Colin McLaren

WOW.. always been fascinated with everything to do with JFK and particularly his assassination. And always wondered.. there were so many inconsistencies with the investigations and the eye witness reports and total cock-ups by the different authorities and the Warren Commission (the author of this book describes it as the Commission of Omissions).

The books starts off with a deep background check of Less Harvey Oswald, his wife Marina and Jack Ruby. So I am thinking, right he is going for the lone gunman solution.. Lee Harvey Oswald WAS a crazy idiot!

But then he gets into the deeper investigation of the eyewitness reports, including the police officers that were in and around the motorcade that day. He went right through ALL the many volumes of the Warren Commission and wonders why so many of those crucial eyewitnesses weren't even interviewed by the Commission and, when damning evidence was offered, the Commission ignored it and/or dismissed that witness.

He (the author is a career detective) then looked at what the Secret Service guys were doing , both on the day and the day before. Apparently they all went out partying the night before until the wee hours and got very drunk at a night club. SO the day they were supposed to be protecting the President they were all very hungover! O.o. Even though many bystanders saw a man on the 6th floor of the Texas Book Depository WITH A RIFLE.. none of the Secret Service saw or acted. In fact, the only action, after the first shot, was one inexperienced guy in the followup car standing up wth HIS rifle and shooting it! Eyewitnesses testified that he had shot the rifle, thinking he was shooting back at the assassin. .. The bottom line.. did ALL the shots that hit the President come from Lee Harvey Oswald's gun OR did one of those bullets come from the accidental shooting of the Secret Service rifle. The author presents a lot of evidence that the last and fatal bullet was actually from the Secret Service gun. AND he points to a lot of cover up by everyone involved to ensure that this information did not become a front page worldwide news story.

SOOOOOOOOOOO when Lee Harvey Oswald kept insisting he was a "Patsy".. it seems he might have been right!!!… (mehr)

When reading the true crime / memoir INFILTRATION by Colin McLaren, I heard him speak at the Melbourne Crime & Justice Festival. At the time he mentioned he was working on a fictional book, and I've been looking forward to that since finishing INFILTRATION.

Anybody who has read INFILTRATION (or even the blurb) is going to have some bells ringing as they read the synopsis for this novel mind you. That was undoubtedly the oddest experience in reading ON THE RUN. A novel, there are threads, themes and events in this book that do seem to have potential to slot into the true life events of the author from the first book. Which meant that I spent most of the time reading ON THE RUN wondering just how much was truth and how much was fiction. Not to say that ON THE RUN wasn't a darn good fictional book, and it definitely holds your attention regardless of whether you'd read the first book or not!

Cole Goodwin is one of typical Australian laid back, decent sort of blokes. In a tight spot he's very resourceful, quick witted and agile (physically and mentally!) He takes a very wild ride after it becomes obvious that corruption in the ranks of the Australian police is putting him, his nearest and dearest, and anybody unlucky enough to get in the way at great personal risk. Cole flees pursuit from Australia, to New Zealand, in a roundabout way to Europe and ultimately to southern Italy dodging the pursuit; taking the fight into the very heart of the enemy. Meanwhile, in Australia, Cole's closest team members are trying desperately to help.

ON THE RUN is closer to thriller than crime fiction, despite the police setting. Of course it has to be - this is a pursuit novel, the good guy running from (and towards) the bad guys. Will they catch him, or one of his own, before Cole's team can find the truth? Because of that thriller style there are some elements that might seem a little unlikely. Could an undercover Australian cop change identities as rapidly and as freely as Cole does? Could he really flee half-way around the world, albeit with considerable risk, but by the same token quickly / with ease? Would corruption work it's way deep into police hierarchy, and yet so blatantly that not a lot of scratching is required to start to reveal the truth? Mostly the pace of ON THE RUN helps you to roll with the unlikely, accept the seemingly impossible and cheer a bit of bare-chested heroism from time to time.

ON THE RUN is a really interesting first novel from Colin McLaren. There are some components that maybe don't work quite as well as you'd like, but they are quickly overrun by the things that do. And McLaren's not afraid to add a twist in the tail that bites. Hard. Cole Goodwin is a great central character, he's surrounded by an interesting and very realistic team, and you'd have to hope that there could be a hint of more books to come.… (mehr)

INFILTRATION doesn't seem to be served particularly well by the blurb on the book. It's considerably more than just the story of an undercover sting against the Mafia, in fact it's part personal memoir, part story of the Mafia operation, but sprinkled throughout with snippets of other parts of Colin McLaren's astounding police career.

Many of us lead lives pretty sheltered from the advent or consequences of violent crime in particular. "Big" criminal events are still pretty few and far between in Victoria Australia, so it's particularly sobering to realise that those big events can be attended by such a small core of police. The Queen Street shootings, the Walsh Street shootings, the NCA bombings, Mr Cruel, the Griffith Mafia are all connected in a chilling way by Colin McLaren's life story. Along the way you get glimpses of a man who is also a son to a mother he loves very much, a dedicated single father to a daughter of whom he is immensely proud and a boyfriend, lover, husband (and ex a few times over it has to be said). Alongside the lifelong relationships with his mother and daughter, you're reminded again and again of how hard it must be for policemen and women to maintain personal relationships - of how odd the life of an undercover or task force cop must be.

INFILTRATION does definitely outline much of Colin's involvement in the breaking of the Mafia in and around Griffith in NSW, and it touches on a range of earlier cases and experience - including his time in Richmond at the time of the notorious Pettingell/Allen family heights (or lows if you prefer that analogy). Whilst that's definitely interesting, what was more rewarding, touching in some places, highly illuminating in others was the story of Colin's life, and the way that the demands of the job dictate how the rest of your life is going to be lived. If you're not much of a fan of true crime, then INFILTRATION is worth reading - particularly for that personal viewpoint. This is a book which is less about the crimes, certainly less about the criminals. It's a very personal story from a policeman who has seen and done a lot of things that the rest of us wouldn't even contemplate.… (mehr)