James O'Loghlin is a comedian, television and radio host. You might know him from shows such as The New Inventors but James is also the author of ten books, including six novels for children.James was also a lawyer in a former life and his segued that experience into his new novel, our book club for this week, Criminals.It seems like just another ordinary day...Sarah is doing bar work at the club. A nice normal job while she’s on stress leaving from her job as a cop. She’s tending bar when a man walks into the club with a shotgun.Mary is just trying to enjoy a quiet drink. She’s always enjoying a quiet drink and doesn’t appreciate the loud man in the balaklava interrupting her reverie. Daydrinking isn’t exactly a long term plan and so Mary decides to do something foolish.And poor Dean. He can’t understand why everybody won’t just get down on the ground and give him the money. He needs this and one big score could set him up for a while.In one brief flurry of activity Criminals throws Sarah, Dean and Mary’s lives together and sets them on a path to explore what it means to be a criminal and how life is more than simply a matter of Black and White.Through each of his main characters James O’Loghlin explores some fundamental ideas about crime and criminality.Sarah has always wanted to be a cop. Her single dad is her idol. A lifetime police officer she has looked up to him and all he represents. But Sarah’s also been disillusioned by her time on the force and is starting to wonder if following the letter of the law is the best way to understand people.Dean went to school with Sarah. It’s an uncomfortable fact as he holds a shotgun in her direction but it also gets him thinking; he wasn’t always a junkie burglar waiting to graduate to armed robbery.At school Dean was a footy star, but he relied on making it to first grade and when that didn’t happen he was lost. Drugs and petty crime helped Dean escape until they became the thing he has to escape from. Is it possible though that there is more to his life, and can he choose a different path before it’s too late.Mary seems to have it all a middle class suburban life can offer. So why does she stand in front of the shotgun, daring the man in front of her. Mary’s struggling to make sense of her life and is starting to think that these men robbing the club with such abandon know more about how to live and maybe she could borrow a leaf from their book.Criminals follows this small ensemble cast through the aftermath of the robbery and into their lives, such as they are. Questions of right and wrong loom large in each of their pasts and O’Loghlin challenges us to sort through our ideas of crime and criminality to understand how we live when these categories are not so clear cut.The novel explores mental health and the ways it can shape, even steer lives and the consequences of not getting help. It’s a surprisingly nuanced look at a heavily scrutinized area and while no one book could pretend to have an answer, Criminals shows us that the conversation is essential and one we all must have.Criminals is pacy and finds a balance between its action and the introspection of its protagonists. While each are, perhaps miles from the lived experience of the reader, the novel brings us into their lives and makes us appreciate they are more than their apparent stereotype might reveal.
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