Bitter Wash Road - Garry Disher

When Hirsch heads up Bitter Wash Road in rural South Australia to investigate reports of gunfire, he finds himself cut off. A pair of thrill killers has been targeting farmhouses on lonely backroads, but Hirsch's first thought is maybe back-up' is nearby - and about to put a bullet in him. That's because Hirsch is a whistleblower. Formerly a promising officer, he has now been demoted and exiled to a one-cop station in South Australia's wheatbelt. The truth turns out to be a more mundane. And the events that then unfold are a hell of a lot more sinister.'