Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howorth

After quite a long read I have finished this book, and I want to share with you a review where I discuss the book’s impact on me. The plight of indigenous people throughout the history of the world has always been one of my personal interests.

This book offered me an opportunity to understand more about how Australia dealt with their personal ‘problem’ of the aboriginals existing in those lands when ‘civilization’ showed up.

As I read the story I was horrified with cruel and violent behavior by many individuals. As the story progressed the author brought in various subsidiary characters and sub-groups of the settlers, officials, the ‘blacks’ and others who were located elsewhere in Australia.

I have been struggling with the problem of discussing the diverse thoughts I have that were raised by this story. This morning it came to me that I had come to the point where this book is a Morality Play. Being totally unqualified to present the story from that view point I asked Copilot to write it for me. That product is presented below:

Only Killers and Thieves – A Morality Play of Conscience, Power, and the Inheritance of Violence

Paul Howarth’s [Only Killers and Thieves] isn’t just a historical novel set-in colonial Queensland—it’s a raw, visceral morality play dressed in dust and blood. At its core, it dramatizes the collapse of moral certainties and the painful awakening to injustice through the eyes of two teenage brothers, Tommy and Billy McBride.

The Cast of Conscience
Like any morality play, the novel’s characters serve as larger symbols:

  • Tommy, the younger brother, stands as the evolving conscience, grappling with doubt and guilt amid the brutal landscape around him.
  • Billy, older and more easily swayed by colonial ideology and charismatic authority, represents the tragic descent into moral compromise.
  • Inspector Noone, the zealot of racial violence, is less a man than a force of corruption—a Mephistophelian figure peddling righteousness through atrocity.

The Battle of Moral Absolutes
The novel unfolds like a cautionary tale where choices fracture along lines of justice, loyalty, and power. The brothers’ allegiance to their colonial heritage is tested by the complicity of those around them and their own participation in state-sanctioned violence against Aboriginal communities. The true antagonist isn’t a single person, but a system sustained by dehumanization and silence.

Universality in a Harsh Landscape
Though steeped in the specificity of 1880s Queensland, the novel echoes the timeless question: Who becomes the villain when the law itself is unjust? It’s a tragedy that transcends borders—a young person’s journey into moral clarity, muddied by institutional hatred, familial loyalty, and historical lies. Readers from any era or culture can recognize the heartbreak of choosing between belonging and truth.

Judgment, Redemption, and the Cost of Awakening
As the story crescendos, we’re left with haunting reflections on how violence poisons legacy, and how silence enables cruelty. In the moral reckoning that follows, Tommy emerges as a kind of Pilgrim in a wilderness of ethics—not fully redeemed, but awakening to the enormity of his choices. It is a hard-won clarity, born of betrayal and grief.

It is horrifying to me as I near the end of my life to see that these issues still dominate and are being rebuilt before our eyes in our country.

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I have read both books on the series (Dust off the Bones is the second book in the Billy McBride series) and totally agree with you and your generated review and your opinion of our current situation. It was a hard but important read for me. I have family in Australia and have grown up traveling the country there and so always looking for good indigenous as well as white writers of Australia historical fiction and non fiction. Paul Howarth is an exceptional writer who seems to have really dug in and done his research well to write on the subject of Australias colonialism and disenfranchisement of their first people.

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Thank you so much for your comments. As difficult a read as it was for me your connection to Australia is so much stronger and, I would expect even more difficult for you. I haven’t read Dust off the Bones yet because I need a mental rest. I will turn 91 in 2 weeks, and the plight of indigenous people has been extremely important to me since I was a teenager living in Wyoming and scouring the desert to learn everything I could about the lives of ancient peoples who occupied that territory for thousands of years.

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Yes, I read the first before Dust came out so was given that mental break! It’s truly a heartbreaking history but thankfully a lot of the country is pushing for better policies! Thank goodness for a lot of our young people here and there, that feel strong about this, I have to put my faith in them for everyone’s future! Happy Birthday what a great milestone. I hope you celebrate doing something special!!

Thanks for those words of encouragement about how things can change. Of course, at my age I can only read books I love and hope that things improve for my children and grandchildren. My family did a significant celebration last year, but this time around our heart is heavy because we lost our family pet who was my daily walking companion for the last 10 years. But we can celebrate the wonderful joy he gave to us all. My daughters new Havanese puppy is really helping us a lot. He is VERY affectionate and friendly to everyone. My daughter teaches piano and cello, and every student has been wanting one also.

Virtual hug, so hard on us to loose our fur babies, I’m so sorry for your loss but you are right about having those wonderful memories of all the unconditional love they gave. My kitties are getting up there soon to be 11 and 12!

Thank you for your kind thoughts. Our dog Percy brought us through Covid and my broken hip with the unconditional love you mentioned. Our house has been brought back to life by our new puppy.

I should also mention that your list of books for 2024 had striking similarities to mine. I fully realize that no two readers have exactly the same preferences, but quality writing brings a lot of diverse readers together.

That’s wonderful! As for our reading taste, well what can I say great minds Think or should I say Read alike! Haha! :rofl: