Dark Desert Road cover art

Dark Desert Road

Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Dark Desert Road

By: Tim Ayliffe
Narrated by: Sonya Kerr
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.99

Buy Now for $25.99

About this listen

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?

©2026 Tim Ayliffe (P)2026 W. F. Howes ltd.
Mystery Police Procedurals

Critic Reviews

"It feels ripped from the headlines, with the signature insight that is Tim Ayliffe’s calling card. A cracking, politically-savvy thriller from Australia’s master of the art." (HAYLEY SCRIVENOR, internationally bestselling author of Dirt Town and Girl Falling)

"When ideology and fanaticism collide with buried family secrets, loyalty is tested to its breaking point–a gripping exploration of love, betrayal, and the cost of conviction." (JACK BEAUMONT, former spy and author of The Frenchman)

All stars
Most relevant
This was a really enjoyable, gripping read. The characters felt vivid and authentic, which made it easy to get invested in the story. The tension keeps building and pulls you along the whole way. Definitely worth a listen if you like character-driven thrillers.

Gripping and great characters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

A heart racing, fast paced story with a lot of extremist characters living in outback Australia. I really liked Kit McCarthy and Tim definitely brings all the characters and the environment to life, as does the narrator Sonya Kerr. I think it’s really well written but a bit too violent for me. This was, of course, the intention to alert us to what is going on out there in the world today

Whew!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.