Thoraiya's Reviews > Joe Cinque's Consolation: A True Story of Death, Grief and the Law

This book was difficult to read because of my absolute identification with the mother of the murdered boy, but I couldn't stop reading. I wanted to know if there would be justice.

In the end, Garner helped me to realise that what I wanted was revenge... (view spoiler)[ and to realise that what the courts prioritise is removing a threat by rehabilitation. Garner asks, where does the desire for revenge go?

It doesn't go anywhere. It stays and it wrecks people. (hide spoiler)]

I'm not sure why I didn't hear about this story on the news in the late 90s when it happened. I lived in Newcastle at the time, had a close friend in Charlestown, where the parents lived, and was chillingly familiar with all the "wog" haunts and other safe-seeming Novocastrian spaces.

If you've not given much thought to what duty of care you owe to friends and strangers, or the difference between mental illness and "wickedness", or even if you're willing to be one of the people keeping Joe Cinque alive by remembering, I'd recommend this book. Garner's writing is excellent.