Introduction
Gerard Hogan has written a gripping novel called Corruption. It is based in three states in Australia and describes the adventures of one Patrick O’Leary who becomes a money launderer. It is a riveting tale with many a twist and turn featuring a complex character who, all too easily, falls into a life in the shadows. It describes a society where greed and selfishness have become the norm and that is leading us who knows where.
Where does the interest in corruption come from?
GH: I have been a public servant for over forty years. Over the last five or so of them, I was an efficiency auditor with the Australian National Audit Office. The aim of efficiency audit is to help the government get the best value for the taxpayers’ dollar. In planning for an audit, you try to identify the risks to good administration. The main ways money gets to be wasted are by bad design of projects, incompetence, stupidity, or deliberate actions. It is these deliberate actions that include corruption, that is, the misuse of public goods for private gain, whether it is financial or political. It includes such things as nepotism or ‘jobs for the boys’, kickbacks, or using public grants in a way that is designed to give political advantage rather than in response to the greatest need. It goes all the way down to outright theft and misappropriation.
Is money laundering a form of corruption?
GH Not as such. It is the mechanism for hiding the profits. As such, it facilitates corruption. In the novel, Patick says that he doesn’t engage in criminal activities himself (apart from a swag of murders), but he is complicit by making it possible for others.
Towards the end of your story, you seem to take a moralistic tone.
GH. Apart from the obvious considerations in dealing with crime and corruption, the point about the sermon on forgiveness is to provide a mechanism for resolving Patrick’s separation from his lifelong love, Melissa. It is a literary device. In his own way Patrick has a strict moral code for himself, even though his actions are immoral - he is patriotic, for example, and makes sacrifices to protect his country although he has no hesitation in ripping off the people. I tried to make that irony one of the themes for the story. When it comes to forgiveness (one of the themes of the book), just look at the Gaza situation where vengeance is carried to excess.
You write the story in the first person. What is the reason for that?
GH It seems to me that if you want to examine a character’s motives, it s the most direct way to do it. Patrick's thought processes are important for understanding his character. Writing in the third person, if you try to explain what is going on inside a person’s head you have to be ‘the author as god’. It seemed easier, more credible, to have Patrick tell you himself how he feels and why he does things.
How true to life is Corruption?
GH Most of the characters, except Patrick and his love Melissa, have been inspired by various historical people. However, when you get down to the detail, there has been no attempt to be historically accurate. The time line of the book is also roughly accurate. The idea is to give the reader a feel for the period without claiming to be a history.
Conclusion
There we have a few thoughts from the author himself. Has he succeeded in his aim?
Read the book. It is available to order through your favourite bookseller.
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