The Pit - by Peter Papathanasiou (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Outback noir has a new star" Mark Sanderson, The Times

With DS Manolis on leave in Greece, Senior Constable Sparrow receives a phone call from a man who wants to turn himself in.

Bob is sixty-five years old, confined to a Perth nursing home. But thirty years ago, he killed a man in the remote northern Kimberley mining region. He offers to show Sparrow where the body is, but there's a catch: Sparrow must travel north with him under the guise of being his carer.

They are accompanied on the drive by another nursing home resident: Luke, thirty years old, paralysed in a motorbike accident. As they embark on their road trip through the guts of Western Australia, pursued by outback police and adrenaline-soaked miners, Sparrow begins to suspect that Bob's desire to head north may have sinister motivations. Is Luke being held against his will? And what lies in store for them when they reach their goal?

Review Quotes

Peter Papathanasiou has a voice like no one else writing Australian crime fiction and delivers another larger-than-life, take-no-prisoners slice of outback noir. A truly original writer.--author of NO COUNTRY FOR GIRLS, winner of the 2023 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize

Peter Papathanasiou is a rising star of crime fiction . . . Half crime novel, half social history, The Pit shows the versatility of the genre in the hands of a gifted writer--Sunday Times

Darkly immersive Aussie Noir at its very best--Irish Independent

About the Author

Peter Papathanasiou was born in northern Greece and adopted as a baby to an Australian family. His writing has been published internationally by The New York Times, Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, Daily Telegraph, The ABC, SBS, Huffington Post. He also holds an MA in Creative Writing from City University, London, and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the Australian National University. His first book, a memoir Son of Mine was published in 2019 by Salt.