‘There’s a killer roaming the roads and you''re out here on your own, picking up strangers …’
When Emily’s beautiful cousin Aspen goes missing somewhere in the Outback, no one seems to take it seriously, not even the police. After all, Aspen has a history of drug use and a string of broken relationships to her name. Emily knows that her disappearance is totally out of character, even for the family’s wild child, so she books a flight to the Northern Territory to find her.
Emily’s search takes her south of Darwin to every road stop and tourist trap she can find, but the only person who turns up is the last person she expected to see, her ex-husband Ben. But there is a violent killer on the loose, a man the media have dubbed ‘The Outback Killer’ - and after two brazen attempts on Emily’s life, it soon becomes clear that someone wants Emily gone too, someone who is willing to do anything to stop her following Aspen’s tracks.
Set in the bustling streets of Darwin and in an alternative-lifestyle commune outside of Tennant Creek, and told with McGinnis’s trademark colourful and poetic style, this is a gripping tale of the danger and lawlessness of Australia’s wild and remote places.