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Nhu "Ned" Kelly
The Old School
'Two things you want to remember about the good old days, Ned. They weren't that good and they're not that old.' Detective Nhu 'Ned' Kelly is in way over her head. Not every member of the New South Wales police force has welcomed the young, half-Vietnamese woman into a job where the old school still makes the rules. When two bodies are discovered in the footings of an old Bankstown building, Ned catches the case. As she works to uncover the truth, she is drawn into Sydney's dirty past – and the murky history of her own family. Bit by bit she gains ground on the murderer, just as he's gaining ground on her. Familiar faces begin to look suspicious. How close to home will she have to look? It's time for Ned to decide who is on her side – and who wants her dead. Gritty and sharp, The Old School is a gripping new take on crime fiction by former NSW police detective P.M. Newton. 'P.M. Newton's bitter-sweet thriller is an arresting astonishingly accomplished and as authentic as a .38 bullet wound. File between D for Disher and T for Temple and sweat on the sequel.' Andrew Rule 'The writing is razor-sharp and the dialogue sizzles with tough-as-nails authenticity. Newton is a writer to watch.' Matthew Reilly 'Relentless… What a multi-layered, powerful piece of writing. This novel puts P.M. Newton in the company of Marele Day, Gabrielle Lord and Peter Temple.' Graeme Blundell 'All the elevated anxiety, pace and snippy dialogue of classic crime fiction, yet it somehow comes across as a true story... The Old School is a cracker. There's a new voice on the beat.' Weekend Australian 'A gripping crime novel that sweeps up the reader in its enthralling multi-layered plot, powerful characters and spot-on descriptions of Sydney... A tough and authentic novel. The Old School is already shaping up as the year's best debut crime novel.' Canberra Times
534 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
P.M. Newton
10 books22 followersFresh from an Arts degree, P.M. Newton joined the New South Wales police force in 1982. She spent the next thirteen years working in and around Sydney in various departments – Drug Enforcement, Sexual Assault, Major Crime – first as an officer, then as a detective. When she had eventually had enough of meeting people for the first time on the worst day of their lives, Newton resigned from the Job to travel and live overseas, before returning to Sydney, where she works as a librarian and writes. The Old School is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
February 2, 2012
This book is outstanding in so many ways.
The language - I kept having to stop and write down one-liners, so superb is Newton's command of prose.
The setting - a careful rendering of Sydney unlike any I've read. It is so refreshing to read a book of the city one has grown up in that is so finely evoked in terms of place, weather, character and idiom. Newton mentions many things I can identify with, from reference to the man made of tyres along Sydney Road as one drives down to Manly (long gone, probably), to the waterfront of Greenwich Point with its oil terminal - and also places I'm not so intimately familiar with, like the multicultural suburbs of the south-west.
The characters: I found the protagonist's personal life absorbing, her mixed Irish-Vietnamese background disconcerting (brave of Newton to portray this cross-cultural perspective), and her relationships with others complex, nuanced and believable.
Plot: who cares, when you have all these other things so superbly drawn? But the plot was fascinating. It managed to weave in so many aspects of Sydney life, cultural, historical, political and personal.
Pace: This was a page-turner, but not a fast read. I was absorbed and found myself staying up late (and once waking up at 3am and reaching for the book). At the end, I wanted to finish - because in some ways I found the topic exhausting and confronting, but at the same time I didn't want my journey with the characters to end.
Don't just take my word for it. The Old School has attracted well-deserved rave reviews, including a couple by participants in the #AWW2012 Reading & Reviewing Challenge. Fast paced plot deserves measured considered read, review by Yvonne Perkins and The Old School reviewed by Walter Masson. Apparently it has been nominated for a prize?
The language - I kept having to stop and write down one-liners, so superb is Newton's command of prose.
The setting - a careful rendering of Sydney unlike any I've read. It is so refreshing to read a book of the city one has grown up in that is so finely evoked in terms of place, weather, character and idiom. Newton mentions many things I can identify with, from reference to the man made of tyres along Sydney Road as one drives down to Manly (long gone, probably), to the waterfront of Greenwich Point with its oil terminal - and also places I'm not so intimately familiar with, like the multicultural suburbs of the south-west.
The characters: I found the protagonist's personal life absorbing, her mixed Irish-Vietnamese background disconcerting (brave of Newton to portray this cross-cultural perspective), and her relationships with others complex, nuanced and believable.
Plot: who cares, when you have all these other things so superbly drawn? But the plot was fascinating. It managed to weave in so many aspects of Sydney life, cultural, historical, political and personal.
Pace: This was a page-turner, but not a fast read. I was absorbed and found myself staying up late (and once waking up at 3am and reaching for the book). At the end, I wanted to finish - because in some ways I found the topic exhausting and confronting, but at the same time I didn't want my journey with the characters to end.
Don't just take my word for it. The Old School has attracted well-deserved rave reviews, including a couple by participants in the #AWW2012 Reading & Reviewing Challenge. Fast paced plot deserves measured considered read, review by Yvonne Perkins and The Old School reviewed by Walter Masson. Apparently it has been nominated for a prize?
August 13, 2016
It is so exciting re-discovering how much I enjoy crime as a genre and better yet, discovering an eloquent and highly competent new author.
The Old School is PM Newton's first novel, and I hope there will be many, many more. I'm not sure whether I hope that they will all contain Nhu "Ned" Kelly, but she is a well-drawn, nuanced character and deftly depicted by PM Newton. Ned is half-Viet (and half Irish, let's not forget) and PM Newton writes the difficulties Ned has with her otherness well; we're introduced to her as she bristles at jibes about her appearance: islander, Hong Kong chicky-babe; boat baby. Throughout, I found PM Newton did not make one step wrong in depicting Nhu or her sister Linh, and I was very impressed. Her careful, non-stereotypecast handling of the war in Viet Nam, Australia's role and some of the characters' role was also - here's that word again - deft.
On other otherness fronts, PM Newton is also very good. She depicts the conflicts in indigenous politics well, clear-eyed but with compassion. Much better - and I'm sorry to make comparisons but how else do we make judgements? - than YA Erskine did in The Brotherhood. There are similar themes, too, in this book and YA Erskine (corruption in the police force, anyone?), outdated methods and philosophy, resistance to change, loyalty. She draws out the sexism and almost-every-other-ism in the police force, while also giving credit to (minimal, incremental, baby steps) change.
But where she does best is in relation to her musings about The Past, how it shapes the characters and what it means to excavate things long forgotten or purposefully hidden. And this is what The Old School is really about - yes there's a murder (or rather, quite a few) and unsolved crimes - but what this novel is really about is our complicated relationship with the past, with our own history (and by our, I mean Australia's as well as the individual characters) and the careful ways we construct our lives to mask or to emphasise aspects of our past.
Of the recent Australian crime (Temple, Erskine, Newton) I've been reading, I am impressed at how nuanced our stories are.
I look forward to PM Newton's next. She is writing another, right?
The Old School is PM Newton's first novel, and I hope there will be many, many more. I'm not sure whether I hope that they will all contain Nhu "Ned" Kelly, but she is a well-drawn, nuanced character and deftly depicted by PM Newton. Ned is half-Viet (and half Irish, let's not forget) and PM Newton writes the difficulties Ned has with her otherness well; we're introduced to her as she bristles at jibes about her appearance: islander, Hong Kong chicky-babe; boat baby. Throughout, I found PM Newton did not make one step wrong in depicting Nhu or her sister Linh, and I was very impressed. Her careful, non-stereotypecast handling of the war in Viet Nam, Australia's role and some of the characters' role was also - here's that word again - deft.
On other otherness fronts, PM Newton is also very good. She depicts the conflicts in indigenous politics well, clear-eyed but with compassion. Much better - and I'm sorry to make comparisons but how else do we make judgements? - than YA Erskine did in The Brotherhood. There are similar themes, too, in this book and YA Erskine (corruption in the police force, anyone?), outdated methods and philosophy, resistance to change, loyalty. She draws out the sexism and almost-every-other-ism in the police force, while also giving credit to (minimal, incremental, baby steps) change.
But where she does best is in relation to her musings about The Past, how it shapes the characters and what it means to excavate things long forgotten or purposefully hidden. And this is what The Old School is really about - yes there's a murder (or rather, quite a few) and unsolved crimes - but what this novel is really about is our complicated relationship with the past, with our own history (and by our, I mean Australia's as well as the individual characters) and the careful ways we construct our lives to mask or to emphasise aspects of our past.
Of the recent Australian crime (Temple, Erskine, Newton) I've been reading, I am impressed at how nuanced our stories are.
I look forward to PM Newton's next. She is writing another, right?
December 14, 2015
The Old School is the debut novel by former Policewoman P.M. Newton; set in the south western Sydney suburb of Bankstown in 1992, this book follows Detective Nhu ‘Ned’ Kelly who’s current case leds her into the dark pasts of Sydney. This book is full of Race struggles, power moves and corruption. While this was a fantastic debut novel for P.M. Newton, I found my self a little bored and not interested in the characters. I remember the era as I grow up in Sydney but I don’t really remember the grittiness of that time (I was still in primary school).
It was worth a read and if you enjoy a good Police procedure style book then don’t let my review detir you, this book is really interesting and I think many people will enjoy it. I just struggled to connect with it. Ned is a strong powerful young woman tha has to go through many struggles to prove herself, I’m interested to see if there will be any more novels to continue on her story.
It was worth a read and if you enjoy a good Police procedure style book then don’t let my review detir you, this book is really interesting and I think many people will enjoy it. I just struggled to connect with it. Ned is a strong powerful young woman tha has to go through many struggles to prove herself, I’m interested to see if there will be any more novels to continue on her story.
September 28, 2018
A pesar de que la parte inicial del libro me atrajo mucho, por desgracia se fue desinflando y acabé pidiendo la hora, por usar un símil futbolístico. Una pena, el entorno y la cuestión de la discriminación aborigen en Australia era un tema interesante, pero la ejecución me resultó mucho menos entretenida de lo que una novela de género debería ser.
September 18, 2011
The Old School by name and old school by nature. This is a debut police procedural novel by former Policewoman P.M. Newton and is set in the south western Sydney suburb of Bankstown in the early 1990's.
Bankstown is a melting pot of cultural and financial diversity. A place where a future prime minister can emerge, having left school at 15. A suburb infused with Asian, Middle Eastern and European immigrants. Close enough to the teeming city centre to attract renovators, developers, shonky deals and crooked operators. In 1992 the suburb was well into the process of gentrification. Corners were being cut, organised crime had a controlling interest and bureaucratic corruption was rife. With this as a backdrop and the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) investigation in full swing, the plot unfolds.
Nhu 'Ned' Kelly is a young detective based at the Bankstown Police Station. Thrust into a 'blokey' environment, and with a Vietnamese mother and an Irish father, Ned's sex and background are always going to make it tough for her to succeed. Despite being a born and bred Sydneysider, Ned cops sexist and racist jibes from the 'perps' and her workmates alike on a daily basis. But Ned is part of the new police model, not tainted by past graft and made from stern stuff.
When two bodies are found in the foundations of an old building, Ned is confronted with a cascading series of old rivalries, police corruption, and is drawn into the case on a personal level as links are found between the bodies and Ned's own parents who were murdered in 1976. Suspects are plenty, some of her workmates are rotten to the core and Ned doesn't know she can trust and who she can turn to.
The Old School was shortlisted for the 2011 Ned Kelly Best First Crime Fiction Award, and I can see why. It is an absorbing and intriguing police procedural novel. The fact that it is P.M. Newton's debut novel is even more creditable. The plot is well researched by the former policewoman. She nails the era and the battles that a young policewoman would have faced. No doubt experiencing the same sexism and hurdles herself. The fictitious plot is paralleled by real events that give the setting and time period both authenticity and perspective. Aboriginal Landrights, Paul Keating's Redfern Address, ICAC, multiculturalism, a burgeoning and emerging world city in Sydney and a changing attitude to policing are all interwoven cleverly into the plot. The pace of the story is well modulated with new pieces of evidence building the intrigue and deepening the mystery. The characters are diverse and interesting and the ending is both absorbing and fulfilling.
I hope this is the first book in a series. It is a gutsy and gritty police procedural with fleshy characters and lays a perfect launching pad to spawn a series. I will be keenly on the lookout for future P.M. Newton novels and highly recommend this book to those who like tough and dirty police procedural and crime fiction novels. 4.5/5 Stars
Bankstown is a melting pot of cultural and financial diversity. A place where a future prime minister can emerge, having left school at 15. A suburb infused with Asian, Middle Eastern and European immigrants. Close enough to the teeming city centre to attract renovators, developers, shonky deals and crooked operators. In 1992 the suburb was well into the process of gentrification. Corners were being cut, organised crime had a controlling interest and bureaucratic corruption was rife. With this as a backdrop and the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) investigation in full swing, the plot unfolds.
Nhu 'Ned' Kelly is a young detective based at the Bankstown Police Station. Thrust into a 'blokey' environment, and with a Vietnamese mother and an Irish father, Ned's sex and background are always going to make it tough for her to succeed. Despite being a born and bred Sydneysider, Ned cops sexist and racist jibes from the 'perps' and her workmates alike on a daily basis. But Ned is part of the new police model, not tainted by past graft and made from stern stuff.
When two bodies are found in the foundations of an old building, Ned is confronted with a cascading series of old rivalries, police corruption, and is drawn into the case on a personal level as links are found between the bodies and Ned's own parents who were murdered in 1976. Suspects are plenty, some of her workmates are rotten to the core and Ned doesn't know she can trust and who she can turn to.
The Old School was shortlisted for the 2011 Ned Kelly Best First Crime Fiction Award, and I can see why. It is an absorbing and intriguing police procedural novel. The fact that it is P.M. Newton's debut novel is even more creditable. The plot is well researched by the former policewoman. She nails the era and the battles that a young policewoman would have faced. No doubt experiencing the same sexism and hurdles herself. The fictitious plot is paralleled by real events that give the setting and time period both authenticity and perspective. Aboriginal Landrights, Paul Keating's Redfern Address, ICAC, multiculturalism, a burgeoning and emerging world city in Sydney and a changing attitude to policing are all interwoven cleverly into the plot. The pace of the story is well modulated with new pieces of evidence building the intrigue and deepening the mystery. The characters are diverse and interesting and the ending is both absorbing and fulfilling.
I hope this is the first book in a series. It is a gutsy and gritty police procedural with fleshy characters and lays a perfect launching pad to spawn a series. I will be keenly on the lookout for future P.M. Newton novels and highly recommend this book to those who like tough and dirty police procedural and crime fiction novels. 4.5/5 Stars
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December 28, 2014This is a very individual book, told in a unique voice.
A dense, complicated book delivered in a staccato prose.
It's relentless, sometimes exhausting, with a brand of Strine so thick I admit I didn't always know what was going on. It's also thoroughly absorbing. Marvellous to see so much of Sydney in the story - and a realistically multicultural Sydney at that. Hurrah!
I don't think I ever really took to protagonist Nhu 'Ned' Kelly or the assortment of difficult people that surround her. I did wish we'd gotten to see more of her mother, Ngoc, who seemed such a figure of pathos. But as Nhu says of her parents, they were "[c]onfident they'd live to know their daughters, not realising the need to leave clues."
Nhu herself is the kind of character that carries a lot of rage, gets into a lot of fights & is relatively humourless. Admittedly she has a lot of tragedy in her life, some of it outside her control (for example, the early death of her parents) & some of it within (her affair with a married man).
Remarkably, I actually managed to guess at some of the plot, which is an otherwise unheard-of feat for me. It only endeared the book more. Another hurrah!
And if I wanted to maybe edit 80+ pages out of it, well, regular readers of my reviews may already know of my impatience with long stories - & they will know to take my comments with a grain of salt.
Liked it. Tired now.
#aww2013 no.9
A dense, complicated book delivered in a staccato prose.
It's relentless, sometimes exhausting, with a brand of Strine so thick I admit I didn't always know what was going on. It's also thoroughly absorbing. Marvellous to see so much of Sydney in the story - and a realistically multicultural Sydney at that. Hurrah!
I don't think I ever really took to protagonist Nhu 'Ned' Kelly or the assortment of difficult people that surround her. I did wish we'd gotten to see more of her mother, Ngoc, who seemed such a figure of pathos. But as Nhu says of her parents, they were "[c]onfident they'd live to know their daughters, not realising the need to leave clues."
Nhu herself is the kind of character that carries a lot of rage, gets into a lot of fights & is relatively humourless. Admittedly she has a lot of tragedy in her life, some of it outside her control (for example, the early death of her parents) & some of it within (her affair with a married man).
Remarkably, I actually managed to guess at some of the plot, which is an otherwise unheard-of feat for me. It only endeared the book more. Another hurrah!
And if I wanted to maybe edit 80+ pages out of it, well, regular readers of my reviews may already know of my impatience with long stories - & they will know to take my comments with a grain of salt.
Liked it. Tired now.
#aww2013 no.9
November 23, 2021
Last 80 pages of the book picked up, but this was the first time where I actually felt engaged in the book. I still wasn't really invested, just mildly interested, like when you peer over the top of a newspaper to watch something happening on TV for a couple minutes.
The first 80% of the book is just so boring, reading it actually turned into a chore. It took me over three months to finish it. It was not written very well, there were so many characters who are given twenty million different names, and sentences are phrased in a way that I don't even know what is happening, but I just don't even care enough to reread the last paragraph to try and interpret. Book could definitely have been shortened. By a lot.
The first 80% of the book is just so boring, reading it actually turned into a chore. It took me over three months to finish it. It was not written very well, there were so many characters who are given twenty million different names, and sentences are phrased in a way that I don't even know what is happening, but I just don't even care enough to reread the last paragraph to try and interpret. Book could definitely have been shortened. By a lot.
May 21, 2017
A pretty hard slog up until the last 75 pages or so.
Liked the storyline and the idea behind it, it also tackles some very big taboo subjects...but it just wasn't all that polished.
Liked the storyline and the idea behind it, it also tackles some very big taboo subjects...but it just wasn't all that polished.
June 15, 2014
Nhu 'Ned' Kelly is a young Irish/Vietnamese police detective in Bankstown, Sydney. Her parents were murdered when she was young and she and her sister were brought up by an Aunt, knowing nothing of Vietnamese culture or language. When two bodies, seemingly unconnected, are found encased in the concrete under an old building been demolished in 1992, Ned and her fellow detectives are thrown back to the 70s to find the reason for their deaths.
This is an excellent debut novel, tightly written and full of gritty detail. P.M. Newton was herself a detective during the 1990s and nails the time and place of her novel brilliantly. Several social issues of the 70s and 90s are raised - Australia's role in the Vietnam war and it's aftermath, Aboriginal activism and police corruption. Looking forward to reading the next instalment Beams Falling and some further development of Nhu's character.
This is an excellent debut novel, tightly written and full of gritty detail. P.M. Newton was herself a detective during the 1990s and nails the time and place of her novel brilliantly. Several social issues of the 70s and 90s are raised - Australia's role in the Vietnam war and it's aftermath, Aboriginal activism and police corruption. Looking forward to reading the next instalment Beams Falling and some further development of Nhu's character.
July 10, 2015
4.5 ★s
Loved it! This is a gritty, police detective fiction written by a woman who worked for 13 years in the 80s & 90s in the NSW Police. I found it gripping & very well-written, but not an easy read. I didn't think I was going to like it at first, the opening chapter was very confronting, but I settled in & really wanted to find out what happened to Ned. I couldn't read it for long sessions because it was so confronting, but it was something I had to keep going back to, & it has left a lasting impression.
Although this isn't all explosions & incredibly talented & wealthy serial killers, it's not for the faint-hearted. There's some history here - Vietnam & Aboriginal-clearing, & police corruption - this is the time of the ICAC trial into such corruption, 1990.
I loved travelling around Sydney with Ned, trying to remember what it was like in 1990, in the post-recession years. I remember those huge holes everywhere as developers ran out of money after knocking the lovely old buildings down & being unable to build the new ones. Property prices were just starting to rise at ridiculous rates & everyone was renovating madly - particularly in the inner city. I wish I'd bought a house in Greenwich back then.
Loved it! This is a gritty, police detective fiction written by a woman who worked for 13 years in the 80s & 90s in the NSW Police. I found it gripping & very well-written, but not an easy read. I didn't think I was going to like it at first, the opening chapter was very confronting, but I settled in & really wanted to find out what happened to Ned. I couldn't read it for long sessions because it was so confronting, but it was something I had to keep going back to, & it has left a lasting impression.
Although this isn't all explosions & incredibly talented & wealthy serial killers, it's not for the faint-hearted. There's some history here - Vietnam & Aboriginal-clearing, & police corruption - this is the time of the ICAC trial into such corruption, 1990.
I loved travelling around Sydney with Ned, trying to remember what it was like in 1990, in the post-recession years. I remember those huge holes everywhere as developers ran out of money after knocking the lovely old buildings down & being unable to build the new ones. Property prices were just starting to rise at ridiculous rates & everyone was renovating madly - particularly in the inner city. I wish I'd bought a house in Greenwich back then.
March 10, 2016
This book won the Davitt Award Reader's Choice 2011. It was tightly written, in-depth and refreshing. The author set it during a volatile time in the NSW Police Force when major corruption was being uncovered. The main character was an Irish-Vietnamese police officer, whose parents were murdered when she was a child. When a pair of bodies are found buried in concrete in one of her father's construction sites, all her childhood nightmares come back to haunt her. With the police force riddled with corruption, she doesn't know who to trust. The threads of distrust and uncovering the past are woven through the narrative.
A gripping read.
A gripping read.
April 23, 2012
Wow. Wow. Wow. This is a refreshing, gutsy, clever story with masterfully accessible writing. I am totally ready for the sequel!
September 29, 2014
A dark, compelling crime novel, with a vivid sense of place (Sydney), some excellent characterisation and a rich, gripping story to tell.
October 21, 2018
Sufficiently complicated and exciting to keep me going to the last page, but definitely not my kind of book. Back in the 70s, there were corrupt police in every state, but only the NSW mob were labeled "the best police officers money can buy", so that part doesn't come as a shock. What I found strange was how foreign this Sydney seemed. I've only spent about a fortnight there so I obviously don't know the city, but with all the detail of many suburbs I've never heard of, this story could have been set in New York. And then there was the language. I've only lived in Australia for 47 years, but I don't usually find the language so very different from the English I learnt at my mother's knee in England, but there were a number of words here that even Google couldn't help me with: I've never worked in the construction industry, but I've known a lot of builders, and yet I had never come across "reos", which I guessed to be reinforcement bars for concrete. Easier to guess was "warb", but I've never ever heard anyone say that - we would have said "derros". There were a few others!
Anyway, interesting story, but not my cup of tea.
Anyway, interesting story, but not my cup of tea.
January 28, 2014
It is Sydney in 1992 and the NSW Police Force and the general public are still reeling from the doings of Roger Rogerson and Arthur “Neddy” Smith. Young detective Nhu “Ned” Kelly works out of the Bankstown police station where her Vietnamese appearance was considered an asset in “liasing with the community”. Never mind the fact that Kelly was born in Australia, isn’t part of the local Vietnamese culture and doesn’t speak the language.
Some things have changed, but not all and Kelly still faces discrimination, racism and difficulty due to both her appearance and the fact that she’s a woman in what is still very much a man’s world. Her station and the local community is thrown into chaos when old bones are discovered in the foundations of a building that is being demolished to make way for a car park. The bones have been there for a couple of decades and it’s up to forensics to tease the information out of them: race, sex, identity, how they died.
But for Ned Kelly, this is going to be anything but a straight forward case. It stirs up the demons she has faced every day since her parents were murdered point blank in front of her when she was a small child. It calls into question the actions and character of her father, a Vietnam war veteran. Ned is distanced from the investigation as things become too close to home, both for her personally and also professionally. An ill-advised fling with an undercover officer also leads her into dangerous territory and Ned is beginning to wonder just who she can really trust around her. The bodies are going to uncover the darkest secrets of the police force and prove that the corruption and illegal activity of the previous decades has stretched far and wide.
Every now and then you read a book that makes you question why you don’t read more books of its type and The Old School was definitely one of these for me. I like crime novels but I don’t read very many of them – I don’t know why. Then every now and then I read a brilliant one which has me vowing to read more crime novels. I’ve heard good things about this one from other participants of the Australian Women Writers Challenge and given the next installment is coming out next month, I thought now was the time to check it out.
When the book opens Nhu “Ned” Kelly is participating in an undercover sting although ends up being the victim in many ways. A detective working in the cultural melting pot of Bankstown, Ned has had a difficult upbringing and seems restless, unsure of where she fits in, anywhere. She has difficulties relating to her sister, who doesn’t understand Ned’s demanding career. Their aunt, who raised the two girls (somewhat reluctantly) after the death of her brother, their Irish-Australian father and his Vietnamese-born wife is developing dementure and needs supervision and it will only be a matter of time until she requires 24 hour care. Ned seems to face judgement and preconceptions about her appearance every day with few people understanding that she identifies as Australian with no real connection or ties to her Vietnamese heritage.
The plot, centering around the discovery of the bodies, establishing their identity and trying to discover how they are connected and how they came to be in the foundations, is full of twists and turns and kept me guessing the entire way through, especially when it seemed like Ned’s father might somehow be involved, especially considering he was also murdered around the same time. I could understand to her need to know whether or not he was involved and what sort of a man he was. Ned’s memories are fuzzy and vague – she was only seven when her parents were killed. In contrast, her sister has a strong desire to not know, preferring to go with her heart and use it to define what kind of man their father was. The dynamic between the sisters was very interesting, especially when you took into consideration their aunt as well. A former performer who is slowly sliding into incoherence, she lives in a time long gone by, talking of memoirs and glory days.
I found myself really enjoying the enigmatic character of Detective Sergeant Sean Murphy, a notorious undercover operative that Ned becomes involved with. He’s in and out, he’s got his fingers in lots of pies, he knows things and he keeps cropping up in various points of various investigations until Ned really doesn’t know what is going on and she begins having horrible suspicions about him and what he might be involved in. Despite the fact that the more the book went on the dodgier he seemed to become there was something incredibly charismatic about him and how he always seemed to have all the right answers and provide all of the right assistance. There’s so much depth to him as well and I wanted to find out more about him but at the same time, I didn’t want to know anymore! I’m not sure if he’ll be in the next novel, which is called Beams Falling – but I kind of hope so. I’d like to see where he’s at.
I was engrossed in this book from the very first page and couldn’t wait for each twist to unfold and each new bit of information to present itself. I’m glad I waited until now to read this because I don’t have long to wait before I can tackle the next one but I also wish I’d read it sooner so I could mull it over a bit more. I like books that make me think and get me to investigate a little more. I was 10 at the time this book is set so I’ve done a bit of reading up on Roger Rogerson etc to pad out the vague stuff my brain digs up at the name to understand what it might’ve been liked to be a police officer after all of the stuff about Rogerson was revealed. The setting was brilliantly rendered and the writing didn’t waste a word. And now I must go and read more crime.
Some things have changed, but not all and Kelly still faces discrimination, racism and difficulty due to both her appearance and the fact that she’s a woman in what is still very much a man’s world. Her station and the local community is thrown into chaos when old bones are discovered in the foundations of a building that is being demolished to make way for a car park. The bones have been there for a couple of decades and it’s up to forensics to tease the information out of them: race, sex, identity, how they died.
But for Ned Kelly, this is going to be anything but a straight forward case. It stirs up the demons she has faced every day since her parents were murdered point blank in front of her when she was a small child. It calls into question the actions and character of her father, a Vietnam war veteran. Ned is distanced from the investigation as things become too close to home, both for her personally and also professionally. An ill-advised fling with an undercover officer also leads her into dangerous territory and Ned is beginning to wonder just who she can really trust around her. The bodies are going to uncover the darkest secrets of the police force and prove that the corruption and illegal activity of the previous decades has stretched far and wide.
Every now and then you read a book that makes you question why you don’t read more books of its type and The Old School was definitely one of these for me. I like crime novels but I don’t read very many of them – I don’t know why. Then every now and then I read a brilliant one which has me vowing to read more crime novels. I’ve heard good things about this one from other participants of the Australian Women Writers Challenge and given the next installment is coming out next month, I thought now was the time to check it out.
When the book opens Nhu “Ned” Kelly is participating in an undercover sting although ends up being the victim in many ways. A detective working in the cultural melting pot of Bankstown, Ned has had a difficult upbringing and seems restless, unsure of where she fits in, anywhere. She has difficulties relating to her sister, who doesn’t understand Ned’s demanding career. Their aunt, who raised the two girls (somewhat reluctantly) after the death of her brother, their Irish-Australian father and his Vietnamese-born wife is developing dementure and needs supervision and it will only be a matter of time until she requires 24 hour care. Ned seems to face judgement and preconceptions about her appearance every day with few people understanding that she identifies as Australian with no real connection or ties to her Vietnamese heritage.
The plot, centering around the discovery of the bodies, establishing their identity and trying to discover how they are connected and how they came to be in the foundations, is full of twists and turns and kept me guessing the entire way through, especially when it seemed like Ned’s father might somehow be involved, especially considering he was also murdered around the same time. I could understand to her need to know whether or not he was involved and what sort of a man he was. Ned’s memories are fuzzy and vague – she was only seven when her parents were killed. In contrast, her sister has a strong desire to not know, preferring to go with her heart and use it to define what kind of man their father was. The dynamic between the sisters was very interesting, especially when you took into consideration their aunt as well. A former performer who is slowly sliding into incoherence, she lives in a time long gone by, talking of memoirs and glory days.
I found myself really enjoying the enigmatic character of Detective Sergeant Sean Murphy, a notorious undercover operative that Ned becomes involved with. He’s in and out, he’s got his fingers in lots of pies, he knows things and he keeps cropping up in various points of various investigations until Ned really doesn’t know what is going on and she begins having horrible suspicions about him and what he might be involved in. Despite the fact that the more the book went on the dodgier he seemed to become there was something incredibly charismatic about him and how he always seemed to have all the right answers and provide all of the right assistance. There’s so much depth to him as well and I wanted to find out more about him but at the same time, I didn’t want to know anymore! I’m not sure if he’ll be in the next novel, which is called Beams Falling – but I kind of hope so. I’d like to see where he’s at.
I was engrossed in this book from the very first page and couldn’t wait for each twist to unfold and each new bit of information to present itself. I’m glad I waited until now to read this because I don’t have long to wait before I can tackle the next one but I also wish I’d read it sooner so I could mull it over a bit more. I like books that make me think and get me to investigate a little more. I was 10 at the time this book is set so I’ve done a bit of reading up on Roger Rogerson etc to pad out the vague stuff my brain digs up at the name to understand what it might’ve been liked to be a police officer after all of the stuff about Rogerson was revealed. The setting was brilliantly rendered and the writing didn’t waste a word. And now I must go and read more crime.
April 27, 2018
Stayed up late finishing this book last night. PM Newton worked as a police officer for thirteen years in Sydney and The Old School is a engrossing procedural set in the 1990s. When two bodies are discovered in cement at an old building site Nhu "Ned" Kelly finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation that hits close to home. There are a lot of threads and layers to the book, and a very satisfying murder mystery. Newton's world view is coloured by her experiences and she's said in an interview that life isn't all perfectly tied up, and that's the sort of book she writes. Loved The Old School and looking forward to reading the sequel Beams Falling.
August 14, 2020
My favourite character in this book was TOTALLY Sydney. I haven't picked up any other book that has so brilliantly encapsulated the landscape and diversity of this city. It also tackles some hard questions about race and police corruption while taking you on a journey through personal trauma and wide-spread conspiracy. I'd definitely recommend if you're looking for a thriller set on your doorstep. 3.5/5
April 11, 2023
A good Australian crime story. Australian to the core in language and the times (early '90s).
The title says it all but times are changing and I will be expecting Detective Kelly to show up in a series soon as she "toughens up" on the job. A great effort for a first novel and PM Newton has the background to make the stories authentic. A few less nicknames would make for easier reading but I guess you would not be a real Aussie cop if you if not have a nickname
The title says it all but times are changing and I will be expecting Detective Kelly to show up in a series soon as she "toughens up" on the job. A great effort for a first novel and PM Newton has the background to make the stories authentic. A few less nicknames would make for easier reading but I guess you would not be a real Aussie cop if you if not have a nickname
June 4, 2022
Very nostalgic novel for a local Bankstown resident. The book was a slow start but the mystery picked up in intensity in the final third of the book. If you are a fan of true crime and are from Sydney, it may appeal.
April 4, 2018
It's wonderful to have another great detective novelist in Australia. More than just a murder mystery. Historical and socially conscious. Loved the depth of character.
September 8, 2022
read this in 2 days, literally couldn’t put it down.
September 1, 2010
As I was reading this book I couldn't help but create a checklist of the things that make up seriously good crime fiction for me, and apply it as I went.
A sense of place that puts you right on the spot, without turning into a travelogue. Something that gives you a sense of the smell, the look, the way that people move around and interact with their location. THE OLD SCHOOL is set in Bankstown, a suburb of Sydney almost tailor-made for the action that is taking place - multitudes of cultures living up close and personal, dodgy dealings in all walks of life, overcrowded streets, haves and have nots, development and profound poverty, traffic and dust. Aboriginal activists are still fighting for land rights and against deaths in custody. The Prime Minister's famous Redfern Speech gets a mention. There is such a strong sense of the place, and the timeframe in this book, that I'd swear you can smell the kebabs she describes.
A solid plot, a believable set of circumstances in which people find themselves pushed to the limit, achieving great things, dealing with other people, solving problems. The events of the book - the discovery of two skeletons in the concrete foundations of a building being demolished and the death of an old homeless Aboriginal man are interwoven with the professional and personal life of Nhu 'Ned" Kelly. Ned is a young, mixed race woman, working her way towards promotion / change within the NSW police, at a time that ICAC (the Independent Commission Against Corruption) investigations are carefully dismantling the careers of many around her. It's a nice touch to weave the reality of the ICAC investigations, and mentions of some of its more notorious participants into the daily working life of Ned - adding not just a sense of realism, but giving readers a timeframe without having to stress dates. Perhaps there are a few elements in the plot that rely a little too much on co-incidence but frankly the way that THE OLD SCHOOL lays that out - well coincidences do happen.
Good characters, including some growth, a bit of backstory, a realistic feeling of people who aren't perfect, who make mistakes, who do good, and bad things. What glues the elements of this book together are the characters that Newton has built. Ned, her mentor and boss TC, her sister Linh and aunt MM, along with various other police and members of the Aboriginal community. Whilst it's undoubtedly Ned's story, all the other players get their moments, and provide a great supporting role. Newton also draws a very sensitive portrayal of being the child of a Vietnam vet in Australia, whilst slowly revealing the truth behind the death of Ned's parents, many years ago.
Social observation - exploring real things from real life that aren't right. THE OLD SCHOOL does touch on a lot of issues - police and official corruption, organised crime, Aboriginal activism and land rights, fallout from the Vietnam war. It uses all of these elements as aspects of the plot - there's never any sense of lecturing or pushing a barrow. Rather each element is revealed as part of the ongoing investigation, the lives of the characters, as aspects of the revelations leading to a solution.
Finally realism. Not to the point of user manual accurate - but a real feeling that there are elements of the story, the setting, the events that are being presented that have a believability about them (not that I actually care if they are or aren't 100% realistic or accurate - I just want to feel like the author knows what they are talking about). THE OLD SCHOOL does this in spades.
According to the blurb on THE OLD SCHOOL, Newton worked in the NSW police force for thirteen years, and this is her first novel. If this is a debut - bring on a whole lot more of the series
A sense of place that puts you right on the spot, without turning into a travelogue. Something that gives you a sense of the smell, the look, the way that people move around and interact with their location. THE OLD SCHOOL is set in Bankstown, a suburb of Sydney almost tailor-made for the action that is taking place - multitudes of cultures living up close and personal, dodgy dealings in all walks of life, overcrowded streets, haves and have nots, development and profound poverty, traffic and dust. Aboriginal activists are still fighting for land rights and against deaths in custody. The Prime Minister's famous Redfern Speech gets a mention. There is such a strong sense of the place, and the timeframe in this book, that I'd swear you can smell the kebabs she describes.
A solid plot, a believable set of circumstances in which people find themselves pushed to the limit, achieving great things, dealing with other people, solving problems. The events of the book - the discovery of two skeletons in the concrete foundations of a building being demolished and the death of an old homeless Aboriginal man are interwoven with the professional and personal life of Nhu 'Ned" Kelly. Ned is a young, mixed race woman, working her way towards promotion / change within the NSW police, at a time that ICAC (the Independent Commission Against Corruption) investigations are carefully dismantling the careers of many around her. It's a nice touch to weave the reality of the ICAC investigations, and mentions of some of its more notorious participants into the daily working life of Ned - adding not just a sense of realism, but giving readers a timeframe without having to stress dates. Perhaps there are a few elements in the plot that rely a little too much on co-incidence but frankly the way that THE OLD SCHOOL lays that out - well coincidences do happen.
Good characters, including some growth, a bit of backstory, a realistic feeling of people who aren't perfect, who make mistakes, who do good, and bad things. What glues the elements of this book together are the characters that Newton has built. Ned, her mentor and boss TC, her sister Linh and aunt MM, along with various other police and members of the Aboriginal community. Whilst it's undoubtedly Ned's story, all the other players get their moments, and provide a great supporting role. Newton also draws a very sensitive portrayal of being the child of a Vietnam vet in Australia, whilst slowly revealing the truth behind the death of Ned's parents, many years ago.
Social observation - exploring real things from real life that aren't right. THE OLD SCHOOL does touch on a lot of issues - police and official corruption, organised crime, Aboriginal activism and land rights, fallout from the Vietnam war. It uses all of these elements as aspects of the plot - there's never any sense of lecturing or pushing a barrow. Rather each element is revealed as part of the ongoing investigation, the lives of the characters, as aspects of the revelations leading to a solution.
Finally realism. Not to the point of user manual accurate - but a real feeling that there are elements of the story, the setting, the events that are being presented that have a believability about them (not that I actually care if they are or aren't 100% realistic or accurate - I just want to feel like the author knows what they are talking about). THE OLD SCHOOL does this in spades.
According to the blurb on THE OLD SCHOOL, Newton worked in the NSW police force for thirteen years, and this is her first novel. If this is a debut - bring on a whole lot more of the series
January 5, 2014
I read The Old School in November 2012, while I was travelling in America. I had grabbed a paperback to read while planes were taking off and landing, figuring that if I didn’t like it, I could leave it behind for some passenger or flight attendant who might enjoy it more.
Not only did I like The Old School, but it’s still on my mind now. It had a vivid sense of time and place, and a really fantastic heroine in Detective Nhu “Ned” Kelly.
Time and place: Sydney, 1992. Bill Clinton is in the White House. The High Court has just overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius with the Mabo ruling, establishing precedent for Aboriginal land rights.
The heroine: Ned is the daughter of an Irish-Australian man and a Vietnamese woman he met while serving in the war. Her parents were murdered when she was young, and she and her sister were raised by their eccentric paternal aunt, who doesn’t make a secret of the fact she wishes her nieces were just a little more, you know, white. As an adult, Ned is career-minded, ambitious and somewhat resentful of senior officers’ expectation that she be their token minority (a role that falls by the wayside when she reveals she speaks no Vietnamese). (So good was the portrayal of the pressures and micro-aggressions Ned faces that I was really shocked to learn that the author is in fact white.)
This is the status quo when the bodies of two women are discovered in the foundation of a building that Ned’s father constructed in the late ’70s. One was an Aboriginal activist whose inability to swallow bullshit and play nice with the patriarchy earned her a lot of enemies. The other was a Vietnamese refugee who may have had links with the Viet Cong.
Probably the weakest link in the novel is that Ned wasn’t transferred to other duties right away, but it does make sense that she would want to prove herself, and that her mentor would give her the chance.
Despite that, it’s a fantastic, intricate mystery that covers espionage and war crimes in Vietnam, police abuse of Aborigines in Sydney, and the way past sins can still damage families. And the culture, the awkward fumbling steps towards inclusivity that in my family we called political correctness, is portrayed vividly. Late in the book, events take place with Paul Keating’s famous Redfern speech as the backdrop, assimilating all the themes beautifully. I was really excited to learn that there’s going to be a second book about Ned.
Not only did I like The Old School, but it’s still on my mind now. It had a vivid sense of time and place, and a really fantastic heroine in Detective Nhu “Ned” Kelly.
Time and place: Sydney, 1992. Bill Clinton is in the White House. The High Court has just overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius with the Mabo ruling, establishing precedent for Aboriginal land rights.
The heroine: Ned is the daughter of an Irish-Australian man and a Vietnamese woman he met while serving in the war. Her parents were murdered when she was young, and she and her sister were raised by their eccentric paternal aunt, who doesn’t make a secret of the fact she wishes her nieces were just a little more, you know, white. As an adult, Ned is career-minded, ambitious and somewhat resentful of senior officers’ expectation that she be their token minority (a role that falls by the wayside when she reveals she speaks no Vietnamese). (So good was the portrayal of the pressures and micro-aggressions Ned faces that I was really shocked to learn that the author is in fact white.)
This is the status quo when the bodies of two women are discovered in the foundation of a building that Ned’s father constructed in the late ’70s. One was an Aboriginal activist whose inability to swallow bullshit and play nice with the patriarchy earned her a lot of enemies. The other was a Vietnamese refugee who may have had links with the Viet Cong.
Probably the weakest link in the novel is that Ned wasn’t transferred to other duties right away, but it does make sense that she would want to prove herself, and that her mentor would give her the chance.
Despite that, it’s a fantastic, intricate mystery that covers espionage and war crimes in Vietnam, police abuse of Aborigines in Sydney, and the way past sins can still damage families. And the culture, the awkward fumbling steps towards inclusivity that in my family we called political correctness, is portrayed vividly. Late in the book, events take place with Paul Keating’s famous Redfern speech as the backdrop, assimilating all the themes beautifully. I was really excited to learn that there’s going to be a second book about Ned.
November 27, 2014
The 2010 debut novel of former NSW detective P.M. Newton is a compelling and confronting addition to the Australian crime fiction scene, which currently seems to be undergoing something of a creative boom.
Set in Sydney, 1992, against the backdrop of Mabo v Queensland, Paul Keating's historic Redfern Speech, and several high profile ICAC investigations into police and government corruption, The Old School introduces the Vietnamese/Irish Australian cop Nhu "Ned" Kelly, a young detective with the Bankstown area command. Ned's age, sex, and ethnicity could be seen as symbolic of a changing police force in a changing Australia, but she refuses to let them make her an outsider or to be seen as a special case and all but lives for her job, focusing on being the best police officer she can possibly be.
When two female bodies, one of which is connected with a missing Aboriginal land rights activist, are discovered buried in decade-old concrete on a building site, Kelly is one of the detectives brought in to investigate. It becomes personal quickly, however, when the site's connection to her parents - murdered in front of her eyes when she was just a child - are uncovered. The following investigation drags up some very unpleasant truths about the police force she has chosen to join and a family (and heritage) she hardly knows.
Newton's success in The Old School is twofold. Firstly, she has added a terrific new lead character to the canon of Australian crime fiction. Kelly is a fascinating figure, who's tough but emotionally fragile, disconnected from her heritage and near-estranged from her surviving family (a very sympathetically portrayed aunt and long-suffering sister), and has difficulty forming meaningful relationships outside of her work. Secondly, Newton builds a compelling and well-plotted mystery which uses its time and setting effectively to address topics including multiculturalism, police corruption, land rights and the Vietnam war, and critiques many of the uglier facets of Australian society, both then and now.
This book was provided at no cost by the author and Penguin Books Australia.
Set in Sydney, 1992, against the backdrop of Mabo v Queensland, Paul Keating's historic Redfern Speech, and several high profile ICAC investigations into police and government corruption, The Old School introduces the Vietnamese/Irish Australian cop Nhu "Ned" Kelly, a young detective with the Bankstown area command. Ned's age, sex, and ethnicity could be seen as symbolic of a changing police force in a changing Australia, but she refuses to let them make her an outsider or to be seen as a special case and all but lives for her job, focusing on being the best police officer she can possibly be.
When two female bodies, one of which is connected with a missing Aboriginal land rights activist, are discovered buried in decade-old concrete on a building site, Kelly is one of the detectives brought in to investigate. It becomes personal quickly, however, when the site's connection to her parents - murdered in front of her eyes when she was just a child - are uncovered. The following investigation drags up some very unpleasant truths about the police force she has chosen to join and a family (and heritage) she hardly knows.
Newton's success in The Old School is twofold. Firstly, she has added a terrific new lead character to the canon of Australian crime fiction. Kelly is a fascinating figure, who's tough but emotionally fragile, disconnected from her heritage and near-estranged from her surviving family (a very sympathetically portrayed aunt and long-suffering sister), and has difficulty forming meaningful relationships outside of her work. Secondly, Newton builds a compelling and well-plotted mystery which uses its time and setting effectively to address topics including multiculturalism, police corruption, land rights and the Vietnam war, and critiques many of the uglier facets of Australian society, both then and now.
This book was provided at no cost by the author and Penguin Books Australia.
March 25, 2012
This is more than just a crime novel. While there is a crime at the centre of it, so many other elements are also explored - the city of Sydney, the era of the 1990s, police corruption... as well as the cultural aspects of Aboriginal people and their ongoing fight for justice and the lingering aftereffects of the Vietnam war.
Detective Nhu 'Ned' Kelly works at Bankstown in Sydney's west. When a set of bones are found in concrete (that was poured in the 1970s) she is drawn into the mystery on both a professional and personal level. The mystery is compelling. While not overly suspenseful to begin with, it does build to an edge of your seat read as the story progresses.
As many other reviewers have noted, what the author has done best is capture Sydney perfectly at that moment in time (1992). The way she talks about the landmarks etc shows a deep knowledge of the area and shows just how things have changed in the ensuing 20 years. she has also captured amazingly well the culture of the police force back then, from the reality of entrenched corruption to the issues of racism and sexism that existed in that time. (Of course it hasn't been wiped out completely but it is much less over now).
The dialogue throughout was fantastic, as was the obvious deep knowledge of police procedure. Having served as a police officer herself, the author has managed to portray an extremely authentic view of the job, which leaves no doubt in your mind that you are getting a genuine insight into how police investigation works (or at least how it did back in 1992). Also interesting to note was the way that technology has changed policing, for example their references to the "new" science of DNA. Pagers and two way radio were still king also and there was no internet or on-line research to speak of.
Overall this is a multi-layered book that ticks many boxes - a great crime novel, as well as a cultural and historical snapshot of a Sydney that has since changed and evolved. A great read that would appeal to many who don't necessarily like crime fiction.
Detective Nhu 'Ned' Kelly works at Bankstown in Sydney's west. When a set of bones are found in concrete (that was poured in the 1970s) she is drawn into the mystery on both a professional and personal level. The mystery is compelling. While not overly suspenseful to begin with, it does build to an edge of your seat read as the story progresses.
As many other reviewers have noted, what the author has done best is capture Sydney perfectly at that moment in time (1992). The way she talks about the landmarks etc shows a deep knowledge of the area and shows just how things have changed in the ensuing 20 years. she has also captured amazingly well the culture of the police force back then, from the reality of entrenched corruption to the issues of racism and sexism that existed in that time. (Of course it hasn't been wiped out completely but it is much less over now).
The dialogue throughout was fantastic, as was the obvious deep knowledge of police procedure. Having served as a police officer herself, the author has managed to portray an extremely authentic view of the job, which leaves no doubt in your mind that you are getting a genuine insight into how police investigation works (or at least how it did back in 1992). Also interesting to note was the way that technology has changed policing, for example their references to the "new" science of DNA. Pagers and two way radio were still king also and there was no internet or on-line research to speak of.
Overall this is a multi-layered book that ticks many boxes - a great crime novel, as well as a cultural and historical snapshot of a Sydney that has since changed and evolved. A great read that would appeal to many who don't necessarily like crime fiction.
October 23, 2021
I must give my deepest apologies to Newton, for I initially described this book as "written like bad fanfiction" but it is definitely NOT so. She manages to imbue to essence of thriller/mystery so well and there were multiple times that I was at the edge of my seat, scared to find out what was on the next page but unable to prevent my finger from turning the page. I must admit, I am the prime target for plot twists and character reveals as I have no sense of foreshadowing and will take the smallest of surprises with great astonishment. Either way, I was highly entertained and the implication of Nhu's family in the case added a commendable element of personal gain into the investigation. My favourite things, however, were the commentaries on Indigenous Aboriginals and their land rights, multiculturalism and assimilation in addition to the systemic and systematic racism and prejudice embedded in our justice system. Seeing all facets of Sydney was also a great hit to my ego and it was just so heart-breaking, seeing the active and violent consequences of persecution and subjugation of the Aboriginals. Reading this in the contemporary era, I feel that we're so far removed from the harsh reality that so much of our history was violent, and overtly so. Characters are murdered, are stripped of their land, fear the people that should be protecting them because of the fucked up colonial constructions of civility and humanity. Seeing Nhu have to balance precariously in situations that require so much finesse just to be seen as equal or capable was so painful as well. I should've been writing my thoughts as I read the book but alas, we're here now. I'm sure there were so many other things I could've mentioned but either was this was a great read, not just for its entertainment value but for the conversations it catalyses about our history, present and future.
June 23, 2011
This first-time novel from Australian writer PM Newton is a worthy Ned Kelly Award nominee - it's a great crime/suspense novel and one which I enjoyed very much. It's so great to see a crime story told from the perspective of an Australian female copper, as it allowed the author to build in so many references to the great challenges facing Australian society: immigration (legal and illegal), racism, indigenous issues, women in traditionally male roles, the place of women in society, relationships between men and women. The list goes on. I loved how PM Newton explored the way we live our lives without beating us over the head with her opinions. I thought the relationship between the main character and the blokes around her rang very true - no doubt based in part on PM's experience as a female police officer. I also really enjoyed the time travel - the book is set in Sydney in the 1990s - so much has changed in such a short space of time. I was just starting to become politically aware in the early 90s, so I could recognise a lot of the issues discussed in the book.
The one disappointment I had was the shying away from a damned good sex scene! I had just read Peter Temple's 'An Iron Rose' which has the best sex scene in it I've read (not too graphic, not to soft, just right - a Goldilocks sex scene?), so the and they merged and became one approach read a bit cheap. If you're going to have your characters bonk each other, have them bonk, I say :)
Great story - will definitely buy and read the next novel by Ms Newton.
The one disappointment I had was the shying away from a damned good sex scene! I had just read Peter Temple's 'An Iron Rose' which has the best sex scene in it I've read (not too graphic, not to soft, just right - a Goldilocks sex scene?), so the and they merged and became one approach read a bit cheap. If you're going to have your characters bonk each other, have them bonk, I say :)
Great story - will definitely buy and read the next novel by Ms Newton.
April 24, 2015
I recently attended a panel discussion on "Women in Crime" at the State Library of NSW, featuring three fabulous Australian crime writers/academics - including P M Newton. But actually, at the time I did not know she was a fabulous crime writer because I had never heard of her. But immediately following the event I requested this book from my local library and here we are - 4 stars.
Overall, I thought this was a fascinating snapshot of 1990s Sydney policing, and I liked the Australian-Vietnamese perspective of Nhu "Ned" Kelly.
My experience of reading the book was not without its challenges, however, from trying to keep straight the nicknames of all the detectives at the start, to trying to keep the details of the crime/s as they unfolded amongst many digressions and distractions.
I wasn't entirely convinced by Ned as a character other than "Detective" - her personal life was so much a part of her job ("the Job" - always capitalised in the book) that I failed to get a sense of the real person behind it. Yeah, she was tough and scarred and smart and messed up, but it came across as a little cliche at times.
Nevertheless, I will seek out the follow-up novel, Beams Falling, to find out where Ned goes from here.
Overall, I thought this was a fascinating snapshot of 1990s Sydney policing, and I liked the Australian-Vietnamese perspective of Nhu "Ned" Kelly.
My experience of reading the book was not without its challenges, however, from trying to keep straight the nicknames of all the detectives at the start, to trying to keep the details of the crime/s as they unfolded amongst many digressions and distractions.
I wasn't entirely convinced by Ned as a character other than "Detective" - her personal life was so much a part of her job ("the Job" - always capitalised in the book) that I failed to get a sense of the real person behind it. Yeah, she was tough and scarred and smart and messed up, but it came across as a little cliche at times.
Nevertheless, I will seek out the follow-up novel, Beams Falling, to find out where Ned goes from here.
April 29, 2014
I missed this when it first came out, and that was a mistake. Newton is a former NSW cop in Australia, and this novel, set in the later 1990s, gets the scene extremely well. It traverses the aboriginal rights movement, post-Vietnam War change, racism inside and outside the force, and the politics of the Independent Commission Against Corruption which then looked at the police. The cops are painted starkly, with "the old school" up to no good and trying to direct the newbies.
The heroine is Nhu "Ned" Kelly, born in Australia to an Aussie father with a shady background in army intell and a Vietnamese mother whose sister was a North Vietnamese operative. The complexities of Vietnam and its aftermatch mix with the Aboriginal rights movement, and the parents are murdered when Ned is young. This book follows how that murder weaves into another one.
This is a terrific read, and I will be getting into the sequel very soon. The Old School is at the forefront of Aussie crime fiction
The heroine is Nhu "Ned" Kelly, born in Australia to an Aussie father with a shady background in army intell and a Vietnamese mother whose sister was a North Vietnamese operative. The complexities of Vietnam and its aftermatch mix with the Aboriginal rights movement, and the parents are murdered when Ned is young. This book follows how that murder weaves into another one.
This is a terrific read, and I will be getting into the sequel very soon. The Old School is at the forefront of Aussie crime fiction
February 25, 2013
The Old School was a really excellent crime novel. It reminded me a bit of Tana French's novels, except set in Australia in the 1990s. There's a lot of great slang, descriptions of Sydney, and context for the social/political climate at the time. One thing this book does really well is to explore race in a way that is subtle, thought-provoking, and completely in sync with the plot and characters. Highly recommended.
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