What do you think?
Rate this book
Huckstepp: A Dangerous Life
OUR COPY HAS A DIFFERENT COVER THAN STOCK PHOTO SHOWN. PLEASE SEE OUR SCAN. CREASE AT TOP OF FRONT COVER. MINOR SCUFFING/EDGE WEAR ON COVERS & SPINE. AGE RELATED TANNING INSIDE COVERS AND ON PAGES. A FEW BLACKOUTS ON FIRST PAGE. NO OTHER MARKING/WRITING NOTED IN BOOK.
328 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2000
17 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 9, 2012
Looking back at the life, and death in 1986 of Sallie-Anne Huckstepp there's a sense of inevitability about her destiny, a long time before she went on television to accuse NSW detectives of shooting her boyfriend in cold blood. HUCKSTEPP is an excellent book of its type - part biography, part investigation into Huckstepp, and her death, the book looks honestly at Sallie-Anne herself, as well as the crooks, cops and colleagues that she had close contact with over her life.
Given that there's never been an answer to who killed Huckstepp, this book seems to come as close as we're ever going to come to understanding what happened and why. It certainly does a number of notorious NSW cop and criminal "identities" no favours in its portrayal of them. It also is no whitewash of Sallie-Anne herself. Perhaps the only minor objection would be that its not until the very end that there's much light cast on what got Sallie-Anne into the life that ultimately killed her. I would have liked to have known a little bit more about Sallie-Anne the person, rather than Sallie-Anne the "identity", although I could also see that it might not have been so easy to get to the truth of that.
Given that there's never been an answer to who killed Huckstepp, this book seems to come as close as we're ever going to come to understanding what happened and why. It certainly does a number of notorious NSW cop and criminal "identities" no favours in its portrayal of them. It also is no whitewash of Sallie-Anne herself. Perhaps the only minor objection would be that its not until the very end that there's much light cast on what got Sallie-Anne into the life that ultimately killed her. I would have liked to have known a little bit more about Sallie-Anne the person, rather than Sallie-Anne the "identity", although I could also see that it might not have been so easy to get to the truth of that.
April 25, 2019
Highly recommend this one, especially with the Blue Murder mini series soon to start on television! 👌🏼
September 11, 2019
What a woman. I wish she had more of a life as I felt she would have done great things. I was most impressed with her strength and character. From not knowing about her before I felt that I really knew her when I finished reading this. I did find the flip flopping distracting a chronological order always suits me best. I was disappointed to find that after I had read 400 pages the killer was not made clear. An enjoyable read though.
August 7, 2011
a very interesting book
December 14, 2015
Read this years ago for uni and never forgot it. Fascinating.
November 19, 2016
Glorious Sydney.
January 20, 2026
"She was a flirt, a drug addict, a part-time whistleblower and a full-time underworld figure. But she had guts, I'll give her that."
A unique, brave, and complex woman, whose brilliance is too often reduced to the way she looks by the men around her. By the man writing this book. There are probably 9 or 10 direct references to how msucley her legs were in this book alone. I also find it curious that the author refers to himself in the 3rd person at one point in the book, not fully acknowledging his minor role in the case itself.
The book is meticulously researched, and starkly expresses the brutal reality of what happened to Sallie. A girl with a good background, high intelligence and everything going for her - she could have been anything - almost too bright and wild to tame, perhaps before her time, ultimately drawn to the excitement and danger of the underworld.
It is an infamous story of police incompetence, corruption, and injustice. A story that needs to be told and remembered.
It is not hard to see why Sallie captured the public's interest and trust. She was one of a kind.
A unique, brave, and complex woman, whose brilliance is too often reduced to the way she looks by the men around her. By the man writing this book. There are probably 9 or 10 direct references to how msucley her legs were in this book alone. I also find it curious that the author refers to himself in the 3rd person at one point in the book, not fully acknowledging his minor role in the case itself.
The book is meticulously researched, and starkly expresses the brutal reality of what happened to Sallie. A girl with a good background, high intelligence and everything going for her - she could have been anything - almost too bright and wild to tame, perhaps before her time, ultimately drawn to the excitement and danger of the underworld.
It is an infamous story of police incompetence, corruption, and injustice. A story that needs to be told and remembered.
It is not hard to see why Sallie captured the public's interest and trust. She was one of a kind.
May 24, 2022
I bought this as I aside from reading many volumes on the criminal and police activities of this time, I knew little of Huckstepp outside of interviews and where she fit in generally. I thought this book would be an investigative journey, chronologically moving through the subject's life, how she ended up where she did, and the criminal world and figures directly involved with her.
This is not that book.
Jumping all over the cookshop, this book manages to baffle the reader with it's jumping backwards and forwards, and quite literally all over the place until around 2/3 of the way through. Yes, this is an amatuer 'investigation', but like the journalists that exposed Watergate he has help from a senior AFP source.
I'm not yet sure of the author's intent or purpose is behind this very thorough account of all the facts, fiction and hearsay but it is thorough and fascinating compared with many so-called professional crime writer's books (Adam Shand take note).
Very enjoyable, if you are a True Crime reader of Australian crime.
This is not that book.
Jumping all over the cookshop, this book manages to baffle the reader with it's jumping backwards and forwards, and quite literally all over the place until around 2/3 of the way through. Yes, this is an amatuer 'investigation', but like the journalists that exposed Watergate he has help from a senior AFP source.
I'm not yet sure of the author's intent or purpose is behind this very thorough account of all the facts, fiction and hearsay but it is thorough and fascinating compared with many so-called professional crime writer's books (Adam Shand take note).
Very enjoyable, if you are a True Crime reader of Australian crime.
January 3, 2023
If you think you know Sallie Anne Huckstepp’s story ( as I thought I did ), you will be surprised how much this well researched book adds to it. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Sydney crime scene of the 1980’s.
March 17, 2023
A lot of detail
October 12, 2024
fascinating
Fascinating read into a high adrenaline life. The police seem to screw up even the simplest of cases in this country.
Fascinating read into a high adrenaline life. The police seem to screw up even the simplest of cases in this country.
August 24, 2021
A portrait of a hero. The woman who poured boiling water on NSW Police corruption who was then murdered. God bless you.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews