The Tall Man

The Tall Man
is the story of Palm Island, the tropical paradise where one morning
Cameron Doomadgee swore at a policeman and forty minutes later lay dead
in a watch-house cell.

The story of a death, a policeman, an island and a country.The Tall Man
is the story of Palm Island, the tropical paradise where one morning
Cameron Doomadgee swore at a policeman and forty minutes later lay dead
in a watch-house cell. It is the story of that policeman, the tall,
enigmatic Christopher Hurley who chose to work in some of the toughest
and wildest places in Australia, and of the struggle to bring him to
trial. Above all, it is a story in luminous detail of two worlds
clashing – and a haunting moral puzzle that no reader will forget.

Selected for ‘Best books of the year’ lists by Ali Smith, Colm Tóibín, Matt Condon, Peter Carey, Salon.com, The Globe & Mail and Dwight Garner in The New York Times.

‘The country’s finest work of literature so far this century. A
haunting moral maze, described with such intimate observation and
exquisite restraint that I kept pausing to take a breath and silently
cheer the author … [I]n her tale of the fatal collision between two
36-year-old males, black Cameron Doomadgee and white Senior Sergeant
Chris Hurley, Hooper … has produced an Australian classic.’ Robert
Drewe, The Age

‘Hooper followed the case and its main
characters for two and a half years, and she does their complexity a
remarkable justice … Extraordinary.’ Alison McCulloch, New York Times Book Review

‘A gripping, heart-stopping piece of true-crime reportage … Deserves the widest possible audience.’ Brian Schofield, Sunday Times (UK)