The Incredible Exploding Man
By John Jiggens
Reviewed by Angela Matheson
The larger than life events surrounding the Hilton bombing and subsequent trial and conviction of Tim Anderson are the subject of The Incredible Exploding Man.
Anderson was convicted on three counts of murder last year. A public campaign has since exposed wild inaccuracies in the evidence which led to his conviction.
The Incredible Exploding Man claims to be the first accurate account of Anderson's trial. The book exposes the inconsistencies in the evidence given by the principal witness against Anderson, Evan Pederick, who Jiggens argues, suffers from paranoia. The book title aims to highlight Pederick's condition.
"Pederick is an incredible, even a fantastic figure", says Jiggens. "He has cast himself in the role of the great bomb-maker and his testimony is incredible in that it describes in minute detail events which never happened."
The conviction of Anderson rivals the Lindy Chamberlain case in notoriety. Supporters for Anderson's bail application include John Pilger, Jim McClelland, Di Yerbury and Gerry Hand.
The book recreates the trial and presents the evidence afresh. "My aim was to accurately present the entire fiasco, which has never been done before, and to leave it to the readers to make up their own minds", says Jiggens. n