Kidnapped (Mark Tedeschi, S&S)

Mark Tedeschi brilliantly recreates a more innocent Australia in his new book about a crime that shocked the nation in 1960. The abduction and murder of Graeme Thorne remains the only instance of a child being kidnapped for ransom in Australia’s judicial history. The crime and subsequent trial of Stephen Bradley caused an unprecedented national outpouring of anger and grief. It also saw modern forensic investigation techniques used for the first time in Australia. Tedeschi is the senior crown prosecutor for NSW, so this is no ordinary true-crime book. Kidnapped is written with the eye of a legal insider. Tedeschi tells the story from the perspective of the perpetrator as well as the victims, police and lawyers, teasing out their motivations and thought processes. This is particularly interesting when he attempts to get into the mind of Bradley and plot out the probable course of events. This book will have wide appeal, particularly to readers who like Australian history and unusual true-crime stories such Tedeschi’s earlier book Eugenia or Caroline Overington’s Last Woman Hanged. The author is well known and there should be lots of media coverage.

Dave Martus is a freelance writer and former bookseller

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Category: Reviews