbury Scholarship. In 2018 his debut novel, Only Killers and Thieves, was published to international acclaim, winning the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for best fiction, and appearing on numerous other awards and books of the year lists. His second novel, Dust Off the Bones, was published in Summer 2021 to starred reviews by Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, and was named a Book of the Month by both the Times and Sunday Times.

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

All across this vast country they were burning, as they had for a hundred years, all lit by men like Noone. So many dead in the ashes, thousands of them, scattered over the colonies, never to be found, the wind tossing their remains like a plaything, and teasing the dust off their bones.

--------------------------------------

“…memories can be slippery as fish, in my experience. Once you have them out of the water, it pays to get them good and clubbed.”

In 2018, Paul Howarth’s first published novel, Only Killers and Thieves introduced much of the world to a dark chapter in Australian history. Queensland in the 1880s, Billy and Tommy McBride’s parents are murdered. A former employee, an aboriginal, is blamed. A posse is organized to hunt down the accused and any with him. It is led by Edmund Noone, an officer of the Queensland Native Police, who is in the business of eradicating native people, crime or no crime. Billy and Tommy are dragged along for what turns out to be a massacre, soiling their lives, and polluting their souls.


Paul Howarth - image from HarperCollins.com - Photo by Sarah Howarth

In Howarth’s compelling sequel, Dust Off The Bones, we follow the McBride boys, adults in 1890, on diverging paths, as they cope with the aftermath of what had happened. Tommy McBride is 19, bigger now, brawny even, working as a stockman, far from his ravaged home. His conscience, PTSD, and fear of Noone bedeviling him, Tommy tries to lay low. Noone had told the McBride brothers that they were never to see each other again, or he would kill them. Tommy is abiding by that order, living his life. But his recurring nightmares, with considerable thrashings-about, freak out the men he works with. The foreman is a bully straight from the build-a-creep store, eager to issue unfulfillable commands, and unnaturally excited to inflict punishments. One thing leads to another, and Tommy and his aboriginal friend, Arthur, are wanted men, on the run.

Billy, 21, has married the girl of his dreams and gained considerable property and responsibility in the bargain. But it is not the paradise he expected. When we see him again, some years later, he is still troubled by the men who are working for the farm, for his wife, for him, who show him no respect. He indulges in public displays of prosperity, as the lands that he married into have been productive. But he calms his conscience—or is it his fear of being found out?—with excessive supplies of alcohol. Where Tommy has grown big, and strong, Billy has grown large and soft.

Never far from the thoughts of either is Edmund Noone, the terrifying leader of that fateful expedition. He is now established as local police chief in Southport, a coastal suburb of Brisbane.

Along with the story of the McBride brothers, Dust Off the Bones focuses on how state-sanctioned authorities provided legal support to a national campaign of genocide. Without accountability, no wrongs will be punished, and without the threat of punishment, those wrongs will persist. It also shines a light on the rights of women in the early 20th century. These elements are highlighted in chapters featuring Henry Wells and Katherine Sullivan (now McBride). The story is told primarily through the alternating POVs of Billy and Tommy, with Wells and Katherine adding several chapters each.

I’m British-Australian, but was largely ignorant about Australia’s settlement history and the role Britain played, so was reading about the frontier period for my own interest at first, and became intrigued by this alternative Wild West that played out against the stunning Australian landscape but which remains comparatively unknown, both at home and overseas, and is still relatively under-explored in fiction or film. I was also seeing a lot of relevance in that history to the world today, not just in Australia but in the USA and Europe too. Then as I began to try to write about the period I came across information about the infamous Queensland Native Police—and that was the spark that really set this novel in motion. - from the More2Read interview

Wells is an attorney. It is through his eyes that we see the racism inherent in the Aussie legal system of the time. It will feel quite familiar to many who track prosecutions of civilian-killing police here in the states over a century later. Legal atrocities compound the physical atrocities, in which monsters with state authority carry out genocide, and woe to any who oppose them. When a witness to the massacre, to which the McBrides were a party, files a report, Wells sees his chance to bring the big man down. It is this attempt that induces much of the action that follows.

Katherine Sullivan, the young widow of an unspeakable husband, remains the owner of a considerable property, and of Billy McBride’s heart. After fending off an attempt by her father to all but sell her to yet another unspeakable man, she marries Billy, instead. But it is not a marriage made in heaven. Her passion for Billy softens with the years, along with Billy’s frame. But she still must contend with a world run by men, a world in which women do not have the full rights to even their own property.

We make stops at several points in time. The first, a brief one, is in 1885, when Rev Francis Bean sees something he cannot forget. When he informs the local magistrate, he is threatened with certain death at the hands of Noone, should he file an official report. The main action takes place in 1890 and 1897, showing how the brothers have diverged, and then in 1906 when everything comes to a head.

There is a fair amount of blood spilled. A lot of it is done off camera, thankfully. But the tension is palpable as danger approaches and we wonder with every rapidly turned page whether, in this instance, evil will triumph.

Gripes – I had hoped that the towering figure of Edmund Noone would be given a bit more depth in this sequel, but he remains a pure black hat (ironically). Added to the black-hat team is his criminally able and amoral assistant, a one-dimensional crooked judge, and the creep Tommy encounters. They function well as manifestations of bigotry, corruption, and cruelty, not so well as rounded characters. There are some good people in the book as well, lest one think it is all darkness.

Billy and Tommy are interesting characters, and tracing how they cope with the challenges they face, or fail to, makes for an engaging read. The history depicted here is horrific, albeit not singular in the world. For most of us it is news. There are good guys to cheer for, and baddies to boo. You will learn something, and have your blood pressure raised. It is a sad thing that Howarth’s tales are based on actual Australian history, but a good thing that he has brought that dark time into the light for so many readers. Dust off your favorite reading chair and settle your bones in for spell. Dust Off The Bones is a wonderful book.

Henry collected his bags, started for the door, then paused with his back to the two men. He wanted to say something, to have the last word. Ask the magistrate how he lived with himself, how he was able to sleep at night. There was no point. Nothing he could do or say would change anything, not in a town like this. They all lived with themselves quite comfortably here. They all managed to sleep just fine.

Review posted – June 5, 2021

Publication dates
----------Hardcover - June 8, 2021
----------Trade paperback - June 7, 2022

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal, Twitter, and GR pages

Interview
-----More2Read - Interview with Paul Howarth On Writing by Lou Pendergrast – this was done re Only Killers and Thieves, but still applies here.

My review of Only Killers and Thieves

Items of Interest
-----Outback to the future - on how he became a writer
-----Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morality - it is open on Noone’s desk in chapter 17
-----Wayback Machine – article on Josef Breuer - noted in chapter 17
-----An interesting wiki on the Australian Native Police

[Beata · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to one of the best books I read last year which.
Several years after drifting apart, brothers Tommy and Billy McBride are still haunted by the past tragic events and have to bear the consequences of their decisions. They are not the only ones who are unable to forget what they witnessed.
Atrocities by so-called Native Police, the main theme of both books, cannot be left uncovered, however, perpetrators who went unpunished are powerful. Edmund Noone hold a high position in the society and is ready to apply any measures to prevent his fall.
Character development is a big positive regarding this book together with terrific descriptions of living conditions and landscape of Australia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
I think this book can be read as a standalone but being engaged in the story will make you want to read Only Killers and Thieves which in my opinion is more powerful.
*Many thanks to Paul Howarth, Pushkin Press, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful, disturbing book inspired by history and what is subsequently covered up and forgotten. It is a well-researched, beautifully written story about some ugly, heart-wrenching events. It focuses on the aftermath of the McBride family's slaughter, leading to the horrific massacre of the Kurrong tribe in the northern Queensland wilderness. This story was featured in the previous book 'Only Killers and Thieves. It spans the time from 1885 to 1906 and later. I tried to speed through 'Dust off the Bones' to learn its outcome, but some parts were so shocking I found it necessary to take breaks from my reading. The book covers racism, intolerance, power and prestige, morality, terror, violence, the miscarriage of justice, and the coverup of historical events.

Two McBride brothers survived the murder of their family as they were away from the homestead at the time. Their ages were 14 and 16, and later they were present at the massacre of the Kurrong Aboriginal tribe.

Billy McBride has been successful, marrying Katherine Sullivan, the wealthy widow of her late husband's cattle estate. He has also been working to restore and expand the old family ranch. However, he accepts no blame for past events and seems indifferent to what occurred. The younger brother, Tommy, suffers from anxiety attacks and nightmares. He had led a hard life for years, wandering as a drover through the parched scrublands and desert regions of Queensland and the Northern Territories. The author vividly evoked the atmospheric descriptions of the landscape. He finally settles down in the lush farmland of Victoria with his Aboriginal friend, Arthur. The brothers have been warned and threatened to have no contact again and meet only briefly 21 years later.

Not far in the background, always present, is the once head of a Native Police unit, Noone. He is now commissioner of police, a powerful and prestigious position. He lurks like an evil spirit or demon and now is wealthy, admired but feared by many.

This is an intense, character-driven novel, which builds up slowly to a terror-filled, propulsive, and suspenseful tale of murder and mayhem. There is a judicial inquiry into the McBride murders and the subsequent slaughter of the Kurrong people in retaliation. Noone's lies are accepted in court, with Billy McBride's confirmation upholding Noone's testimony. This results in a rift in Billy's marriage, as Karen suspects he is not telling the truth. The lawyer who brought the case to court has his reputation, career, and, finally, his life destroyed.

Billy begins to feel guilty and needs to set the matters straight, finally telling the truth about the massacre. After a long search, he reunites with Tommy, but the evil Noone had hired investigators to find Tommy with plans to silence both of them.

Highly recommended. This works as a standalone, but I suggest reading 'Only Killers and Thieves' first to get a stronger picture of the events and personalities that lead up to the aftermath described in this book.

[Dave Edmunds · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The sun may rise in the morning, or it may not, and isn't that the most thrilling thought?"

4.5 🌟's

Initial Thoughts

Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth absolutely blew me away when I read it in 2022 and was one of my books of the year. Recommended by my good friend Paul Bulmer, it's an extremely violent western style narrative set in the Australian outback in the late 1800's. In much the same way as Cormac McCarthy's brilliant Blood Meridian it's an unromantic perspective that shows the harsh reality of life back then. And I loved it like an Aussie loves tins of beer and barbecues.

Dust off the Bones is British author Paul Howarth's second novel and a direct sequel to that first novel. In Killers and Thieves we followed the McBride brothers, Billie and Tommy, aged sixteen and fourteen respectively, as they arrived home to find a brutal attack on their family. Both parents murdered and their young sister on deaths door, they were taken along on a mission to find retribution with Queensland's Native Police led by the psychopathic Edmund Noone. They're then thrust headlong into a very violent world.

What transpires is a massacre of the Aboriginal Kurrong tribe, including men, women and children. It's very dark and you just wonder what kind of lasting effect it's going to have on those young boys. Well, we're going to find out...

The Story

We pick up the trail five years after the events of Only Killers and Thieves. Billy and Tommy have gone their desperate ways, with the ultimatum from Noone that if they ever seek each other out he will kill them and everyone they hold dear. Because he's such a nice guy.

Living far apart and dealing with the PTSD from that horrific massacre in very different ways we begin to see a chain of events that could put the brothers on a collision course with that infamous villain. However, this looks unlikely at the start with Billie doing well for himself, having married into money, and Tommy on the run from the law. Fate appears to have very different plans for them.

Billie has married successfully to a widow with strong financial backing and looks to have but the past behind him with the help of the bottle. But anger bubbles just below the surface and he is emotionally slipping further away from his wife. Tommy with his companion Arthur could not be further from him both figuratively and literally. But where would this story be without a future reunion on that distant horizon?

"And he could feel it rising inside him, the truth, threatening to erupt. A truth that he'd been hiding from himself, even; whose every glimpse scared him to the core."

The Writing

I'd describe this book as historical crime fiction that is fantastically crafted. The writing is fluid and sharp with an authentic touch that paints the arrid Australian landscape in beautiful fashion. It's very reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian with the expansive style and brutal subject matter. It's a little bit more straightforward though with a clearly defined plot that moves at a cracking pace.

There's plenty of dark moments that illustrate the harsh reality of life in this period. It's a dangerous world that Howarth has created and sometimes frighteningly realistic. For a second novel, this author is writing at an extremely high level and I'm very excited about where his career is headed.

"He placed his palms down on the earth, as if bent to the land in prayer. It had heard it all already. It knew what had to be done. So much killing it had witnessed, so much blood and death and grief."

The Characters

There's a return for the majority of characters from the first novel, with the addition of a few new ones. Each one is carefully drawn out and brought to life beautifully. Although the book can be read as a stand-alone, you're going to have to read the first to get the absolute best out of them.

Howarth puts his characters through the ringer and focuses on how they cope with the guilt and horror. The brothers provide a fantastic contrast in their approach to coping.

Married and living with a young family, Billy accepts no blame and enjoys the fruits of his wealth. But it eventually becomes a wedge between him and his wife as he douses his guilt with alcohol and her suspicion slowly forces them apart

Tommy on the other hand is continually on the move in an attempt to escape the past. No matter how hard he tries it always seems two steps behind. But despite the nightmares of the past that rack his soul, he has grown into strong and confident man. He is certainly the hero in the novel. However , the fear of Noone is always there though, lurking in the background.



Inspector Edmund Noone does not manage to steal the show in quite the same way as he did in the first book. Still a sadistic son of a bitch who looks to maintain his power by killing anyone who crosses him. He certainly hasn't mellowed in his old age.



Final Thoughts

Dust off the Bones does for the Australian outback what Blood Meridian did for the Wild West. It is absolutely unflinching in it's take on life in Australia at the turn of the 19th century.

I found it thought-provoking as it takes a range of heavy topics including morality, injustice and the pursuit of power. Although not quite as good as the first it's without doubt a worthy sequel and I thoroughly recommend. Just make sure you take a look at Only Killers and Thieves before diving in.

One things for sure. I'll certainly be on the lookout for more books by Paul Howarth!

Thanks for reading and...cheers!

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a sequel to “Only Killers and Thieves”. It can be read as a standalone, but the first book is better and didn’t really require a sequel. I thought it ended beautifully and I suggest starting with that book. The brothers Tommy and Billy, who were orphaned at the beginning of the prior book, are now estranged adults and each must come to terms with their guilt for the events in their past. This isn’t as compelling as the picture of Australia’s history of institutional racism that was presented in the first book. I also think that making the villain a crazy sadist takes away from the fact that the brutal treatment of Aborigines was commonplace and banal. The author writes very well and I I would like to read more by him, provided that he moves on to new characters.

[Daniel Shindler · Rating 5 out of 5]

In “Dust off the Bones,” Paul Haworth deepens the story of Billy and Tommy McBride, first introduced in his debut novel, “ Only Killers and Thieves.” Spanning a period of over thirty years, the novel examines the consequences of racial violence on a personal and societal level.

As teenagers in 1885, Billy and his younger brother Tommy participated in the slaughter of an indigenous native tribe in the scrublands of Northern Queensland. The massacre went unpunished. The leader of the attack, Native Police inspector Noone, coerced the boys into perjury and warned them never to contact each other again.The brothers’ reaction to these horrors drives their lives onto different paths and propels the plot forward.

Billy, the more more xenophobic of the brothers, has remained in the scrublands and become a successful rancher, marrying Katherine, a wealthy widow.He accepts no responsibility for his brutal past and adopts an attitude of bravado and bluster, deflecting his shortcomings onto other people and events.Tommy has been consumed by guilt and uncertainty as he contemplates his past actions.He spends his life wandering from place to place, often accompanied by an Aboriginal farmhand, Arthur.Beset with anxiety, Tommy has difficulty quieting his inner self and is unable to form lasting relationships.

Years later, an inquiry into the aboriginal massacre is held.The judicial proceedings again bring Inspector Noone into the orbit of the brothers. He has become a wealthy successful politician with a vested interest in affirming the original verdict and eliminating any remaining witnesses.

The intersection of these events creates a jarring picture of the corrupt legal institutions and violence that enabled the racist devastation during this historical period.The development of the characters against this backdrop brings out the personal devastation arising from life in this harsh, stratified society where violence is routinely condoned and entitlement insidiously affects all social interactions.

Billy copes with his trauma through denial, pursuing a path of ostentation and excess.He devolves into a physically and morally diminished person.Tommy acknowledges his trauma and becomes physically stronger but is still unable to pull the strands of his life together.Billy’s wife, Katherine, and Tommy’s friend,Arthur, serve as moral counterbalances for the brothers as their lives play out.

These elements fuse together into a novel depicting a rugged setting that is laced with questions about morality.It can be read as a historical adventure but also has larger lingering themes focused on racism, injustice, betrayal and love.There are glimpses of hope even as a society struggles to overcome its skewed foundational underpinnings.The journey through this work is informative and thought provoking.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"So many dead in the ashes, thousands of them, scattered over the colonies, never to be found, the wind tossing their remains like a plaything, and teasing the dust off their bones."

This story is unsparing, so unrelentingly harsh, and yet I am gobsmacked by the quality of the writing. How can something so brutal be so beautifully written? Everything is rendered to perfection. The landscapes, the weather, the emotions and motivations of the characters, the grief, the guilt, the hope, and even the violence.

Yes, there is quite a large measure of violence, which you'll recall if you've read Only Killers and Thieves. I do recommend reading that one before you read this one. This book begins five years later, continuing the story of Billy and Tommy McBride as they have moved into adulthood, haunted by the events of their boyhood.
Dust Off the Bones would be fine as a standalone novel, but you will lose the depth of the story without the background. You'll miss the significance and true depravity of the Edmund Noone character, who is sort of like a cross between Randall Flagg from The Stand and Grigori Rasputin. And knowing the McBrides as boys in the first book gives context to their behaviors and fears as grown men.

I liked this one just slightly less than the first one. There were places where it wandered a bit and lagged at times. But this author's writing gifts just blow me away, and I liked the way he brought everything around to a solid conclusion. Katherine Sullivan is a BOSS!
4.5 stars

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Setting: Queensland and Victoria, Australia; 1885-1908.
Overlapping with the story from the first book (Only Killers and Thieves), this book tells of the adventures of brothers Billy and Tommy McBride after their 'agreement' with the evil policeman Noone - which has forced Tommy to leave home and Billy to remain behind on the family farm of Glendale.
Billy is now working as a ranch-hand for Katherine Sullivan, who now owns Broken Ridge following the death of her husband - and with whom Billy is having a relationship. Meanwhile, Tommy is travelling through Queensland with Aboriginal farm-hand (and good friend to the brothers) Arthur. But, when an incident of bullying on one of the estates goes wrong, Tommy and Arthur find themselves once again on the run from the law.
Meanwhile, a Brisbane solicitor is following up on allegations of wrongdoing in relation to the massacre of the Kurrong tribe by Noone and his native police officers - and finding the case difficult to prove against a background of resistance from the white settlers, the local magistrate and Noone himself. When Billy's guilt over his actions as a teenager become too much to bear, his attempts to make amends lead to a series of violent encounters.....
Having finished this one, I looked back at my review of the first book and ended up having to go back and re-read the epilogue from that first book - this hadn't made much sense at the time but now makes far more sense than it did then! I really loved this story which, as I said in my review of the first book, is essentially a Western novel set in Australia but with a really genuine Outback feel! Loved the characters, flawed as they were, and the descriptions of the various landscapes and the working lives of the central characters. Being told from the different points of view of various characters, not exclusively Billy and Tommy, added to the frisson of tension and excitement as the story unfolded. Look forward to reading more from this author - 9/10.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Howarth's follow up to Only Killers And Thieves is another stunningly realistic and beautifully written historical drama that speaks to a dark part of Australian history and does so in an emotionally resonant and brutally honest fashion.

A brilliant writer whose career I hope to follow for a long long time.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to go back and reread Only Killers and Thieves before diving into this; and I'm glad I did, as it would have made NO sense otherwise. And also because second time around, that book was just as good - if dark and bleak - as I remembered; an unsettling study of racial injustice and banal immorality in Australia's "Wild North" equivalent of our Old West.

But this sequel…while not bad, was just so unnecessary. The first book included a nine-years-later epilogue that left the McBride brothers' fates nicely unresolved; the second then went back and both filled in the intervening years (in a style that was more "Dallas" soap opera than "Open Range" shoot-'em-up); then jumped ahead of the first book's epilogue to bring everything to a neat - if, again, unnecessary - conclusion.

Howarth remains an extremely solid writer; and so now that he's got this out of his system I hope he moves on to something totally new and different, like his fellow shaven-headed countryman, Max Barry.

2.5 stars rounded up to three, based on the first book, general generosity, and because you can never overuse a Hawken rifle in Western fiction.

[LBK · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Only Killers and Thieves and was only too happy to learn that Howarth was returning to that world. Technically, Dust Off the Bones is a sequel but I do think you could read it as a standalone - throughout the book it explains what happened in Only Killers.

Billy and Tommy McBride were drawn into a violent world at a young age and over the course of Dust, both are trying to deal with the trauma. Billy likes to pretend it never happened while Tommy has nightmares he can't escape.

I loved Only Killers when I read it and this was no different. I picked it up intending to read a few chapters and instead flew through it. Highly recommend.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired by a history that is all too often forgotten, Dust Off the Bones is an intense, character driven Western novel, set in the hot, dry and dusty setting of Australia. On the surface, this might seem like an adventurous historical story about two estranged brothers. However, as you dig deeper, it becomes clear that it's a tale about the unrelenting ugliness of racism and injustice at the hands of the law.

This novel is somehow both beautiful and yet unsparingly harsh. Every gut-wrenching atrocity is displayed with the most masterful of storytelling, and the author has managed to expertly weave a sorrowful piece of Australia's real history into this soul-destroying story.

When I first picked up this novel, I didn't even know it was a sequel, and by the time I found out, I had already completed over half the book. Thankfully, this is one of those books that certainly does work as a standalone.

[Juli · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. I will never forgive these books for their treatment of animals
2. billy stupid f****** a****** mcbride
3. jeeesus. while a second book wasn’t totally needed, this wrapped everything up. thank god it ended the way it did because if it went the other way I was going to burn these books (jk of course)

[Nathan Horrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two of the best books I’ve read in a while. Incredible antagonist/villain.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only Killers and Thieves was one of the best books I read last year. I was both excited and apprehensive about this sequel because sometimes when the first book is so, so good, the second one doesn't reach the same heights. No worries here. This one is every bit as good as the first. It returns us to the lives of Billy and Tommy McBride and what comes after the killing of their parents and sister and the repercussions of those murders. While you could read this as a standalone, I would definitely recommend you read Killers first. You'll miss a lot of references to that first book if you don't. And you'd also be letting yourself out of a great experience.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author. This is only his second book and I’m impressed with his style and knowledge of Australia in the 1800s.
There is violence and a villain whose entire life and focus are based on that very thing. His name is Edmund Noone. This is a book about Australia and the time when civilization was just finding its way into the unsettled areas. The area is mostly outposts and stations raising cattle or sheep. The land is being taken bit by bit from the native Aborigines. It is Noones job to keep the Aborigines in line.
This book is filled with complete characters and a great story. Read Only Killers and Thieves first. It begins this story. It is an excellent read.

[Anne Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - this sequel to "Only Killers and Thieves" was good but paled in comparison to Howarth's first book. He extended the story of Billy and Tommy McBride and their nemesis, Noone in this swiping saga that covered 20 years and a large part of Australia. The book was set in the late 1800s and showed the lawlessness that prevailed and the chasms between the wealthy and the poor not only economically but also with their power over others.

If Howarth wants to continue this book with the next generation, sign me up to read it!

[Mark Fulham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very excited to read this one after the first one really drew me in.Slightly darker tone and much more violence. It’s No Country for Old men crossed with A Few Good men set in the out back Suffers a bit from jumping POVs but still a great read & end to the story

[Linden · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars, although my "enjoyment" level was more of a strong 4. It's the principle.

This is a good book, strongly written and felt. Goodness knows I have been utterly engrossed, have cried, and have gasped in surprise or horror multiple times. But it is not a necessary book, and it's just not as good as Only Killers and Thieves.

More importantly, I think it loses the meaning later on. The atrocities of the first book are not only against the McBride brothers, they're just as much against the Coorong people. In that sense, Dust Off the Bones does not have a neat ending. Howarth loses sight of the Aboriginal side of the story in this one, and the narrative starts to feel a little tone deaf in its focus on the guilt and grief of the the McBrides. I really think it would've benefited from an Aboriginal POV. Again, I'm holding it to a very high bar here. This was a good book, and it was deeply affecting. But it either needed to take at least some of the spotlight off white guilt and move it to a more Aboriginal centric storyline...or not exist at all. It needed to put its money where its mouth was in order to bring anything necessary to this duology. It did not.

That discussion aside, I have to shout-out Tommy McBride, perhaps an all-time character of mine. I love him. It was good to see him again and to get into Howarth 's vision of late 1800's early 1900's Australia. I really enjoyed getting Katherine's POV this time around, and I appreciated the nuance with which Howarth paints Billy. Billy is never absolved of his actions, but he's a painfully normal and realistic man. It doesn't take a monster to be capable of horrible actions, these books say. Noone, however, is one of the most chilling and compelling villains I've ever come across. It takes a lot for me to enthusiastically root for a character to be killed in any way possible, but Noone achieved that rank. Arthur, on the other hand, is wonderful, and every time he and Tommy were back together, I was emotional. What I'm getting at here is that the character work is top notch. This is truly a character-driven Western.

And, really, aside from my disagreements with the direction of the book and the fact that it follows up a nearly perfect and complete book, I still did like it. I need Paul Howarth to write more. With only two books published, I've now read everything he's written. I couldn't find any evidence online that he's working on anything else, but I really hope he is. Not just anyone can write like this.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could (should?) be read as a standalone novel since Book#1's relevant details are peppered throughout anyway.
Superb writing, much like the first book, but with a less compelling and significantly cheapened narrative.
The historical facts behind the tale are well documented (though still ignored by White People the world over...), but I would say one would be much better served to educate oneself via historical books, as fiction, as in this case, swerves away from the depth and overloads one with prurient details and gore, at the expense of truth and meaning. I disliked the overuse of dialogue (personal pet peeve), and the time jumps felt like plot drivers, or conclusion drivers?, and led to cardboard, one-note characters.
Final point, related: Noone is painted as a sadist in the extreme, which is true as he is drawn. But this makes the racist genocide he represents seem less like a systemic plan to wipe out the Indigenous Peoples by the British Empire, and by proxy the Australian authorities, and more like the personal savagery and violent hatred of a "lone wolf". Anyone who knows current American culture will see the hypocrisy. The Other who kills - pick your Other - always acts as representative of their race, creed, culture, or faith - but the White Man who kills is always the "lone wolf", acting as singular killer, when in fact he (almost always male) is carrying out the role of genocidal exterminator of the Other for the White Power structure. Knowingly so. By killer and Power. This book cheapens the horror by eliding the greater evil and attaching it to one man. Or, if he is symbolic of White Man, Howarth has done a disservice in not expounding and/or expanding on the government sanctioned genocide Noone represents. This made the book read as realistic, but quite shallow and without the desired impact or meaning.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gut wrenching and brutal ending to the McBride family saga, begun in Only Killers and Thieves. Howarth viscerally portrays the lethal beauty of the Australian land and the genocide inflicted upon the indigenous peoples. There is an indescribable amount of violence which sadly feels true and real. Howarth has captured scenes of almost Biblical revenge and suffering. The first book was told only from one brother's viewpoint and could stand alone. The sequel is carried by the voices of many others whose lives are tainted by the tragedies in book one. I would warn anyone to avoid this if extreme violence wrecks you. I did not see many of the plot twists coming and found myself dreading the next page. But Howarths vision and writing are so powerful that I could not look away. He is an author to follow. There have been many dramatic family sagas written. Howarth takes the concept and makes it fresh with richly imagined characters and one of the most chilling villains, Chief Inspector Noone of the Native police, since Blue Duck from the Lonesome Dove series. The cinematic descriptions beg for a film series to be made; my candidate to play Noone is Daniel Day Lewis.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. “Only Killers and Thieves” is one of the best books I’ve read in years and I jumped at the chance to continue following the story here. While it couldn’t reproduce the same alchemy as the original, it was a gripping, haunting, read. The characters are dog eared and broken, maybe a bit too much, and the evil police inspector is even more demonic, if a bit too much. There’s a new character added, but his story doesn’t really lead to much. Still, it’s an excellent work and one well worth the read once you’ve devoured the first.

[Elizabeth Moot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good! It made me angry too, the villain in this story is unrelenting and got away with so much. The story brings to light the plight of the native people of Queensland Australia. It's very similar to the fate of the native people of America.

[Evelyn Pecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as wonderful as the first book. Kept me reading late into the night. When it's hot and sticky outside, what better than to read a book about hot, dry Australia .. winner, winner.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical fiction follows Only Killers and Thieves, author’s debut. Highly recommended both books in order. So great and hard to put down! Exciting edge of your seat! Read!!!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you for the ARC of this book. I hadn't read the author's previous book and while this was noted as a sequel, I had no problems following the story line beginning with this title. Having said that, I enjoyed this book very much and now look forward to read Only Killers and Thieves.

The book takes place in the harsh backdrop of outback Australia at the turn of the 20th century. Two estranged brothers living very separate lives - each trying to come to terms with tragic events in their family's past. But as the blurb ominously states "the past cannot stay buried forever". When an official inquest brings things to the surface, the story builds in tension and the stakes are high.

I enjoyed this book on a few different levels - the author doesn't gloss over brutal events and/or situations. At the same time he's created fully realized characters that pull you in and don't let go. The book also provides insight into Australian history.

Definitely recommended!

[Gary Branson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good sequel. Great characters. Very brutal telling of Australia.

[Mairi · Rating 3 out of 5]

If film is an art form then Westerns, in my opinion, are it’s peak. However I’ve never felt they are captured quite so well on the page. There is something about the central conceit of land being greater than man, and man at the mercy of the environment which feels as though it can be captured best by seeing and feeling it to know it, rather than reading. The western novel however still has something to tell us even if most of our memories of the genre are from unreconstructed movies based on tired thinking which has not stood the test of either time or compassion.

It no longer feels modern to update a genre by superficially putting a woman in what we used to assume is a man’s role. Howarth does try to go further in Dust off the Bones, released in August. This Australian Western tries to dig through the past and perceive it through new eyes creating a more up-to-date western. It is the privilege of those who have not lived through a history to be able to see it through different eyes, even if we are often still cataracted by our own unconscious biases.

The inciting incident of Dust off the Bones is a massacre by the Native Police. While the characters are made up the Native Police really did exist, and they really were responsible for what could without exaggeration be called the attempted genocide of the aboriginal people’s of Australia. No single member of the Native Police was ever found guilty of these heinous crimes, despite widespread knowledge of them and some attempts at inquests.

Dust off the Bones follows Billy and Tommy McBride, two men who witnessed a massacre when they were teenagers, which was started by the Native Police in retaliation for the killing of their parents apparently by an aboriginal person. Alongside the brothers there are a host of other characters, the psychopathic Noone, who is a bete noire for literally 80% of people whose paths he’s crossed and the other 20%… well, he’ll probably kill them. He appears to have joined the Native Police merely as a means to channel his own blood lust while also hiding behind a uniform which means he can demand respect, and a certain amount of fealty for the white folks he protects...read more here https://true-crime-fiction.com/2021/0...

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a few rules about reading. If a book doesn’t hook you within 50 pages, stop reading it. Dog earring and writing in a book is okay, but only if it’s yours. And, if I finish a book before going to bed, I have to immediately start a new one. While I might bend on the first of these rules, books like Paul Howarth’s Dust Off the Bones remind me why I made the third rule in the first place. The ending of this book had my pulse pounding so hard that I needed the start of a new book to wind myself back down so that I could sleep. Howarth takes us into the outback of Australia, before and after the turn of the twentieth century, to give us a harrowing story about violence, racism, guilt, and the ties that bind...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reread "Only Killers and Thieves" just before reading this book because I had no recollection of that story. My conclusion is that "Only Killers and Thieves" is a far superior book. When I finished the reread I didn't care about what happened in the gap between the primary events and the epilogue. For readers who want a complete picture of the McBride boys and the other cast of characters this book serves that purpose. The biggest difference with the two books is that this one is told through a handful of POVs so it moves at a much slower pace.

The highlight of this book is Noone responding to questions at the inquest like Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men."

This book probably does not survive well as a standalone novel because the entire backstory is brought out in the previous book.