'It starts in a suburban backyard with Darren Keefe and his older brother, sons of a fierce and gutsy single mother. The endless glow of summer, the bottomless fury of contest. All the love and hatred in two small bodies poured into the rules of a made-up game.
'Darren has two big talents: cricket and trouble. No surprise that he becomes an Australian sporting star of the bad-boy variety—one of those men who’s always got away with things and just keeps getting.
'Until the day we meet him, middle aged, in the boot of a car. Gagged, cable-tied, a bullet in his knee. Everything pointing towards a shallow grave.' (Publication summary)
'While reading Jock Serong's The Rules of Backyard Cricket, I kept asking myself if it is possible to write a socially conscious version of Lethal Weapon, with the same drugs, prostitution, and desperation but without the one-liners and subliminal endorsement of machismo and authoritarian violence. Raised by a single mother after their alcoholic father fails to return home after work one day, the two are in constant competition with each other, frequently getting into scuffles over foul play during backyard matches. First person allows us an excellent look at how Darren sees himself, which is a good choice given that the novel examines how his private life is marred by his public persona-but the level of irony needed to distance the novel from Darren's juvenile musings simply is not present.' (Publication abstract)
'While reading Jock Serong's The Rules of Backyard Cricket, I kept asking myself if it is possible to write a socially conscious version of Lethal Weapon, with the same drugs, prostitution, and desperation but without the one-liners and subliminal endorsement of machismo and authoritarian violence. Raised by a single mother after their alcoholic father fails to return home after work one day, the two are in constant competition with each other, frequently getting into scuffles over foul play during backyard matches. First person allows us an excellent look at how Darren sees himself, which is a good choice given that the novel examines how his private life is marred by his public persona-but the level of irony needed to distance the novel from Darren's juvenile musings simply is not present.' (Publication abstract)
