Peter Corris never fails to deliver with a new story in the Cliff Hardy series. “That Empty Feeling” is now number forty one in a trail that covers several decades.

Given that Cliff is now getting on in years, “That Empty Feeling” adopts a new literary technique. It’s a flashback to the 1980s; a time when a younger Cliff cut his teeth in the PI trade. It’s a world where investigating techniques are very different. No internet, no mobile phones, more leg work required and the most cutting edge device employed is a fax. How time marches on.

“That Empty Feeling” sees Cliff working a case for Barry Bartlett who would possibly be described in Sydney vernacular as “colourful”. Barry is involved in all sorts of dodgy deals which Cliff largely manages to resolve, but not before encountering a new love interest and personal tragedy. Cliff’s life runs the gamut of events and emotions.

Of course, as is always the case, the hidden character in this tale is Sydney itself. The harbour city serves as a wonderful backdrop for events. The city is alternately beautiful and sleazy. The locations are always able to be identified by a local. Sydney, in short, gives any Cliff Hardy novel additional street cred. ( )

Had thought Corris had stopped writing, but how wrong I was.

Another good read, typical Cliff Hardy novel.

I like his depiction of Sydney.

Big Ship

26 December 2017 ( )

The Cliff Hardy series, or maybe Peter Coriss' books all follow a similar formula. Bad guy does something wrong. Private Investigator Hardy engaged to track down bad guy. Love interest floats into plot and helps. And the all live happily ever after....until next bad guy comes along. This does not mean I don't like them it is just a fairly predictable, as with most authors who wrote many books, formula.

Again set in Sydney and environs. One of the main reasons I keep returning to listen to a peter Coriss novel is that I am very familiar or know some of the areas he uses as backdrops for his stories. A solid three stars. ( )

The forty-first Cliff Hardy book came out earlier this year. That Empty Feeling is classic Cliff Hardy - stripped down, hardboiled, quintessentially Australian-noir ticking all the required boxes - pace, twists, turns, sex, violence and pitch-perfect dialogue. This time around, the cynicism and world-weariness have a little poignancy attached to them as well. The discovery of the obituary of an old client - Barry Bartlett sets Hardy off reminiscing, harking back to the late 1980's.

Back then, Hardy had taken on a case for Bartlett sorting out a family mystery. Barry's two children, and their mother, had returned to England many years before and the question now was whether the man who had returned was indeed the son he claimed to be. This is well before Google, Social Media and DNA were available, but even allowing for some old-fashioned checking methods, you'd think it wouldn't have been that difficult to resolve. But this is a Cliff Hardy investigation, and nothing's ever as simple as it seems.

Setting the action back in the 1980's has allowed Corris to revisit the time of some of Hardy's greatest excesses. The stuff that probably gave him his current day heart condition, and a large part of his general demeanour. Taking Hardy back also provides plenty of opportunity to reminisce about the inner-Sydney suburbs as they were - before living there became trendy. It's not hard to see a certain sense of regret at what's been lost in those places, along with the sorts of activities that Hardy himself is no longer up for - he might still be able to throw a few punches and drink a couple of glasses of wine, but his days of excessive drinking and hefty brawling are long gone.

For long-term fans of this series there are some wonderfully poignant touches, early days in friendships with ongoing characters such as cop Frank Parker and journo Harry Tickener, none of which detract from the story itself - which ends up revealing a lot about Bartlett, and the corporate excesses and shenanigans of the time.

Part of the power of That Empty Feeling is that sense of looking backwards to a time when Hardy and his mates were younger, fitter and fearless. It's also a story very much of that time - a world away from now - where life was a lot less regulated, risks seemed a lot more fun, information was a lot more guarded, and we were all a lot freer because of it. Because of that viewpoint it's hard not to sense a slightly sadder side to Hardy. He seems to have reached that stage in life where reading obituaries is a morning ritual, and the past has always been a much happier place. Here's hoping his excursion back in time has reminded him that there were a lot worse things in the 1980's than big hair and awful taste in clothes.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-empty-feeling-peter-corris-0 ( )