AUSTRALIAN TRUE CRIME –

Part father-son story, part true crime, Loose Units is a race through the underbelly of policing as ex-cop John Verhoeven tells all to his son Paul about the crimes, the characters and the pitch-black humour.

Paul Verhoeven’s father, John, is a cop. Well, an ex-cop. Long since retired, John spent years embroiled in some of the seediest, scariest intrigue and escapades imaginable. Paul, however, is something of an artsy, sensitive soul who can’t understand why he doesn’t have the same heroism and courage as his dad. One day, John offers Paul the chance of a lifetime: he’ll spill his guts, on tape, for the first time ever, and try to get to the bottom of this difference between them.

What unfolds is a goldmine of true-crime stories, showing John’s dramatic (and sometimes dodgy) experience of policing in Sydney in the 1980s. The crims, the car chases, the frequent brushes with death and violence, and the grey zone between what’s ethical and what’s effective: finally Paul gets real insight into what’s formed his father’s character.

Thrilling, fascinating and often laugh-out-loud funny, Loose Units is a high-octane adventure in policing, integrity and learning what your father is really all about.

• Verhoeven, John
• Police — New South Wales — Sydney — History — 1976-1990
• Police — New South Wales — Sydney — Biography
• Fathers and sons — New South Wales — Sydney — Biography
• Crime — New South Wales — Sydney — History — 1976-1990
• True crime
• Biography: general
• Sydney (N.S.W.) — Biography
• #280225