In QUOTA
we have pitch-perfect dialogue, and a strong sense of place about this small town in particular. The characters there are particularly believable and
actually quite likeable (a bonus). All of these elements combine to make for a very engaging, and extremely realistic debut novel.’Reviewing The Evidence
“Delightfully Australian.”Launceston Examiner
“This gritty debut maintains the pace and suspense.”Qantas the Australian Way
Introducing an exciting new voice in Australian literary crime fiction. For fans of Peter Temple, Garry Disher, and Scott Turow.
Quota is an evocative and gritty thriller that takes the reader deep into the underbelly of small town Australia. Inspired by his own work as an attorney, Jock Serong has written one of the most original and gripping crime novels of the year.
A small town fisherman is murdered. Disgraced city lawyer Charlie Jardim is sent to coerce a troubled witness into testifying. The victim was involved in the illegal abalone trade and the even more illegal drug trade. And witnesses aren’t talking. As Charlie delves deeper he realizes the rules of the city courtroom mean nothing amidst small town secrets and loyalties.
Jock Serong lives and works on the far southwest coast of Victoria. He worked for many years as an attorney and is now the editor of Great Ocean Quarterly. Quota is his first novel.
Good read You have to feel sorry for Charlie Jardim. When things start going wrong with him, it’s almost like a snowball.
a brilliant debut novel Quota is the first novel by Australian lawyer, editor and features writer, Jock Serong. After a courtroom episode (avidly described in legal circles as Jardim’s “brain snap”) that earns him two nights in the police cells, threatens his career as a barrister and contributes to the end of his engagement to dedicated junior lawyer, Anna Murdoch, Charlie Jardim is feeling tired, apathetic and indifferent to the whole business. But he finds that his old friend, senior barrister…
Beautiful writing but a scattered plotI I’m disappointed in having to allot Quota just three stars. My Kindle edition awes with magnificent writing and the passages dwelling on the sea, underwater and the moribund township of Dauphin on Victoria’s southwest coast, exposed to the fury and beauty of the Southern Ocean. This is writing at its very best. Jock Sorel changes pace dramatically and gorily after an encounter with a kangaroo on the road as the city lawyer journey drives to Dauphin to be assistant Crown Prosecutor. He’s been…