Reviewed By Toni Whitmont, Booktopia Buzz Editor
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Torn Apart : A Cliff Hardy Novel
Peter Corris has been delighting Australians with his gritty Cliff Hardy detective novels since the early 80s. Hardy is a heady mix of gruff charm, shambolic presence and unflinching realism.
Corris' creation was born and raised in working class Maroubra and is an ex-army, law student drop-out, insurance company investigator turned Private Eye, with a love-hate relationship with his time and place. He embraces the best aspects of Australian life - the tolerance, the classlessness, the vigorous urban and rural culture - while despising the greed and the conservatism that are constantly threatening to undercut what he sees as "real Australia". Inevitably drawn into the ambit of the people he deplores, Hardy struggles to resolve his cases while remaining true to his own threatened values. The professional challenges spill over into his personal life where he is never on firm ground.
And if that doesn't interest you, let me just tell you that Hardy is a tough and gritty Australian problem solver who has to deal with some pretty messy business.
Torn Apart, the latest Cliff Hardy novel, is Corris' take on the sex-filled, adrenaline-charged nakedly ambitious world of the international talent agency.
This comes on the heels of Deep Water in which Hardy finds himself in America helping in his brother's tilt at a boxing title, having a heart attack and tracking down a missing Australian geologist.
