Peter Papathanasiou is taking this series in surprising and fascinating directions, here DS George Manolis is in Greece, so we become reacquainted with gay Senior Constable Andrew 'Sparrow' Smith from The Stoning. Sparrow takes a call from Robert 'Bob' Cooper, a dying man with cancer living in a nursing home, confessing to a long ago murder, the body buried in Kimberley in Western Australia. However, he insists he needs to take Sparrow to the body, which involves Sparrow being his carer on a long road trip travelling through hostile country. Sparrow agrees, taking a few days holiday, only to find there is another younger passenger accompanying them, Lukas, another nursing home resident, a man who had suffered a motorbike accident, which left him a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair.

What follows is a road trip packed with adventure and grave dangers as they encounter a racist anti-refugee protest, whilst Bob and Lukas's escape is covered on the news, they are wanted people. Luke is an unpleasant bigot, a vocal man, so often bored, constantly making inflammatory, needling and provocative comments. Luke and Sparrow wonder whether Bob, whose health is deteriorating, can be trusted. In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, we are informed of Bob's harrowing past from the 197os onwards, his childhood, attending Catholic school and being thrown out of his home. How he became a dumper truck driver for the remote iron ore mining industry, the close, brutal, male community displaying a prison camp mentality, the rituals, crudeness, taxing pressures of work, the chaos, death, the sheer exhaustion and his relationship with Jose. In the present, the men meet the larger than life Mouse, becoming party to highway robberies, and undergoing other trials.

Papathanasiou uses the vehicle of this eye opening novel to provide a social and political commentary, painting a picture of the horrors of Australia's past, such as the terrors experienced by the gay community, the AIDS crisis, the way the mining industry operates, the racism and treatment of Aborigines, and the reprehensible behaviour of politicians. The road trip provides the men, all different from each other, to ride through the suspicions and tensions, undergoing the kind of experiences that offer opportunities to bond over their numerous challenges as they get to know each other better. Sparrow learns of the injustices and sacrifices made by previous generations, whilst the camaraderie that springs up between Bob and Luke is a joy to observe. A wonderful read that I recommend highly. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for an advance copy of The Pit, a road trip novel featuring Senior Constable Andrew “Sparrow” Smith, set in Western Australia.

Sparrow is contacted by Bob Cooper, who wants to confess to a historic murder, but he wants Sparrow to accompany him as his carer to the grave in the far north of the state. Sparrow is looking for a boost to his career so he agrees to go with Bob and another man from the nursing home he lives in, Luke, a thirty year old paraplegic. Sparrow begins to sense that Bob has ulterior motives in heading north and that makes him uneasy.

Ostensibly a crime novel, The Pit is basically Thelma and Louise for blokes with a little criminality, a lot of blokey attitudes and some serious bonding, not to mention too much information about the mining industry. I can’t say that it held my attention or I connected with the characters as it’s all outside my lived experience, but I can appreciate the writing and what the author has done.

The timeline of the novel alternates between the present day road trip and incidents from Bob’s past. Bob won’t give up any information about the murder he committed to Sparrow and Luke has no knowledge of the mission, he is along for the adventure. This allows the author to slowly build not quite tension, but certainly curiosity in the reader about Bob’s motive. Of course, not knowing the final destination or the end game causes tension between the characters as they barrel not entirely smoothly through deserted landscapes.

Sparrow is the minor character in comparison to Bob and Luke. Luke is a foul mouthed immature lout, but it’s understandable given his disability and inability to cope with it. His final action in the novel is heavily ironic and fairly typical of his short term thinking. Bob, on the other hand, has a story to tell and it covers the full range of emotions and despite confessing to murder he is very likeable.

The Pit was not to my taste but it is a strong novel.

Curious book this, not least as it is the third in the loose series but happens in parallel to events in Greece with maniolis, and instead focuses on Sparrow from the stoning.

What we have is a quest to find a dead body, killed 30 years earlier by a man who is now dying- and so he arranges Sparrow to come along and arrest him later. I struggled to buy this, and in particular the fact that sparrow goes along with it despite everything. Setting that aside, the mission is entertaining and the third guy along for the ride is objectionable and challenging, creating entertaining conflict, as well as a fresh perspective on disability. It’s also a touching, yet brutal, study of masculinity and homosexuality in the western Australian mining communities and 80s/90s Australia.
Keen to see book 4 - and just how much trouble Sparrow has got himself in!

The Pit is a noir tragedy that had me hooked from the opening phone call. It’s a journey of discovery through some of the harshest, most inhospitable land on the planet. Throwing three completely incompatible men together in a clapped out Hiace is an exercise fraught with danger, particularly when the end goal is to locate a body that’s been buried in the desert for over thirty years.

Andrew “Sparrow” Smith the police constable who was a prominent character in The Stoning finds himself centre stage and taking an epic trip from Perth, through the Pilbara to Australia’s Kimberleys in The Pit.

The book is described as part of the series starting with The Stoning and continued in The Invisible, but DS George Manolis does not make an appearance. Apparently he’s still over in Greece solving the mysteries described in The Invisible. Instead, the aforementioned DS Sparrow ostensibly takes the lead however, he largely plays a more minor role with two much larger personalities sitting in the car with him.

Bob, an elderly resident in a Perth aged care home phones the WA police to confess to killing a man in a remote location in the Kimberley region. It’s Sparrow who takes the call and agrees to accompany Bob to find and recover the body. Joining them on the trip is a young paraplegic man named Luke, another resident in Bob’s care home.

As the journey continues, meeting with the inevitable hiccups and setbacks you might imagine will befall most unprepared travellers, Bob’s story is gradually revealed. The focus switches between the present and over thirty years earlier when Bob was a young gay man taking up a job as a truck driver at a massive iron ore mine. There are prejudices to endure, rituals to take part in and steps taken out of necessity to survive in a hostile environment and they’re all part of what turns out to be a rather tragic story.

The vastness and emptiness of the landscape through which the three men travel plays a significant role in the story. The sheer nothingness through which they travel plays on their minds, creates tension in the car and begins to fray the nerves. It also highlights just how isolated you are where any minor problem can become a major setback. Not surprisingly, Wolf Creek gets a mention.

I must admit, this is not the story I was expecting when I started reading The Pit but its tone and pacing ensures that there’s little chance of looking away. It turns out that this is primarily a character driven analysis that puts some significant social issues under the microscope. Bob’s story is both fascinating and harrowing and demands your sympathy and respect.

My thanks to Quercus Books and Netgalley for the digital copy of this book to allow me to read and enjoy The Pit.

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 a detective, Sparrow, where the body is.

They travel north through Australia with Luke, a 30 year old paraplegic. What a road trip.
Will they achieve their goal and find the body? What else will they find from 30 years previous?
Wow, what an ending!!!!

This really brought the Western Australian outback to life - the red dust, endless miles and heat. Sparrow makes a welcome return from the previous Papathanasiou books and very much held his own without Manolis.

The story covers many different social issues which are not just Australian issues, as a UK resident it was interesting to read about the Australian version of the 'Stop the Boats', and it seems impossible for WA to claim that they are 'full'.

Anyway there are some great characters, albeit slightly annoying; being in the car with Luke must have been very hard work. Top story - a wow, what an ending!

The Pit is the second book that I’ve read by Peter Papathanasiou.

This time around DS Manolis does not feature in the book, he’s on leave in Greece. Senior Constable Sparrow steps up and leads in this book.

Bob, a care homes resident, phones the police stating that thirty years ago he killed a man in the remote Western Australia. Bob won’t provide a location, rather his condition is that he and Sparrow travel up together to locate the remains and Sparrow travel as his carer not a police officer.

Despite his better judgement, Sparrow agrees and takes short notice annual leave to travel up North with Bob. Sparrow is surprised to find that Bob has brought along another care home resident, Luke a paraplegic in his 30s, who doesn’t seem to know the real reason behind the trip up North.

The story moves between two times lines. Bob’s time working the mines in the remotest parts of Western Australia over thirty years ago. Also, the present and their road trip through the Outback. The journey through the Outback really conveyed the vast emptiness of the land, the changing weather, the lawless locals, the wildlife, and the very real danger of travelling through the region.

I remember being Sparrow a likeable character from The Stoning, Papathanasiou’s earlier book. Bob was a very sympathetic character, I felt myself rooting for him early on. Luke was somewhat irritating, but I think if I’d experienced his injuries I too would be rather angry.

The book felt very well researched, particularly about the mines. I found the life on the mines interesting, it really didn’t feel too far removed from the Wild West.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Quercus Books, MacLehose Press, for making this book available to me as an e-ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The road trip I didn't know I needed.
At times this book had me smiling, the trio in the van, each so different, got into some trouble.
The story flits between timelines, telling mostly the story of Bob, so we get to know him well. I'm glad we did.
There's a slow reveal of his whole story, but from the off he's likeable.
It has some surprisingly emotional turns.
A very good addition to the series.