Dark Desert Road

Australian author, Tim Ayliffe has written a suspenseful novel about a sovereign citizen community in the Riverina district of New South Wales. Dark Desert Road is the story of police officer Kit McCarthy who has been told to take leave as she recovers from working with traumatised children for three years. Kit then receives a message from her twin sister, Billie, who she hasn't been in touch with for ten years. The message is brief - Billie is in danger and she has a child. Kit knows that she must locate her sister and nephew - now.

Sovereign citizen communities have been in the news during the past few years and much of the action of the novel is set in such a community as members wage their war against the government and practically everyone else who does not share their beliefs. Motor bike gangs also feature prominently in the novel as they attempt to avenge the death of one of their members. Kit's father is in prison and is not impressed that he has a daughter who is a police officer. However he is proud of the daughter who married a former US soldier who shares his views that the laws of the land do not apply to sovereign citizens. Despite putting her life in danger Kit is determined to locate her sister and the child she has never met. 

Dark Desert Road is a fast moving thriller that explores bonds in a family that has imploded plus the break-down of society and the rule of law in some communities. Once started, this is crime novel is a book that is difficult to put down until the conclusion is revealed.