Corruption - the Book
Corruption traces the life of Patrick O’Leary, (AKA Frank Foreshaw, Terence Carmichael and Martin Gordon) from his beginnings as a lawyer in Brisbane to a facilitator of corrupt politicians in three States, ending up by appointment, Money Launderer to the Crown, in Canberra. It starts in Brisbane in the time of the FitzGerald Royal Commission into corruption, where he falls in love with Melissa, the daughter of the corrupt Police Minister, Ross Hungerford. She provides him with his entry into the shady underworld of her father. From there he moves to Sydney and, in the aftermath of the Olympics, clashes with the underworld boss, Izzy Mace and his bodyguard, Jimmy. After dealing with them he moves to Melbourne where his wife becomes captive to Chinese drug interests. The Chinese attempt to recruit him to act for the Chinese Government in corrupting Australian electoral processes. This brings him to the attention of the security organizations, ASIO and ASIS. The key events of his life are inspired by the history of political corruption in Australia from the early eighties to the present.
Over the course of his life he marries three times. Each of these marriages provides a distinct phase of his life and basic structure for the book: Denise in Brisbane, Carmel in Sydney and Clare in Melbourne. In each city he assumes a new identity. But underneath it all, he never loses contact with Melissa, who continues to be his soul mate. She is devoted to him. He considers her his wife, regardless of who wears the ring. Melissa witnesses Patrick murder her husband as punishment for the domestic violence that resulted in the stillbirth of her son and her subsequent hysterectomy. She is psychologically damaged by this ganglion of traumas to the extent that she cannot commit to marry Patrick or be sexually intimate with him – or anyone else, for that matter. They live most of their life as devoted siblings.
In total, Patrick admits to murdering five people. He holds himself responsible for the deaths of several others. One of his murder victims is Melissa’s father. When she finds out, that leads to their estrangement. The story of their reunion is a commentary on the healing value of forgiveness.
Through all this, particularly in his later life, Patrick struggles with his naïve concepts of justice or accountability. He demands it of others - hence the killings. He demands it of himself; yet, it is his greatest fear for himself. It is the reason he keeps moving from city to city. He is an introvert and given to guilt. He is amoral but with a strong moral code. He is quite conscious of the ironies in his way of life.
With Melissa, he moves towards resolving this tension within himself, although he fights it all the way.
It ends with a twist that is a cynical reflection on the corruptibility of even our most revered political institutions.
Let me tell you how Corruption came to be.