One robbery. Three people. No heroes. Much loved ABC presenter James O’Loghlin’s novel explores why and how ordinary people turn to crime.

What do you do when everything spins out of control?

Dean, a small-time thief funding a drug habit, needs to up the ante, so he stages an armed robbery at the local leagues club—but not everything goes to plan. Sarah, a junior cop on extended stress leave is working the bar when the masked men come storming in. Mary, former schoolteacher now solo alcoholic, having lost all hope in life, refuses the intruders’ demands.

Now irreversibly linked to the other two, each must decide who to betray, who to trust and who to protect. What they choose to do—and what they choose to believe in—will change the course of all of their lives.

Ultimately, to have a fighting chance at survival—let alone a shot at redemption—each will have to risk the thing that is most important to them.

James O’Loghlin’s insight and humour pervade this novel and these characters: their doubts and fears, their mistakes and their struggle to navigate the complexities of life. But at its heart, Criminals asks what it means to transgress.

What makes a criminal? Are justice and punishment matters for the police and the courts alone, or for the human soul? Are there really good guys and bad guys—or are we all a bit of both?