Blood Territory

By: Mark Whittaker

Narrated by: Mark Whittaker

Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

How far would you go to clear the name of the man convicted for your son’s death?

Red blood stains the red soil of the Australian Northern Territory in this true crime thriller.

Less than 250,000 people live in the Northern Territory, an area more than twice the size of Texas. If you want to escape from civilisation, you don’t have to go far. But you can’t outrun the heat. Every year during October and November the sweltering climate can drive people wild; they call it ‘Suicide Season’, ‘Mango Madness’ or, more plainly, ‘The Build-up’.

It’s during this blistering heat that Jim O’Connell’s body is found in a creek bed, mummified and with his genitals removed. But when a dubious plea deal buries the truth and puts Jim’s best mate, Philip Mather, behind bars for the crime, the victim’s parents seek to unravel it themselves to prove Philip’s innocence.

Follow journalist Mark Whittaker’s journey into the murky heart of the Northern Territory as allegations of police corruption and judicial racism emerge and a shadowy figure known as The Vigilante lurks on the fringe of the investigation.

This series contains mature themes and graphic imagery, and listener discretion is advised.

©2019 Audible Australia Pty Ltd. (P)2019 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.

Blood territory

The audio was good. I am glad they found the killer. I am glad the story was short.

definitely not what I had expected.

the ending is insane and not what I had expected at all it's an amazing thrilling experience to have listened to.

overall well done

in places confusing. so many characters that it was hard to keep it all straight, but well researched, believable, and very interesting. I liked Jimmy's mother the most. I think it is possible that 1 or 2 rogue cops still might have done it. I wish the conclusion was more certain. As it stands we aren't 100% sure who did it. Phillip seems the most likely but he still denies it. i think it is possible that he gave Jimmy a beating, but did not kill him. Still the biggest lack of evidence to support that theory is the autopsy results. If he was beaten badly enough to kill him or almost kill him where are the bruises? He should have at least a broken nose, missing teeth or broken jaw from the attack that witnesses described. Maybe after the fight someone came along, an enemy , finding him in bad shape. cut off the penis and left him to bleed to death. Phillip would never have mutilated him. It makes no sense. The story is quite a mystery! But an unsolved one. I prefer fiction so that the ending wraps the mystery in a neat package.

Solid overall. I enjoyed it but!!!

Solid overall. I enjoyed it but!!! I was really hoping for a different outcome but it was still a good story and good storytelling.

Gripping

A sad story and very compelling. It really shows how one event can ripple through so many lives for a long time even after 'justice' is done and dusted.

So many unanswered questions remain

This was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a book and got a podcast. This is not a bad thing at all. Covering a murder committed outside Darwin, Northern Territories in Australia. The deceased parents believe that the man who served 11 years in prison for the death of their son is innocent of the crime Mark Whittaker followed a request by his journo friend who covered the original case to follow up on the stories. He obtained reprots, collated evidence, and conducted interviews on the case. He came to a conclusion that I'm not sure I agree with. Mosty because the autopsies performed leave a big question mark over his outcome, which doesn't sit well with me, which is why it got a 4 star overall instead of 5 stars. I still have no idea. It was thouroughly investigated by Mark, and very well reported in the podcast. I would love to hear more of the inteviews. Well done.

Great True Crime Story

I love the audible originals True Crime Stories. This was another great one I certainly had never heard of out of Australia.

Nice new insights

Good detective work! It's cool that some of these authors are doing better detective work than the professionals. Also, some interesting insights into what life down under is like.

Murder and Investigation in Australian N Territory

As far as true crime investigative journalism pieces go, this is really well done! I think the production value was top notch, and most of the audio interviews and background sounds made perfect sense. The narrator does a good job of setting up various interactions he has, walking listeners through his investigative process, and explaining adequately whenever he wasn't able to talk to someone or gain access to certain information.

For those that enjoy listening to this type of work, I definitely recommend. For those that haven't listened to Serial Podcast and its like before, maybe just listen to the sample before downloading this one so you kind of know what you are getting into. I personally enjoyed this more than the Serial Podcast (Seasons 1 and 2; I am not sure if they have done other seasons since then) and "West Cork" by Sam Bungey & Jennifer Forde. I would say this is about even with "Midnight Son" by James Dommek Jr. et al.

"Blood Territory: The Death of Jimmy O'Connell" is an Audible Original in which Australian Mark Whittaker investigates the murder of Jimmy O'Connell. O'Connell was killed in the Northern Territory, which has its own sense of Wild West mystery because so few people live there and there is still a tense dynamic between white settlers and those of indigenous descent. This story is intriguing from the start because O'Connell's parents defended the man convicted of their son's murder, and there were a couple of loose ends with the case that Whittaker looks into further.

I think his process is done really well, he delivers information to keep things interesting, and I think most of the ending was satisfying, even if it isn't the ending that many readers will expect. I do not know much about the Northern Territory of Australia or white settler and indigenous descent relations in that country, so I cannot attest to any mistakes that Australian citizens might recognize that I just missed because this subject is new to me.

Also, the Australian accents are just really cool to listen to, so I enjoyed having this on in the background during long car rides.

done

finished please remove from my device I don't want it anymore please remove it now