‘Mum, please. I need your help. I’ve done something stupid… They’re coming for me.’

Friday, one thirty p.m. Emily Barnes is finishing work for the week, ready for a break from her laptop. Then she receives a panicked voicemail from her son Zach, punctuated by a gunshot.

By four p.m., she's driving a stolen car out of Perth, with explicit instructions from Zach's captors - in three days, deliver the car to Gunpowder Creek, a ghost town 900 kilometres deep into the West Australian outback. Miss the deadline and Zach dies. And don't open the boot.

The job should be simple. But there's someone dangerous roaming those lonely highways. Someone who doesn't want the car and its cargo to make it to Gunpowder Creek. Someone with cold eyes who has seen death and liked it.

For fans of Adrian McKinty and Will Dean, this cat-and-mouse thriller ignites like the fuse on a stick of dynamite.

PRAISE FOR GUNPOWDER CREEK:

‘Gunpowder Creek is a propulsive, edge-of-your-seat thriller – a killer debut.’ CHRISTIAN WHITE

‘Compelling characters, breakneck pace and a cracking plot – Gunpowder Creek is a gripping outback thriller debut.’ VIKKI WAKEFIELD

‘One of those high-octane, heart thumping, up-all-night-can't-put-it-down type of books. Candice Fox meets Quentin Tarantino. I loved it.’ BEN HOBSON

‘Dook excels at crafting flawed, impulsive figures … Gunpowder Creek is the very definition of an Australian cat-and-mouse thriller in the vein of Chris Hammer or Candice Fox.’ EMILY WYATT, Books + Publishing

‘a fine debut novel and one which promises great things to come.  Well recommended to all aficionados of crime novels and especially those of outback noir ... the ending of the novel is one of the most-warming I have seen for some time.’ ROD MCLARY, Queensland Reviewers Collective

‘Gunpowder Creek is an enjoyable fast-paced debut novel that shows just how far a mother is prepared to go to protect her son.’ NEALE LUCAS, Good Reading

‘Gunpowder Creek is, literally, a wild ride of a story. From the opening tense scene to the final bloody encounters, it moves along at a hectic pace as Emily tries to make the deadline while dealing with an unexpected pursuer, unhelpful locals, the police and the contents of the boot ... a very exciting and bloody thriller that will have you rapidly turning the pages, especially over the final quarter. Warmly recommended.’ JEFF POPPLE, Murder, Mayhem and Long Dogs

‘Gunpowder Creek is a high octane crime thriller in a Tarantino/Coen Brothers mode – crazy situations, escalating violence, some unhinged characters and a ticking clock – but with the Australian outback roadtrip flavour that started at least as far back as Mad Max.’ ROBERT GOODMAN, Pile by the Bed