by FIlmInk Staff
Australian television production company CJZ (Darby and Joan, My Life is Murder, The People vs Robodebt) has optioned Tim Ayliffe’s first stand-alone novel, DARK DESERT ROAD.
A gripping, high-stakes crime thriller, DARK DESERT ROAD follows police officer Kit McCarthy who hasn’t seen her sister, Billie, in more than a decade. The sisters don’t see eye to eye, which is understandable, considering Kit’s a police officer and Billie followed their violent father into a life of crime.
Kit is no angel. Burnt out by years working in child protection, Kit has just been ordered to take time off work when she gets a frantic message from Billie, telling her she has a young son and that somebody is trying to kill her.
And then Billie disappears.
Kit’s journey to find Billie takes her through shuttered towns destroyed by drought, where everybody owns guns, nobody talks to cops, and people get lost for a reason.
Out here a war is brewing between a ruthless bikie gang and a separatist community that is re-engaging with society in the most violent way.
Kit will risk everything to find her sister and the nephew she never knew she had.
But does Billie really want to be saved?
An instant bestseller, DARK DESERT ROAD was published by Echo Publishing in January and has already spent weeks at the top of Australian crime charts. DARK DESERT ROAD will be released in the UK on 30thApril by Zaffre, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK.
CJZ Head of Drama, Claire Tonkin said, “From its explosive opening, DARK DESERT ROAD is a propulsive, surprising and thought-provoking thriller that cleverly explores the faultlines in Australian society today. We are such fans of Tim’s work and he has created another brilliant lead character in Kit who feels fresh, flawed and very real. We can’t wait to see her come to life onscreen.”
Echo Publishing Managing Director, Amanda Maclean said, “The response to DARK DESERT ROAD since publication has been extraordinary, and it reflects how strongly readers have connected with both the story and its themes. It’s a page turning crime-thriller, but it feels uncomfortably close to the world we’re watching unfold around us, touching on tensions and divisions that are turning up in the news with increasing regularity. CJZ’s interest feels like a natural next step, and we’re excited to see the book find a new life on screen.”
Tim Ayliffe said, “I loved writing the McCarthy sisters. We’re living in an age of extremes and some of the big issues dividing families in places like the US and Europe are causing deep divisions here too. This an Australian story with the harsh desert country of the NSW Riverina at its core. I can’t wait to see my characters and places on screen, and I couldn’t think of a better team to do it than CJZ.”
Zaffre Publisher, Ben Willis said, ‘Some books are just made to be adapted for the screen, and DARK DESERT ROAD is absolutely one of them. Its exploration of divisions in Australian society will be all too familiar to people across the Western world, but it’s Tim’s characters – Kit in particular – that will keep them glued to their televisions. I can’t wait to see it come alive beyond the book.’
CJZ has previously optioned Tim Ayliffe’s ‘John Bailey’ novels for an upcoming television series currently in development.
PRAISE FOR DARK DESERT ROAD
“Dark Desert Road is intense, confronting and, at times, genuinely frightening because it feels so conceivable. Ayliffe has written a crime novel for this moment in our history.”
Samuel Bernard – THE AUSTRALIAN
“In Ayliffe’s broken world, the bad guys look like the good and the good must masquerade as the bad. A gritty, propulsive thriller that hits frighteningly close to home.”
Siang Lu – 2005 MILES FRANKLIN WINNER
“Kit McCarthy is a wonderful creation: smart and resilient, troubled and caring.”
Chris Hammer – BESTSELLING CRIME AUTHOR
“Ayliffe takes us on a hell-ride through the forgotten towns of Australia’s Badlands.”
Candice Fox – BESTSELLING CRIME AUTHOR
ABOUT TIM AYLIFFE
Tim Ayliffe is an award-winning author whose crime-thriller novels have been informed by his 25-year career as a journalist in Australia and around the world. He writes about espionage, extremism, politics and the global power games at play in the 21st Century. He is the author of the standalone thriller – Dark Desert Road (Echo Publishing, 2026) – and the ‘John Bailey’ series including The Greater Good, State of Fear, The Enemy Within, Killer Traitor Spy – which won the prestigious People’s Choice Award at the 2023 BAD Sydney Danger Awards – and The Wrong Man. He lives in Sydney.
ABOUT CJZ
One of Australia’s leading independent production companies, CJZ’s signature programs include Gruen (ABC TV), Bondi Rescue (Ten), The People vs Robodebt and groundbreaking format, Go Back to Where You Came From (SBS) which won an International Emmy and the Rose d’Or. CJZ’s drama credits include five seasons of My Life is Murder starring Lucy Lawless (Ten/Acorn TV/TVNZ), two series of Darby and Joan starring Bryan Brown and Greta Scacchi (Acorn TV), House of Hancock (Nine), House of Bond (Nine), seven Blackjacktelemovies (Ten/BBC) and The Great Mint Swindle (Nine).
