The Man Who Wasn’t There recounts Dan Box’s investigation of the imprisonment of Zak Grieve for the murder of Ray Niceforo. The judge believed that Grieve wasn’t present at the murder. He also believed that the Northern Territory’s mandatory sentencing laws ‘inevitably bring about injustice’, he was obliged to imprison Grieve for life because Grieve knew of the murder but did not try to stop it.

Within the ‘sweating’ and ‘creeping’ isolation of Katherine, Box collects multiple testimonies. Fully aware that each is as questionable as it is compelling: ‘Every story is imperfect – except, maybe, some works of fiction.’ The ambiguity of truth and justice are thus central themes in this book.

Box contextualises his investigation in relation to the growing epistolary friendship between himself and Grieve. Despite their differences, both men are vulnerable to circumstances beyond their control. Grieve is an Indigenous man raised in straitened circumstances and locked in a white man’s prison. Box is an educated white man trapped in depression and later, in the horror of his child’s cancer. By blurring the line between object and subject – the professional and the personal – this unlikely friendship further emphasises the story’s moral ambiguities and complexities.

This is a sophisticated, thoroughly researched, well-crafted and moving book. Box powerfully evokes the helpless claustrophobia of people subjected to irrational and dangerous individuals and power systems. He also reveals these same people’s dogged will to survive and seek justice. Via these personal stories, this book ultimately acts as a shocking indictment of the Northern Territory’s brutally unjust laws and prisons.

Reviewed by Helen Gildfind

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dan Box is a Walkley Award-winning journalist and bestselling author. He has previously worked for The Australian, the BBC and London’s The Sunday Times. He has won awards in both the UK and Australia, including
for investigative reporting, feature writing and true crime writing.

Dan is also the author of Bowraville.