Cirrus@Austlit

'Each of the 12 stories in Fiona McFarlane’s fourth book, Highway 13, relates to a serial killer’s crimes. Set in different times and places, McFarlane’s stories work loosely with the facts of seven murders in the Belanglo State Forest south of Sydney. The disappearance of a series of young travellers from 1989 remained a mystery until several years later when seven bodies were found in shallow forest graves. Ivan Milat, convicted of these “backpacker murders”, was a suspect in relation to scores of unsolved murders and disappearances, and the evidence suggests he did not always act alone. The brutality of the crimes, the testimony of survivor Paul Onions and Milat’s refusal to confess fuelled intense media and community fascination.' (Introduction)