Sunday, December 03, 2006

Where angels fear to tread

It's with great trepidation that I launch into this post, quite apart from the deadly break from blogging I've had, where my Daily Magnet has become more of a Daily Magnet Monthly - a la Ita, I've become aware that I may have an unexpected sub-editor looking over my shoulder...

However, without further ado...


Derek Pedley's latest book, Australian Outlaw, has a rather ambitious subtitle of 'The True story of Postcard Bandit Brenden Abbott.' With all respect to DP, can any writer hope to walk the tightrope (with ravenous lions underneath), that is writing a true crime story when all one has to go on is the word of crooks & detectives(sounds like the rc)? Nonetheless, it is all we poor plebian squareheads have at our disposal to catch a glimpse of the other side, and Derek Pedley has provided a great yarn, heavily comprised of warts 'n' all interview material with some of the key identities in Brenden Abbott's past.


The way Derek Pedley has structured the interview material is quite creative and effective giving each of the characters in the book a chance to become the narrator and develop their characters through use of their own language.

I have to dips me lid to DP for conducting interviews with Brenden Abbott without ending up as his cellmate. WA & QLD journalists will know that conducting interviews with prisoners in these two states is fraught with danger, as it can easily be defined as illegal on the whim of the authorities.

The handsome happy snap (1 of 2 photos on the cover - perhaps a before and after photo?) on the cover and the subtitle, belie the tale behind the cover, of a beleaguered life of a kid from a struggling lower-middle class family, dissatisfied with his lot, and going for the lucky dollar in fine colonial tradition of battlers, cops & robbers.

What we see is a nuts & bolts story of the highs, and mostly lows, of a 'career' bank-robber's life - having his booty taxed by pursuers and having to cop the time sweet, realizing once-trusted confidants are a liability due to the very nature that brought them together, having to keep constantly moving around before and after arrest, and losing contact with precious loved ones.


The story stops short of gritty, which may or may not be due to the desired market, it is however, quite technical, which affords the plebs an insight into the mind and workings of a professional crook.

In contrast to the articles in the media that Pedley quotes, the story does little to glorify the lifestyle of Abbott, reading more like a comedy of errors and highlighting the irony of such a clever and talented crook, failing by making the same mistakes over and over.

The technical aspect of the book can become a little tiresome for those of us who are a bit challenged in the patience department, but it's quite gratifying being able to see how Brenden's smoke and mirrors routine was performed and it's nice to think, for a little while at least, a little guy managed to keep big brother on the hop, and maybe offered a trace of glee to Joe Public who see the banks forking over instead of collecting, for a change.

The extensive interview material also helped to develop the characters and create a bond with the reader. It would appear that there is a drive by the author to build empathy for Abbott throughout the story, through keeping the content light and not dwelling on the personal aftermath of crime.

However, greater acknowledgement of Abbott's dark side, which of course was the motivation for his career and life choices, might have offered a lift to the tale. span>


As is the case with a story about any hard bastard there is the danger of them being quite 2 dimensional. With Brenden Abbott telling so much of his own story I have to say it left me wishing for some more depth or risks in the depiction of his personality - which, given his inherent genius and artistic perspective, would be more complex than he'd probably be comfortable with the readers knowing.
One of my favourite parts in the book was the quote from Berichon when he changes his mind about being interviewed, and DP mentions how his court appearances claim Abbott lured him to the dark side, and from that, we get just the tiniest tantalizing morsel of maybe a bit more about Abbott's nature than he would like us to know.
Pedley helps the reader tag along with Abbott on his adventure, and shares the ups & downs of life on the run & in gaol. It's an earthy, urban version of the great Australian anti-establishmentarian outlaw fable using people and places we all know to help make it real, relevant and contemporary.
While DP's first book about the 'Postcard Bandit' had a lot of the media and police spin colouring it's perspective, I was more satisfied this time that both the cops & the robbers got a fair hearing.
For those who get all uptight over money-related crime and wish to feed the ailing and aging Abbott through your Betty Crocker electric cheese graters - you're not forgotten, there's plenty in this book for you, too. You get to watch the Postcard Bandit suffer indefinitely and the cops revel in victory, it's not all warm 'n' fuzzy.
I was really left with the feeling that there could be a lot more of Abbott's yarns that would be suitable for a similar treatment to the Underbelly Rule/Sylvester series and Chopper Read's novels, and given the content and narrative style in Australian Outlaw I think they'd be by far superior.