Bitter Wash Road cover art

Bitter Wash Road

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Bitter Wash Road

By: Garry Disher
Narrated by: Steve Shanahan
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £13.84

Buy Now for £13.84

LIMITED TIME OFFER

£0.99/mo for 3 months - terms apply. Offer ends 24 August 2026.
‘Shots fired on Bitter Wash Road…’

Hirsch is a whistle-blower. Formerly a promising metropolitan officer, now hated and despised. Exiled to a one-cop station in South Australia’s wheatbelt. Threats. Pistol cartridge in the mailbox.
So when he heads up Bitter Wash Road to investigate gunfire and finds himself cut off without backup, there are two possibilities. Either he’s found the fugitive killers thought to be in the area. Or his ‘backup’ is about to put a bullet in him.
He’s wrong on both counts. But the events that unfold turn out to be a lot more sinister.

‘One of ¬Australia’s best-written crime fictions to date.’ Australian

‘Bitter Wash Road is superb.’ Weekend Australian

‘Peter Temple and Garry Disher will be identified as the crime writers who redefined Australian crime fiction in terms of its form, content and style…'Disher’s eye for detail is acute and his poetic analogies precise…Bitter Wash Road continues the work of re-imagining the crime genre in a very Australian way, and does it beautifully.’ Age/Sydney Morning Herald

‘Disher is definitely not to be missed.’ Globe & Mail

‘Smooth, assured mastery.’ New York Times Book Review

‘Exceptional crime fiction.’ Courier-Mail

‘Not a word is wasted: here the ancient, bare, distinctive landscape of the hardscrabble country bordering Goyder’s Line is conveyed with admirably atmospheric economy.’ Adelaide Advertiser

‘A top-class writer.’ The Times

‘Disher turns out to be a superb chronicler of macho cop culture.' Sunday Times

‘An absolute corker of a crime novel and puts him up there with the likes of Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin and John Harvey…This is a superbly well-plotted thriller, beautifully written—especially the descriptions of the harsh outback—and with an intriguing hero, an honest cop faced with dishonesty at every turn.' Shotsmag

‘Fast-paced, funny, and believable.‘Bookmunch©2013 Garry Disher (P)2021 W. F. Howes Ltd
Crime Fiction Mystery Fiction Crime Suspense
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most relevant
After my disappointment with Birds in Flight this is more like it, proper atmospheric Aussie crime.
Set in the fictional isolated speck of dirt town of Tiverton in South Australia’s wheatbelt, three hours north of Adelaide, the hot, dry landscape is as characterful as the stories protagonist Constable Paul “Hirsch” Hirschhausen. As a 'whistleblower', who reported on corrupt colleagues, he's had his promising city career curtailed & is exiled to a single-officer police station dealing with petty rural crimes, with his boss / colleagues in the nearest big town, an abusive, hostile, misogynistic bunch who he must be constantly be on his guard against.
Drawn into an investigation into suspected hit & run death, the victim a teenage girl, he finds as an outsider, getting answers from the suspicious of the police, tight knit community is difficult. A second death occurs, this time deemed suicide but to Hirsch it doesn't look right. Before long he realises that there are vested interests & hidden agendas at work covering up the truth behind both cases and that police corruption isn't restricted to cities cops & officials.
With engrossing multiple plotlines, believable characterisation, Bitter Wash Road was a well written introduction to a new Australian detective series. Particularly enjoyed author Garry Disher's descriptions, phrasings "October gathered her skirts and raced past."

Excellent South Australian policing noir!

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

This story was full of characters, and they all twisted through the story and kept on surprising. I loved the narrator.

Great story!

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

Really enjoyed this one. Have already downloaded the next in the series.
Steve Shanahan's narration is also excellent.

On to the next..

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

Spellbinding, immersive, altogether brilliant! I could not put it to rest, need to know more! Sorry when it ended…

The characters and how they were portrayed in the delivery and reading.

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

This is a really intriguing novel. The characters are believable and varied. Descriptions create images a beautiful yet struggling area.
Great narration by Steve Shanahan.

Characterisation. Descriptions. Structure of the narrative.

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

See more reviews