This Mortal Boy

Albert Black, called Paddy, sailed from Belfast to New Zealand hoping for a better life. In July 1955, aged twenty, he was arrested after a youth was killed during a brawl at an Auckland milk bar, and became known as the jukebox killer. Now he sits in a cell awaiting trial while his mother waits at home, and he must face a judge and jury unlikely to favour an outsider at a time when the country is alarmed about its teenagers. Based on a real case, the novel asks what really happened that night: a crime of passion, delinquency, or a society turning on a stranger, and what the death penalty means.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Historical, Crime (assigned by AI)

Set in

New Zealand, 1955

First published

2018

Author's age

78 when first published

ISBN

9780143771807 (Vintage, New Zealand)

9781910709580 (Gallic Books, United Kingdom)