Jock Serong's first novel won the Ned Kelly Award, Australia's top crime fiction award, so he is clearly one for crime fans to watch.

Dissolute lawyer Charlie Jardim is thrown a lifeline by a prosecutor and sent down to a small fishing town to interview a witness to a murder; the witness's story does not appear credible. While trying to get to the facts, Charlie encounters a hostile and uncooperative local community whose leading lights are the parents of the accused.

This is quite a good novel. It is engagingly told, and Charlie is a protagonist the reader can identify with. There's a few good plot twists, especially once we get to the trial, but I thought maybe not quite enough - another twist or two would have been welcome. A few of the characters were underdeveloped, and some were unimaginative Aussie stereotype characters. Still, this is a good start for Serong, who is definitely worth another try. ( )

Quota is the first novel by Australian lawyer, editor and features writer, Jock Serong. Lots of lovely word pictures in this work, and an undercurrent of lawlessness that I found slightly old west type threatening.
Great, but Jock, what about the plot?
Quota tries to be both Australian literature and detective fiction - and falls between the categories. The ending leaves you with a "one mighty leap and all was well", huh? But it's a hell of a read. The editor needs a good shake and spanking with a plot outline and a blue pencil. ( )

HIS HONOUR: Mr Jardim, withdraw that comment immediately.

MR JARDIM: Your Honour, I'm not withdrawing it because it's got nothing to do with the merits of this case, just as your small-minded treatment of my client has got nothing to do with the merits of the case. I mean, could you have cocked this thing up any worse? Bloody helpless kid and you know she's back out on the street now. You're known throughout the state as a heartless old prick and a drunk, and seeing I've gone this far, your daughter-in-law's appointment to the court is widely viewed as a grubby political payoff. Today's pretty much the lowest I've seen you stoop but it's been a rich field of excrem—

HIS HONOUR: Senior, will you have Mr Jardim removed?

QUOTA takes an unusual case, the murder of an abalone fisherman who is also dabbling in drug distribution.

Charlie Jardim is trying to put together a case to prosecute the victim's murderers. The account given of events by the victim's brother just does not hang together so Jardim travels to a small seaside Victorian town to see if he can get people to talk.

On the way to Dauphin he hits a kangaroo and wrecks his car. He is easily identified as a city man, and outsider, and before long every knows the Prosecutor is in town. Only the pub owner will talk to him.

Eventually he befriends the victim's brother and gets a different version of what occurred, and more importantly, gets him to agree to replace the original statement that the police have on record. But this is just the start of the plot.

There is a strong Australian flavour to this recording reinforced both by the language particularly the dialogue, but also by the narrator's voice. There are superb descriptions of the Victorian countryside, of the heat, of the declining nature of the town, of the way things are ruled by one family, and the way others have to take drastic measures to survive. ( )

Charlie Jardim is a barrister who thinks he has gutted his career by bagging a judge. But a prosecutor throws Charlie a lifeline and get him to visit a small town to check a witness statement. Once in the small town of Dauphin, Charlie is unwelcome virtually everywhere. Clearly, the town doesn’t want the status quo upset. The court case that follows is virtually open and shut. And then the unthinkable happens to Charlie’s mentor. Charlie is shattered and seemingly finished as a barrister. But as always there is a twist in the tail. The ending was unexpected and pleasantly different. I give the book 4 stars out of 5. ( )

In great timing, Reviewing the Evidence have just published my review of the winner of the 2015 Ned Kelly for Best First Crime Fiction.

It's not unknown for crime fiction followers to point out that the genre frequently explores the rights and wrongs of society and human behaviour.

http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review.html?id=10407 ( )