Bitter Wash Road

Bitter Wash Road is the eighteenth stand-alone novel by popular Australian author, Garry Disher. It has also been published under the title Hell To Pay. Not long after Constable Paul Hirschhausen has been banished to the small South Australian wheatbelt town of Tiverton for the unforgiveable (being a whistle-blower), he is called to attend an apparent hit-and-run. But, despite the scorn of his superiors, to Hirsch, something feels not quite right. And when, a few weeks later, he discovers the body of a woman who has committed suicide, he is again plagued with doubt.
In Hirsch, Disher has created a central character who is both likeable and believable, flawed yet principled. Disher expertly conveys the atmosphere of the outback town with evocative descriptions that will have the reader tasting the dust in the back of the throat and feeling the boredom and despair. His cast of townspeople will be familiar to anyone who has visited such a place.

Disher gives the reader an original plot that somehow realistically includes a network of paeophiles, a wind farm, an inheritance, some subtle (and not so subtle) threats, pair of fugitive murder-rapists, planted evidence, domestic violence, a pair of cops who delight in harassment of old people, young girls and aborigines, adultery, jealousy, football, drinking and brawling, and a red herring or two to keep everyone guessing. While this is a stand-alone novel, Hirschhausen is an appealing character of whom readers are bound to want more. Once again, Disher does not disappoint.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Serpent's Tail/Profile Books - Viper

I don't know how I could possibly have missed this gritty Aussie crime noir series by Garry Disher, featuring the demoted whistleblowing Constable Paul 'Hirsch' Hirschhausen, banished from Adelaide police to the remote backwaters of a small town, Tiverton, with their single officer police station. You might think this means little in the way of crime stirs here, but still waters run deep, where Hirsch, a good natured, compassionate man, with a core of hard steel, finds he has once again stepped into a nest of vipers. His boss, Sergeant Klopp, is based at Redruth, a man who has no intentions of making life easy for a cop who has betrayed his own, an absolute no no, even if those cops are hardened criminals. Klopp's barely educated, brutal, racist and misogynist neanderthal constables, Nicholson and Andrewatha, mean that Hirsch is surrounded by no-one he can trust.

Hirsch remains a person of interest, a 'suspect' in the ongoing inquiries in Adelaide, the repercussions of his actions against his former boss, Quine, continue as he finds himself facing a barrage of efforts to paint him as corrupt, the fallout of which culminate in his parents being harrassed and intimidated. Hirsch finds himself directed by Klopp to make his way to Bitter Wash Road, where a body has been discovered at the side of the road. The victim is 16 year old Melia Donovan, a sweet, if wayward kid, from an impoverished background, rumoured to have a much older boyfriend, her closest friend, the shop assistant, Gemma Pitcher. All the signs point to a straightforward hit and run accident, with Melia notorious for regularly hitchhiking.

However, something about it doesn't sit right with Hirsch, and despite being warned to leave well alone, he cannot stop himself looking deeper. This is followed by the death of Alison Latimer, divorcing her abusive husband, Ray, in what appears to be an obvious suicide, with all the potential suspects with a motive for murder having carefully constructed unbreakable alibis, triggering suspicions that have Hirsch looking more closely at Alison. Hirsch persists in looking into both deaths, each seemingly separate incidents, a slow and laborious process until it emerges there may be connections between them, linking them to a small group of privileged and powerful men.

Disher's plotting is intricate and his descriptions of place bring the small towns of Tiverton and Redruth vividly alive. Hirsch is forced into being a loner, but this is not a state he is comfortable with, but he has to be on his guard at all times, surrounded as he is by threats and danger all around him. Despite the community's distrust of the police, with good reason, Hirsch turns out to be an excellent community police officer who slowly embeds himself in a place that initially seemed so unpromising. I particularly loved his developing relationship with the bright and plucky child, Katie Street. I cannot wait for the next in the series, this is for all those who love their Aussie crime fiction. A brilliant read. Many thanks to Serpent's Profile for an ARC.