Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
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 Sparrow must travel north with him under the guise of being his carer.
They are accompanied on the drive by another nursing home 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 beings 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?
I was not alone in being mightily impressed by Canberra author Peter Papathanasiou’s hard-hitting 2021 debut The Stoning, where the brutal death of a rural schoolteacher incited a terrific Outback Noir that delivered a fascinating storyline while exploring Australia’s treatment of refugees alongside a clear-eyed look at hypocrisies old and new and the uglier side of modern life in ‘the Lucky Country’.
A very good read that centres an indigenous character while exploring varying prejudices and their real-world impact in times present and past. I’m curious to see what Papathanasiou delivers next.
That book also introduced Detective Sergeant Georgias ‘George’ Manolis, a big city cop sent to his childhood hometown to help the locals investigate the death and douse escalating reprisals, and local Aboriginal constable ‘Sparrow’. In Papathanasiou’s third and latest novel, The Pit, Manolis is on leave in Greece, so it is Sparrow that receives a call from a killer that wants to turn himself in.
Bob wants to make a deal. In his mid-sixties, he’s relatively young compared to some of his fellow residents in a Perth nursing home. Though he’s not the youngest there. Maybe Bob’s paying for past sins. Decades ago he killed someone in the remote mining region of north Kimberley. He offers to show Sparrow where the body is, saying he’s unable to find it without going there himself.
Sparrow isn’t sure, while thinking the juice may be worth the squeeze. But there are a couple of hitches: Sparrow must pretend to be Bob’s carer as they travel north, and they’re joined on the road trip by another nursing home resident: Luke, a 30-year-old who was paralysed in a motorbike crash. What is Bob’s real motivation to take Sparrow deep into the dusty back-blocks of Western Australia, and why is the surly Luke along for the ride? What secrets may come to light, if they ever reach their destination and somehow manage to survive a series of misadventures and dangerous encounters?
Papathanasiou delivers a kinetic, fascinating tale that may divide readers when it comes to whether it surpasses or falls short of his excellent debut. Australian social history and harsh landscapes provide a stark backdrop to the mystery of Bob’s quest, his past, and his intentions. As well as the action sparked by clashes the trio face, and sometimes instigate, with an array of humanity that roams the lonely roadways of Western Australia, eking out a living in various ways.
Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.
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