Torn Apart
Cliff Hardy 25
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3.5 • 6 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Cliff Hardy may be semi-retired but he's as resolute as ever in fighting for justice and tracking down wrongdoers.
Hardy has never been much of a family man, so when he meets his second cousin Patrick Malloy it's like being hit with a left hook to the solar plexus - Malloy is his double. Cliff and his cousin become friends and travel to attend a gathering of the Irish Travellers - the gypsy-like folk from whom they are descended. On their return, a shotgun blast shatters their camaraderie. But who was the bullet aimed at, Malloy or Hardy? And why is Malloy's ex-wife, Sheila, now making her presence known to Hardy?
Hardy has his enemies and Malloy's to consider as he searches for a killer. Clues point in many directions - to Sheila's motives, to Malloy's suspect business dealings, to old scores being settled. The search takes Hardy north to a paramilitary training camp and to a meeting of Traveller descendants in Kangaroo Valley; everyone seems to have an interest and the playing style is ruthless.
Hardy is de-licensed and out of work . . . but this investigation is personal.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Peter Corris’ iconic Cliff Hardy series put Australian crime writing on the map, hooking readers with taut, tense mysteries set in and around Sydney. In Torn Apart—the 35th Hardy book—Corris’ world-weary protagonist meets his lookalike cousin Patrick: a boxing promoter with a shady past and an infectious passion for the family’s Irish Traveller heritage. When tragedy strikes, Hardy gets embroiled in the mysterious circumstances of his cousin’s life, connecting with Patrick’s glamorous ex-wife and journeying to the Kangaroo Valley to track down Patrick’s army comrades who ended up as paid mercenaries in Angola. With spare and assured writing, Corris stretches out the suspense and draws a compelling portrait of a debarred private eye with steely depths and unerring gut feelings.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Despite Australian Kelly's receipt of the 2009 Ned Kelly Crime Fiction Award for Deep Water, the next-to-latest entry in the long-running Cliff Hardy crime novel series, this current effort is unimpressive and will have readers wondering what the fuss is all about. Hardy is at a turning point in his life, having lost his partner and his license to practice as a PI, on top of surviving a heart attack and being shot. With money no longer an issue, Hardy's at loose ends when he meets Patrick Malloy, a second cousin who also happens to be a dead ringer for Hardy himself. Malloy persuades the former investigator to join him on a trip to Ireland to visit relatives who are Travelers, a nomadic people with their own culture. Upon their return to Australia, Malloy is shotgunned to death in Hardy's apartment, leaving Hardy and the police unsure which cousin was the intended target. The subsequent search for the killer, complete with the victim's ex-wife who comes on to the hero, offers nothing crime readers haven't seen countless times before, and the stale plot isn't redeemed by either compelling prose or gripping characters.
Customer Reviews
Compelling reading
Torn Apart is a great short story worth a read. It's got action, suspense, and, true to the genre, an intriguing mystery. You don't know who to trust.