Dark Desert Road

Family loyalty meets violent extremism in this gripping, high-stakes crime thriller

by Tim Ayliffe

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Pub Date Jan 06 2026 | Archive Date Jan 06 2026

Echo Publishing

Mystery & Thrillers

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Description

A fugitive sister. A dangerous father. A terror cell hiding in plain sight.

Kit McCarthy hasn't seen her identical twin sister, Billie, in more than a decade.

The sisters don't see eye to eye, which is understandable, considering Kit's a police officer and Billie followed their violent father into a life of crime.

Kit is no angel. Burnt out by years working in child protection, she has been accused of using excessive force in the arrest of a violent drunk. Kit has just been ordered to take time off work when she gets a frantic message from Billie, telling her she has a young son and that somebody is trying to kill her.

And then Billie disappears.

Determined to find her estranged sister, Kit's only lead comes after visiting their father in prison. Malcolm McCarthy claims Billie married a former United States Marine and has been living with a group of sovereign citizens in the desert country of the New South Wales Riverina.

Kit's journey to find Billie takes her through shuttered towns destroyed by drought, where everybody owns guns, nobody talks to cops, and people get lost for a reason.

Out here a war is brewing between a ruthless bikie gang and a separatist community that is re-engaging with society in the most violent way.

Kit will risk everything to find her sister and the nephew she never knew she had.

But does Billie really want to be saved?

A fugitive sister. A dangerous father. A terror cell hiding in plain sight.

Kit McCarthy hasn't seen her identical twin sister, Billie, in more than a decade.

The sisters don't see eye to eye...

Advance Praise

'A cracking read! With a terrifically paced plot and a wild cast of characters, Dark Desert Road grabs you from the first sentence and doesn't let go. Terrorists, religious extremists, bikies and cops battle it out in the outback and along the highways west of Wagga Wagga in this tense, page-turning thriller that's impossible to put down. I gobbled it up in one sitting!' Patricia Wolf

'In Ayliffe's broken world, the bad guys look like the good and the good must masquerade as the bad. A gritty, propulsive thriller that hits frighteningly close to home.' Siang Lu, winner of the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award

'With unforgettable characters and a simmering plot, Ayliffe takes us on a hell-ride through the forgotten towns of Australia's Badlands.' Candice Fox

'Dark Desert Road feels ripped from the headlines, with the signature insight that is Tim Ayliffe's calling card. Kit McCarthy is a good cop, strung out and struggling to adjust after closing a large child protection case. When Kit learns her twin sister Billie is in trouble, she will stop at nothing to find her. Even if Billie has drifted so far into a world of conspiracy, sovereign citizens and bikies that she might not want saving. A cracking, politically-savvy thriller from Australia's master of the art.' Hayley Scrivenor, internationally bestselling author of Dirt Town and Girl Falling

'A helter-skelter road trip that starts fast and never lets up. Vintage Ayliffe - tense, tight, and strung with issues that confront today's world.' Matthew Spencer

'When ideology and fanaticism collide with buried family secrets, loyalty is tested to its breaking point in Dark Desert Road - a gripping exploration of love, betrayal, and the cost of conviction.' Jack Beaumont, former spy and author of The Frenchman

'Tim Ayliffe is a writer at the height of his powers - moving, insightful and unforgettable.' Sulari Gentill

'A cracking read, written with Ayliffe's signature flair and ability to reflect current fracture points into a gripping and propulsive story. A taut, urgent page-turner ... fiction built on a terrifying and confronting reality.' Michael Brissenden

Available Editions

ISBN	9781786587213
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