Only Killers and Thieves: A Novel

An Amazon Best Book of February 2018: Set in 19th Century Australia, Only Killers and Thieves is a soaring debut. When teenage brothers Billy and Tommy McBride set out to hunt the scrub around their ranch, they stumble upon a terrible scene: a lynching of two native aboriginals. Later, when they return to their home, they find that their parents have been murdered. The signs point to it being an act perpetrated by their aboriginal stockman, Joseph, and the boys are soon drawn into a hunt for him. But as they travel under the direction of land baron John Sullivan and Inspector Edmund Noone, who leads the Native Mounted Police, the boys are drawn into a revenge hunt that divides them. One brother seeks justice; the other sees justice being undone. Everything about this novel is alive—the characters, the setting, and the language. The scenes and scenery last in your mind like the best westerns. And this book deserves that comparison. -- Chris Schluep for the Amazon Book Review