To be brutally honest, this is one of those books that I've known I should have read, and yet I've been very very leery of doing so. The subject matter is uncomfortable, the events confronting.
It's not good enough to shy away because the truth is uncomfortable.
From the Blurb:
When Cameron Doomadgee was found dead in the Palm Island police station, his injuries were like those of someone who'd been in a fatal car crash. The police claimed he had tripped on a step. The Palm Islanders rioted and burnt down the station. The subsequent trial of Senior Sergeant Christopher Hurley... who had been decorated for his work in Aboriginal communities ... made headlines day after day, shadowed by Queensland police threats to strike.
Opening Lines:
The spirits around Laura in Cape York have long thin arms and long thin legs and move unseen in the night to do evil.
This 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.