Standalone Novels
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Quota | 2014 | Buy |
| The Rules of Backyard Cricket | 2016 | Buy |
| On the Java Ridge | 2017 | Buy |
| Preservation | 2018 | Buy |
| The Burning Island | 2020 | Buy |
| The Settlement | 2022 | Buy |
| Cherrywood | 2024 | Buy |
Jock Serong worked as a lawyer and editor before turning to crime fiction, and that legal background shows in the precision with which he constructs moral dilemmas. His debut, Quota, set in a small coastal town, announced a writer with a sharp eye for community dynamics and institutional failure. The books that followed expanded his range considerably, moving between present-day suspense and richly researched historical fiction.
His colonial-era novels, particularly Preservation and The Burning Island, draw on real events from Australia’s early settlement period and read like slow-burn mysteries wrapped in historical drama. The Settlement and Cherrywood show a writer continuing to push at the edges of the crime genre, finding new ways to use place, particularly the Australian coast, as both setting and subject.