NEW 2026 OUTBACK AUSTRALIAN CRIME: DARK DESERT ROAD by TIM AYLIFFE
Australian crime fiction gets off to a strong start in 2026 with Tim Ayliffe’s outstanding Dark Desert Road, (Echo, 6 January 2026).
Moving away from his series about journalist John Bailey, Ayliffe takes a different approach with Dark Desert Road, which introduces a new central character in the form of burnt-out police officer Kit McCarthy. Damaged by the horror of working a large child pornography case, and under investigation for using too much force during the arrest of a violent drunk, Kit has been ordered to take time off work. Any respite is short lived, however, when she gets a frantic message from her identical sister, Billie, that someone is trying to kill her. Kit hasn’t seen her twin in more than a decade and is surprised to find that she is living off the grid with her former American marine husband and a young child in a sovereign citizen camp in a remote rural area west of Wagga Wagga.
Kit’s search 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. It is an area where bikies rule and sovereign citizens flourish, and city cops like Kit are not welcomed.
Using shifting viewpoints and a judicious use of flashbacks, Dark Desert Road is a well structured crime thriller that starts at a brisk pace and then ups the ante as the story races towards its blood soaked climax. The mix of drugs, conspiracy and religious extremism gives the plot real energy, and a good contemporary feel, and Ayliffe’s portrayal of the religious far-right in Australia and America is compelling and believable. The story is well grounded in recent events, and is given more credibility with every passing news headline.
The characters are well crafted, and Ayliffe does not sugar coat any of them, including Kit and Billie. The local inhabitants of the small country towns where the book is mainly set are particularly well done, and Ayliffe is good at creating deluded and dangerous protagonists for Kit to deal with. He also vividly describes the Australian landscape and the forgotten towns of western New South Wales. With his well-trained journalist’s eye, he quickly paints a scene and effortlessly imparts a wealth of background information on a range of topics and the widening fractures in Australia.
In all, Dark Desert Road is an outstanding piece of crime fiction that entertains while raising legitimate concerns about the rising threat of sovereign citizens and the media sponsored far-right in Australia. A great read.
Dark Desert Road is released in Australia on 6 January 2026. It will also be available on Kindle and Audible in the United Kingdom on the same day.