Comeback

By Peter Corris

The thirty-seventh book in the Cliff Hardy series
Cliff Hardy has his PI licence back - but does he still have what it takes to cut it on the mean streets of Sydney?
Cliff reckons the skills are still there, if a little rusty, and actor Bobby Forrest's case looks promising. Bobby's a nice-enough guy, but why is he being stalked by a red-hot brunette? And why did he have to go online to find a date?
When Bobby is murdered, it comes as a shock. Cliff's only solid lead is a white Commodore, the most ubiquitous car around. When a surprising connection with his own past surfaces, Cliff is forced to put some of his skills to the test. But is he heading in the wrong direction?
Somehow he has to put it all together without losing his licence again, but in true Hardy fashion he's managing to find his way into trouble, not out of it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Release date: Jan 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781925576023

Reviews for Comeback

[dcarlin-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An okay read. Probably being generous with three stars

[bsquaredinoz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For reasons that I am sure are explained in earlier instalments of the series Cliff Hardy has been banned for life from holding a private investigator’s license and has been without that license for more than three years. As this book opens though Cliff is able to take advantage of a relaxation in the suspension rules and soon has his license back, a new office and even a website courtesy of his son-in-law. Finally he can make some much-needed cash. His first client is Bobby Forrest, the son of a former client of Cliff’s, who is apparently being stalked by the tenacious and threatening woman he spent a night with after meeting via an online dating site. Bobby is an up-and-coming actor and is in a promising new relationship so he wants the issue of his stalker to be sorted out quietly if at all possible. When Cliff is only a few days into the case Bobby is murdered and Cliff soon discovers there is an abundance of potential suspects, most of whom drive white commodores.

I don’t feel particularly well qualified to be reviewing this book given it’s the 37th in a series of which I can’t recall reading a single earlier instalment (though I may have done in the years before I kept note of such things). For at least the last few years I’ve thought I really ought to read one given my growing interest in local crime fiction but it is rather daunting to come to such a long running series so late in the game. I was somewhat surprised then to find COMEBACK very easy to get into. Sure I was meeting someone who clearly had a past but enough was explained for me to make sense of the present story and I didn’t feel like I was missing out on insider jokes or anything similar. Conversely, it feels like I could easily go back and read some of the earlier novels without there being too many spoilers from having read a later book in the series. I suspect this particular balance is not as easy to pull of as Corris made it appear.

The mystery is a good one, with plenty of twists and red herrings. There’s a nice mixture of old-fashioned style detecting (stakeouts, following people, getting a bit roughed up) and more technologically dependent work as well. Quite often in crime fiction detectives of a certain age are portrayed complete technophobes and it rarely rings true for me so it was good to see Cliff, who I took to be somewhere in his 50′s, depicted as being willing to use technology when necessary.

I found Cliff Hardy a likeable enough character though not quite the toughened firebrand I might have expected from what I’ve gleaned of his earlier exploits. Then again we all slow down as we get older and I did rather enjoy the depiction of a man who was both reflecting on his past and looking forward with what seemed like new optimism to his future. The first person narrative and relatively short length of the book don’t allow for too many other characters to be depicted in great depth, though there were several people who added colour and flavour to the story.

I’ve no clue if this instalment would keep fans of the series happy or not but for this new reader COMEBACK proved a pleasantly engaging read, with enough to recommend it that I am keen now to seek out other books in the series (though I can’t imagine ever having the time to read them all). Corris’ dig within the novel at the padded length of much modern crime fiction is suggestive of the reason the book is at the shorter end of the spectrum which is another strong point in its favour.

3.5 stars

[balthazar0lawson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A lot of books today have a lot of padding, an observation made in this novel, and try to be overly complicated. This book, however, isn't like that. It's a nice simple straight forward private investigator story with enough twists and turns to make it interesting and captivating. Being set in Sydney makes it feel like an old friend. I really enjoyed this.

[shelleyraec · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Comeback is the 36th novel in the Cliff Hardy series and while I have recently read the last few Deep Water (2009) and Torn Apart (2010) I somehow missed Follow the Money (2011). A quick read of the blurb and a few reviews had me caught up though and I was ready to join Hardy on his next case.After losing the love of his life, his PI licence, his health and his money, Cliff Hardy is making a comeback. The first person through the door of Cliff’s new office is Bobby Forrest, the son of a former client who is being harassed by an ex lover. When the actor is murdered just days later Cliff takes it personally and despite being warned off, he is determined to find the killer. Carefully digging through a web of suspicious security, prostitution and professional jealousy Hardy eliminates suspects one by one – until he finds himself at the wrong end of a pistol barrel.While the situations Cliff Hardy finds himself in vary from book to book, it’s the characters’ familiarity that is responsible for continuing appeal of the series. Hardy is an old school private detective (despite his attempts at creating a paperless office) and while he has matured over the course of the series he has barely slowed down. The loss of his PI licence certainly never stopped him from sticking his nose into anything but now he is officially back on the job he is a little worried that he might not have ‘it’ anymore. It certainly seems Hardy might be slipping when his client is killed but Hardy soon proves otherwise as he investigates, turning up all manner of secrets in the meantime. The case leads Hardy off into tangents that he dutifully follows up – earning little else but a kidney punch and dire threats for his trouble, but eventually he unmasks the real murderer. The sub plots certainly keep things interesting and while Hardy’s mysteries are hardly brainteasers there are a few surprises in Comeback, particularly since their are so many suspects in the mix.Comeback is an entertaining and satisfying read from Australia’s Godfather of Crime and I am glad to see Cliff Hardy back in Sydney doing what he does best. May he continue doing so for many more years.

[austcrimefiction · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Before everything comes across just a bit gushy, there was a point somewhere in the middle of the Cliff Hardy series where I seriously lost interest. Whilst there are some elements of the books that are always going to be the same, somehow the sameness became very obvious, there was something slightly flat about the storylines and, to this reader at least, nothing much engaged my interest. I never totally gave up reading the series, but most definitely didn't shove things aside as each new book arrived.And then, a few years ago, things changed. Around the time that Cliff started to really get in trouble, to lose his licence for real, as his health took a downward turn, somewhere in there, the series got it's fire back. Sure there's still the same basic elements making up the stories, yet somehow or other there's something very engaging happening again. Maybe it's got something to do with some of the aspects of Cliff's life catching up a bit with current day activities - a mobile phone and even a computer have even made a showing in Cliff's life. Maybe it's also that somehow Cliff is now starting to show just the slightest glimpse of aging, that's making the series somehow progress, change, move on just a little.True fans, however, do not need to worry that Cliff is suddenly going to act his age, get himself a nice little runaround, and leap too heavily into the technology age - a mobile phone and office computer do not, a Private Detective, change that much. The point of COMEBACK is that Cliff is back, he's got his licence back, he's back working as a PI (albeit more because he needs the money and less because of any overt great desire to return to his old life), and he's out and about, old Ford and all, working the mean streets, getting roughed up just a bit and solving the puzzle. COMEBACK is the story of Cliff's investigation into the death of actor Bobby Forrest. The only love interest in sight is Bobby's girlfriend, and the mystery is why Bobby died and how you're going to work out where one white Commodore came from in a sea of white Commodores.The plot of this book is actually really good, and whilst there's still a bit of the beaten and still functioning PI stuff going on, all in all, Cliff's investigation style seems to have gotten a bit cunning with age (less prodding of the bear and more teasing it from a distance if you like). I particularly enjoyed Hardy's "observation" about modern day crime fiction "padded, as a lot of novels are now. I don't know why." One thing you can never accuse a Cliff Hardy novel of is padding! They are sparse, entertaining, tight little capsules of Cliff the Private Detective working the mean streets of Sydney, and have always been thus.Whilst I'd normally confess to having very little interest in following traditions, the over Christmas read of the latest Cliff Hardy instalment has become... let's call it a rather addictive habit. COMEBACK is really continuing the fantastic resurgence in this Australian crime fiction stalwart.