Highway Thirteen

by Fiona McFarlane

A gripping, enigmatic collection of linked short stories about the reverberations of a serial killer’s crimes in the lives of everyday people.

In 1998, an apparently ordinary Australian man is arrested and charged for a series of brutal murders. The news shocks the nation, bringing both horror and resolution to the victims’ families, but its impact travels even into the past, as the murders rewrite personal histories, and into the future, as true crime podcasts and biopics tell the story of the crimes.

Highway Thirteen , Fiona McFarlane’s newest collection, takes murder as its starting point, but it unfolds to encompass much through the investigation of the aftermath of this violence across time and place, from the killer’s childhood town to Texas, Rome, and tropical northern Australia, McFarlane presents an oblique, entrancing exploration of the way stories are told and spread, and at what cost.

What damages, big and small, do these crimes incur? How do communities make sense of such atrocities? How does the mourning of families sit alongside the public fascination with terrible crimes? And can we tell true crime stories without centering the killers? From the acclaimed author of The Sun Walks Down and The High Places comes a captivating account of loss and its extended echoes in individual lives.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Mystery, Australia, Literary Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 2024

About the author

Fiona McFarlane grew up in Sydney, Australia. She studied English at Sydney University and completed a PhD on nostalgia in American fiction at Cambridge University. She spent 3 years at writing residencies in the US - at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts and Philips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire - before studying for a Masters of Fine Arts in Fiction at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin.

Fiona's first novel, The Night Guest, will be published in 19 countries and 15 languages, and has been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Stella Prize, an LA Times Book Review prize, an INDIE Award, the Dobbie Literary Award and an Australian Book Industry Award. The Night Guest won a NSW Premier's Prize and Fiona was named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist for 2014.

Fiona's short stories have been published in Zoetrope: All-Story, Southerly, Best Australian Stories, New Australian Stories 2, the Missouri Review and the New Yorker. She is currently completing a collection, to be published by Penguin Australia, Sceptre (UK) and Faber and Faber (US).

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

12 stories that orbit like a solar system round a centre of horror in the form of an Australian serial killer. I remember someone once summarised the movie Rosemary’s Baby by saying “you don’t get to see it” and in Highway Thirteen you don’t get anywhere near the crimes or the criminal himself. Instead you get the feelings of a comedian turned actor who’s playing the murderer in a movie, a transcript of a podcast about the case, a woman who lived across the street from the murderer being interviewed by the author of the book about the case on the day the house is finally torn down, you get the idea. Ripples in a pond. The only one that misfired for me was called “Democracy Sausage” and is one of those kind-of-single-ultralong-sentences that last ten pages, writers like to do that sometimes. It gave me a severe flashback to the time I tried to read Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellman. Oh the pain, the pain. Make it stop.

Aside from that a very tasty very sinister collection.

[Damo · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Highway Thirteen, Fiona McFarlane has put together a cleverly conceived collection of connected short stories to build a full 360 degree view of the crimes committed on a highway to the south of Sydney in Australia. Personally, I think this concept works best if you’re going into the collection aware that there’s some kind of connection in each story, no matter how small. Each one is then made relevant by one or more of the later stories.

This collection of loosely connected short stories centres around a serial killer who picked up his victims on a highway before killing and burying them in the Barrow State Forest outside of Sydney. This is clearly based on a notorious real life case in the 1990s and through these stories we’re given a fascinating fictionalised view of the various people who could possibly have been affected by these crimes.

The various different connections come from characters such as: an empath who is obsessed with the case and can feel the victims calling to her; a politician who has the unfortunate luck of sharing the same last name as the killer; a couple who meets a Swiss tourist planning to hitchhike south to her fruit picking job; a wife who suspects her husband isn’t actually working on a gardening job south of Sydney. There are some imaginative ways in which others are tied into this logical jigsaw.

I must admit I was caught a little by surprise with these short stories, unsure what to think by what I thought were sudden endings to each. It was only when I was four or five stories in that it twigged that we were revolving around a common theme and the theme was dark and dangerous.

There are a variety of styles used across these stories, some of them are very effective, others are a little distracting and one, a stream of consciousness ramble without any full-stops, was just plain exhausting. But in each, the game became trying to discern just how each story linked in with the rest - some were obvious, others were more obscure.

This is a conceptually successful adaptation of a true crime story into a series of fictionalised accounts. It provides a personalised glimpse into how those personally involved in these terrible crimes might have reacted and been affected. Fiona McFarlane, through these richly devised short stories has created a thought provoking work.

My thanks to Allen & Unwin via NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC that allowed me to read, enjoy and review this book.

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent at a technical/craft level... This immediately struck me as a book you could easily teach: almost every line of every story is carefully calibrated to tell us something about its characters; McFarlane writes around the serial killer theme cleverly, deftly. But I was frequently just bored! It’s almost too perfect to be enjoyable. ‘Hostess’ was the only story that stood out as having anything raw and human and fun at its core. Also there’s a cloying edge to the way McFarlane depicts relationships that I really didn’t vibe with.

[Trudie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read as much Australian fiction this year as I would like. To rectify that situation I picked up Fiona McFarlane’s latest collection of short stories when I was in Queensland earlier in the year.
Having never read this author before it was a random pick and I was really impressed by it.
Highway 13 is a collection of linked short stories, the linking aspect being some sort of connection to a series of killings. If this sounds grim and sort of true crime -like - I can assure you it isn’t.
I really admired how this book subverts all your expectations of the crime genre and also provides some digs at things like true crime podcasts and voyeuristic books. The killer, and his crimes are not centered or made explicit ( however it will be obvious to most what case this is drawing on ) but the stories rather fan out around that event.
I enjoyed this as a series of character studies and little sketches of Australian life with a dark base note of tragedy.
I have not read anything quite like it.

[nico · Rating 4 out of 5]

an excellent collection of short, eerie and unsettling stories about the effects of a serial killer in society

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5★

While I do like and admire this clever style of storytelling, Highway 13 is not my favourite example. All of the stories were interesting, but a couple were so obscure it was hard to see how they related to the theme until the author literally told me. Still, it was a good read and I do think this is an effective way of telling a notorious true crime story without the risk of glorifying events or heroising the perpetrator.

[Sheree | Keeping Up With The Penguins · Rating 4 out of 5]

McFarlane clearly draws inspiration from the crimes of Ivan Milat, but stops short of fictionalising real crimes or rehashing old ground. The stories of Highway 13 are more unsettling and ominous than gory or violent, so they’re perfect for readers who look to avoid full-blown horror.

My full review of Highway 13 is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.

[Nico · Rating 4 out of 5]

not every story in this one landed for me, but it fills a niche that i’ve been searching for for years - a linked short story collection that actually should be a short story collection and not a novel. really creative use of structure and some real gems in here!

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fiona McFarlane's Highway Thirteen is a thriller like no other. Through a collection of linked stories, she lays out the effects on numerous lives fostered by the actions of one serial killer, a central figure that never appears as a character, but whose reach is seemingly limitless. The victims themselves also are not all presented, nor with few exceptions, their bereaved loved ones. Sometimes the connections are tenuous, only revealed at a story's end. One story was so evocative, so brilliantly wrought, reminded me of Harold Pinter's play Betrayal. The fact that they could stand alone and still hold their power is evinced by the fact that several have appeared in The New Yorker among other publications. The order in which the stories are presented was curious at first, dates being given with the titles. Which could lead a reader to read them chronologically if they choose. But the seemingly random order in which they appear gives the proceedings more of a sense of being woven together. I'm definitely going to look up her earlier work.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories all loosely connected about people affected by a serial killer (an Ivan Milat type ). I found it really effective especially the earlier stories, very well written and hard to put down.

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was astonishingly good and so different from anything McFarlane has written before. She is particularly brilliant at short-form fiction (though I did also love her novel). These stories are thematically linked by the effect and reverberations of a serial killer, past, present and future. It’s virtuosic. Literary crime short stories is not a category we get very often (The Love of a Bad Man by Laura Elizabeth Woollett was an excellent example). McFarlane is an incredible writer and it’s dazzling to see the full range of her craft and skill on display. I am in awe. Each story is so perfectly crafted and seeing the links between them made for a really satisfying reading experience. This is absolutely for readers of Megan Abbott, Laura Elizabeth Woollett, Jessica Knoll and Jacqueline Bublitz.

[Theresa Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highway 13 is a collection of twelve stories that are all connected in six degrees of separation fashion to the crimes of a serial killer, a fictionalised Ivan Milat, whose real-life crimes have been immortalised as the ‘Backpacker Murders’, here in Australia. This is not my usual sort of read, but sometimes a book gets so much attention and wins so many awards, that I am drawn to read out of my comfort zone.

‘I had some sense, then, of the energy she must have expended every minute of every day, sustaining the myth of herself.’

I really enjoyed the way Fiona McFarlane writes and am keen to read one of her novels at some stage. If you’ve read either of them, please do throw me a recommendation on which one to dive into. What I enjoyed most about these stories is that they were not about the killer, nor were they about the murders specifically. What they were about was the ripple effect on others, and in some cases, this was quite removed, but each of the stories contained a moment of recognition, an impacting connection of some sort.

Out of the twelve stories, two I didn’t enjoy quite as much as the others, and this was down to the way in which they were written. One was a stream of consciousness inside the characters head, no punctuation, no line breaks, just all of his thoughts running wildly out of his head onto the page. Stylistically, I get it, but it was exhausting to read. The other was a podcast episode, so it was basically a transcript of the conversation between the two hosts. I just couldn’t get into that. Podcasts are for listening to, they don’t translate to the page, in my opinion, but again, stylistically, I get why it was in there. The final story in the collection was stunning, an incredible one to finish on.

I highly recommend Highway 13, it’s easy to read each story in one sitting and despite what each story is springboarding off of, they are not difficult to read. These are stories about people, places, and the effect one person’s atrocities can have on a myriad of lives.

[Sophie S · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the many chances i gave this to get better, this one didn't grab my attention and felt like a chore to read. None of the stories are long enough to create any actual emotional connection to the characters, and at any hint of any complexities the story/chapters just end. ): dnf

[Jessica Gleason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highway Thirteen is an interesting take on the serial killer trope in that it both is and is not about the serial killer himself.

The stories are interconnected and written well, but the pacing is slower. The connection is clear from the start and having a thread to tie these stories together was nice.

I expected more from the stories. They were slower and very detailed, but never quite got where I was hoping they'd go. Many of the stories were about the more mundane every day side of how a killer's actions impact the daily lives of others. If you're interested in that particular ripple effect, this one might be for you.

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s something new, something niche about these stories. These stories feel new and old, they have a timeless quality about them. The students travelling to Rome was the most captivating story to me but they all have a place, a purpose. Someone said they almost seem too perfect, and I get that. There is some grittiness to these stories, perhaps something is missing. It’s an interesting one. I’ll think about this one longer than initially anticipated.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting idea that felt aimless and underwhelming in the execution.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an intriguing collection of interconnected short stories that I thoroughly enjoyed. The idea of following the impact of a single person—specifically a serial killer—on the lives of various others, even in seemingly incidental ways, is a fascinating and original approach. McFarlane weaves together these stories with such skill, revealing how lives intersect, sometimes unexpectedly, through a thread of shared experience that is both haunting and thought-provoking.

One of the aspects I appreciated most about this collection was how McFarlane keeps the reader in the dark initially about how each new character relates to the killer. As the stories unfold, little by little, we learn the ways in which these seemingly separate lives are connected, and that slow reveal is done so effectively. It kept me engaged, making me eager to keep reading to see how the next character would tie back into the overall narrative.

The structure of the stories is also worth noting. Each one can stand alone, yet they form a larger, cohesive whole. McFarlane does an excellent job of exploring the psychological effects of violence on those indirectly touched by it. The characters are well-drawn, and each one brings a unique perspective that adds depth to the exploration of the killer’s impact on the world around them.

While the subject matter is dark, McFarlane’s writing is thoughtful and nuanced. She doesn’t sensationalize the violence or the killer’s actions but instead focuses on the ripple effect of those actions on individuals and communities. It’s a meditation on fate, chance, and the way our lives can be forever altered by events that seem distant or disconnected at first.

[Kiera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, a set of loosely connected short stories revolving around a serial killer. The ripple effect of everyone who is touched by the acts of the serial killer without having the main focus on the killer was what hooked me. Diversity of stories and the links between them, including some subtle connections, was what brought it all together.

[The Honest Book Reviewer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short story collection circling the shadow of a serial killer in rural Australia. It’s an ambitious concept, and there are moments when it clicks. Demolition (on memory and place), Podcast (on the commodification of true crime), and The Wake (on the lingering toll for those involved) stood out.

But too many of the stories feel underpowered. Some are sketches that stop at the premise (Tourists), others are indulgent experiments (Democracy Sausage, Fat Suit), or drag on far too long (Chaperone). Across the book there’s a tendency to intellectualise crime rather than make the reader feel its weight.

And this is where the book will restrict an audience. It's attempting to cross genre lines. I don't think it's successful.

But it’s not terrible and it is interesting. Recurring motifs tie the collection together and the variety of forms keeps it from being monotonous. But overall it reads more like the results of a creative-writing workshop, where your teacher wears only linen and detests anything that resembles popular genre fiction.

[Ros Gaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creative short stories around the theme of a serial killer. Really well written and memorable.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great cook Blub book - I’m really enjoying the reckoning currently with the fascination with serial killers, especially as a former serial killer aficionado. I really enjoyed this on many levels - and I liked that is was a collection of short stories because I love short stories

[Ron Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Goodreads friend, Sheree, “Keeping up With the Penguins” wrote a review that inspired me to read Highway 13. I also read a review in the magazine, The Australian Book Review, which annoyed me because it was written by these literary snobs who want to impress and talk down to their audience with a pretensions sesquipedalian writing style. I will try to be the polar opposite.

Highway 13 is a collection of short stories by talented Australian author, Fiona McFarlane, who burst onto the Australian literary scene in 2014 when she was named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist. She has subsequently gained a PhD, spent time in America in study and in writing residences.

Highway 13’s link to crime fiction is tenuous. The theme running through and linking her stories is actions of one of Australia’s infamous serial killers, Ivan Milat.

Milat was a character who I have watched from afar for some time. I can clearly remember when the bodies of his victims were discovered in the Belanglo State Forest. I remember the news flashes announcing the discovery of bodies.

Later I was working in Maitland, and he was a prisoner in Maitland Gaol and stories circulated in the community of his appalling behaviour while incarcerated. The authorities subsequently closed Maitland Gaol and turned it into museum come conference place. I attended a conference and sat near Milat’s cell. It was disturbing and I recommended we never us that venue again.

Two books about Milat that impressed me were ‘Sins of the Brother’ by Mark Whittaker an “Milat” by Clive Small.

It is only after reading several stories that I saw how each story was tainted with murder. The individuals, families, and communities that were affected by this capital crime. The grief, loss and changes that occur because of the deaths.

The stories are connected by a thin spider web thread that connects the twelve stories. The stories range over an eighty-year period from 1950 to the immediate future.

The first story, “Tourist” I found it difficult in finding purpose, Lena and her spiritual relationship to the Belanglo forest. “Hunter on the Highway”, set in 1996 explored the suspicions people had of others and whether they were the killer. “Demolition” is from the POV of neighbours of the killer as his house was demolished and their relationship with the boy who grew up to be a serial killer. “Hostess” is the story of retired air hostess Jill and her efforts to stop, in 1982, her sister from marrying the man would later become the serial killer. One of my favourite is “Hostel”. In 1995 Roy and Mandy host a backpacker, a young Swiss girl who is later found murdered in Belanglo. The two of them have a story that outlasts their marriage.

Sometimes the connection to the serial killer is part of the whole story, the central part of “Fatsuit” is a point of view story about an actor portraying the serial killer. In the previous story, “Chaperone” the connection to the serial killer is mentioned in one line. “The Wake” opened with two older ladies participating in their congenial morning swim. This story is set in 2020 and one of the women was on the serial killer task force. The last story, “Lucy” is a character filled account of the family of the woman who married the serial killer.

The technique used by McFarlane of having the serial killer appear in every story reminded me of a Flickerfest ran a competition where competitors made a film where a lampshade had to appear at some point in the film.

This is not a ghoulish book and although much is based on the activities of Ivan Milat McFarlane’s killer is a not Milat. There are many similarities, but McFarlane has deliberately created factual differences between her killer and Milat.

In a fine literary style McFarlane has constructed twelve well told short stories. I thought the early stories were somewhat abstract but as each story unfolded, I was captured by her writing and enjoyed each story. They are about the human condition rather than the crime of murder. McFarlane is a fine writer.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way the each story in Highway Thirteen unfolds - each from a different narrative perspective (am I using that right?) - disclosing information piece-by-piece is my favorite way to be brought into a story. Not the storyline itself, but the way each story pieces together, reminded me a lot of Penance or even (this one is a totally diff vibe but still) Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey.

Unfortunately my Audiobook ALC didn't have each story titled, but I know my favorite was Fat Suit (10th story, I think?) My 2nd favorite was the 13th story.

I'd HIGHLY highly recommend listening to the audiobook vs reading the print version, the narrators are spot on for each character and the story that's essentially an episode of a podcast is GOLD. Very, very well done.

{Thank you bunches to NetGalley, Fiona McFarlane and publisher for the Audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review!}

[Aurora Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not usually a fan of short stories, but these thirteen shorts are connected and I was intrigued

The stories span over a twenty year period, each narrator indirectly linked to the same serial killer. There’s a ripple effect, so even someone that knew someone that knew someone, are effected by the killings

The stories vary, the characters ordinary and unique each in their own way. There’s a nun, a stoner, a Brit and politician with the same name as the killer…

As much as I loved the idea and enjoyed each story, I wanted more… maybe a crossover, a less tenuous connection or more drama… I like that the serial killer wasn’t in the book, but I did crave more action

The audiobook narrators were all very good, and matched one another’s smooth vibe - I do love an Australian accent

I feel kind of inspired having read these stories and gratitude for my ‘normal’ existence which mirrored these ‘ordinary’ stories

An unusual but well written and entertaining read

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for access to this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review

[Robin S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I thought this was a great way to show the impact a serial killer can have on the lives of others, not just those they directly harm. I enjoyed the diversity of stories and styles attached to them, and loved how we aren’t told the connection to the main serial killer until the end for some of the stories. We get to experience these lives across multiple years and countries, at different points in their lives, before, during and after the killings took place.

This worked for me, though I still feel a sense of wanting more from it, and I can’t quite put my finger on what more I needed from this collection just yet.

[Tundra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant way to explore a terrible crime (serial killings) without giving any voice to the perpetrator. The voices of victims and the ripple effect on family, friends, authorities and many others is superbly crafted into a series of stories. Each story reveals a different aspect and includes a variety of settings around the globe. These crimes are not just local and they don’t just exist at the time of the crime. The incarceration of the perpetrator also does not end the story.

[Jill S]

just creepy enough to make me a little more alert to the noises in my house, which is exactly the level of fear i am able to tolerate lol.

i always say i don't like interconnected short stories, but i really jived with what the author was doing with these. i really enjoyed this collection!

[Nyree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting format and such a variety of writing styles.

I think I’m not a short story girly though, I prefer when books grip me in a chokehold and I can’t put them down.

[Yoel Isaac Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!!