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Prison Break: Shantaram to the Bangkok Hilton, The World's Most Wanted Australians
'Dapin's words cut into the organs of the criminal underworld like a surgeon's knife!' DAVID McMILLAN, Klong Prem Central Prison Bangkok escapee 'Mark Dapin has built a rapport with some of Australia's most serious criminals. It is a rapport that gives him an edge over other authors that cannot be replicated.'BERNIE MATTHEWS, Long Bay Correctional Centre escapee On a Sunday afternoon in 1980, armed robber Gregory David Roberts abseiled down the front wall of a maximum-security prison in broad daylight. He spent a decade on the run in West Asia before writing his own legend in the bestselling semi-autobiographical novel, Shantaram.
In the late nineties, Melbourne-based drug dealer and gangster David McMillan became the only Australian ever to escape from the so-called 'Bangkok Hilton' in Thailand.
And in 1999, armed robber John Killick was airlifted out of a maximum-security prison by his beautiful Russian-born girlfriend - after she hijacked a helicopter with a machine gun.
With unprecedented access to ex-prisoners, prison officers and police, as well as ASIO files and witnesses, Mark Dapin brings to life a hidden criminal world of prison brutality, courage and legend. Prison Break tells the real story behind Australia's most audacious prison escapes and proves that sometimes the truth is even more compelling than the myth.
In the late nineties, Melbourne-based drug dealer and gangster David McMillan became the only Australian ever to escape from the so-called 'Bangkok Hilton' in Thailand.
And in 1999, armed robber John Killick was airlifted out of a maximum-security prison by his beautiful Russian-born girlfriend - after she hijacked a helicopter with a machine gun.
With unprecedented access to ex-prisoners, prison officers and police, as well as ASIO files and witnesses, Mark Dapin brings to life a hidden criminal world of prison brutality, courage and legend. Prison Break tells the real story behind Australia's most audacious prison escapes and proves that sometimes the truth is even more compelling than the myth.
- GenresTrue Crime
296 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2021
About the author
Mark Dapin
21 books22 followersMark Dapin is the author of the novels King of the Cross and Spirit House. King of the Cross won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, and Spirit House was long listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and shortlisted for the Age Book of the Year and the Royal Society for Literature's Ondaatje Prize.
His recent work of military history, The Nashos' War, has been widely acclaimed. He is a PhD candidate at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
His recent work of military history, The Nashos' War, has been widely acclaimed. He is a PhD candidate at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 19, 2021
PRISON BREAK by Mark Dapin
There is some difficulty, for me at least, to pin this book down. That it held much interest for me cannot be denied but I felt it was like watching a quality ball game, i.e., you just couldn’t be quite sure where the subject was going to go next.
That Mark has spent much time among the changing underworld you cannot deny, but it’s important to remember that this is a world where truth is the first casualty and, I vividly remember reading a couple of pages, getting involved, and then finding out that that part was rubbish. Such is the reliability of criminal speak.
As the title indicates, the volume deals with those who have been involved in escapes from the law, though they don’t always escape from prison, they’re just the most interesting ones. In fact, only people with time on their hands and a solitary train of thought could work out the finer points of some of the escapades. It seems, at times, a shame that such problem solvers should be wasting their efforts on illicit schemes when there must be a legitimate outlet for such a focused train of thought. Though perhaps it wouldn’t be as exciting!
Some of those involved are “old school”, from a time when bank robberies were almost
“de rigueur” before credit cards lessened those opportunities. These days drugs are the reason most end up behind bars.
Famous names who had careers beyond, but still owing testimony to their crimes, are plentiful here; merely the name of the late Chopper Read tells you that. What Mark has done though, is sifted through the detritus and called out many of the falsehoods sprouted by the criminals, and they are many!
The book covers the period post WWII to the present so the infamous Ryan and Walker escape where the now discredited hanging of people took place gets its own chapter. When you consider that 185 people on death row in America have since been found innocent in the last few decades helps you understand why it’s discredited.
That the police culture has changed also isn’t really delved into in this book but the corrupt ones from the old days do get a mention. Who can forget Roger Rogerson and Police Commissioner Terence Lewis, people who were so untouchable in their heyday while committing more crimes than any “normal” criminal could hope to get away with.
Terms like “collage of bloodworms” and “buttock duelling bigamist” arouse the curiosity and make for lively reading and there can be no doubt that Mark has a deep understanding of the underworld and researches heavily in order to weed out fact from fiction.
I enjoyed learning just how much of crim speak is braggadocio (a lot), how much is real and how to sort out the two. “With great difficulty” is the answer. Fortunately, Mark’s industrious research helps us out there and we can arrive at some modicum of the truth. A good read for me.
There is some difficulty, for me at least, to pin this book down. That it held much interest for me cannot be denied but I felt it was like watching a quality ball game, i.e., you just couldn’t be quite sure where the subject was going to go next.
That Mark has spent much time among the changing underworld you cannot deny, but it’s important to remember that this is a world where truth is the first casualty and, I vividly remember reading a couple of pages, getting involved, and then finding out that that part was rubbish. Such is the reliability of criminal speak.
As the title indicates, the volume deals with those who have been involved in escapes from the law, though they don’t always escape from prison, they’re just the most interesting ones. In fact, only people with time on their hands and a solitary train of thought could work out the finer points of some of the escapades. It seems, at times, a shame that such problem solvers should be wasting their efforts on illicit schemes when there must be a legitimate outlet for such a focused train of thought. Though perhaps it wouldn’t be as exciting!
Some of those involved are “old school”, from a time when bank robberies were almost
“de rigueur” before credit cards lessened those opportunities. These days drugs are the reason most end up behind bars.
Famous names who had careers beyond, but still owing testimony to their crimes, are plentiful here; merely the name of the late Chopper Read tells you that. What Mark has done though, is sifted through the detritus and called out many of the falsehoods sprouted by the criminals, and they are many!
The book covers the period post WWII to the present so the infamous Ryan and Walker escape where the now discredited hanging of people took place gets its own chapter. When you consider that 185 people on death row in America have since been found innocent in the last few decades helps you understand why it’s discredited.
That the police culture has changed also isn’t really delved into in this book but the corrupt ones from the old days do get a mention. Who can forget Roger Rogerson and Police Commissioner Terence Lewis, people who were so untouchable in their heyday while committing more crimes than any “normal” criminal could hope to get away with.
Terms like “collage of bloodworms” and “buttock duelling bigamist” arouse the curiosity and make for lively reading and there can be no doubt that Mark has a deep understanding of the underworld and researches heavily in order to weed out fact from fiction.
I enjoyed learning just how much of crim speak is braggadocio (a lot), how much is real and how to sort out the two. “With great difficulty” is the answer. Fortunately, Mark’s industrious research helps us out there and we can arrive at some modicum of the truth. A good read for me.
October 11, 2025
DNF.
This book offers a great premise, but the writing is scattered and jarring. The subjects - Australian prison escapees and their network of family, friends and associates - aren’t dealt with in any logical order but instead are clumped together and overlapped so much as to be indistinguishable from one another. The author jumps forward and backward in time, drops incomplete lines from interviews in at random places and provides no narrative structure to hold everything in place. The result is something that reads like a transcript of a filmed documentary, or maybe a stream-of-consciousness early draft written by someone who never learned how to organise prose. It’s a tremendous shame because the material within the book would be fascinating if I didn’t have to work so hard to translate it.
This book offers a great premise, but the writing is scattered and jarring. The subjects - Australian prison escapees and their network of family, friends and associates - aren’t dealt with in any logical order but instead are clumped together and overlapped so much as to be indistinguishable from one another. The author jumps forward and backward in time, drops incomplete lines from interviews in at random places and provides no narrative structure to hold everything in place. The result is something that reads like a transcript of a filmed documentary, or maybe a stream-of-consciousness early draft written by someone who never learned how to organise prose. It’s a tremendous shame because the material within the book would be fascinating if I didn’t have to work so hard to translate it.
February 16, 2022
Well written and a fascinating extra look into the lives and books of some of the more interesting Australian criminals and their escapes and escapades. Often critical of the claims made by the escapees but also Mark is happy to almost applause some of the claims and counter claims. I thought the content lagged slightly around two thirds through but finishes strongly.
As a Shantaram fan I was fascinated with the behind the scenes digging Mark completed. Overall a very enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend.
As a Shantaram fan I was fascinated with the behind the scenes digging Mark completed. Overall a very enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend.
September 4, 2021
Great stories but I felt that the stories weren't fully-developed.
August 29, 2023
Great stories, though the narrative of the book was hard to follow as the author jumped in and out of different people and perspectives
December 15, 2024
One very interesting book to read!
May 21, 2023
real life escapees story
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews