Set Up

Luke Dunlop #1

by Peter Corris

Luke Dunlop is in Witness Protection. He has one job - to make people disappear. And that’s not easy when there’s no margin for error and each case is a matter of life and death.

Convicted felon Kerry Douglas Loew, recently married in prison, makes a deal to turn informer for a new identity and a new life.

Loew can expect no mercy from his former mates, on trial for the murder of an assistant police commissioner. If they reach him, he’s dead.

Finding a way to hide a man married to a TV star is bad enough, but when Dunlop meets Cassie May Loew the trouble really starts.

“Corris’s portrayals of Australian crime stand out as uniquely forceful, hard-driven, compassionate.” James Ellroy

187 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Peter Corris was an Australian academic, historian, journalist and a novelist of historical and crime fiction. His first novel was published in 1980. Corris is credited with reviving the fully-fledged Australian crime novel with local settings and reference points and with a series character firmly rooted in Australian culture, Sydney PI Cliff Hardy. As crime fiction writer, he was described as "the Godfather of contemporary Australian crime-writing".

He won the Lifetime Achievement award at the Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing in 1999 and was shortlisted for best novel in 2006 for Saving Billy and in 2007 for The Undertow.

Reviews

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set Up is the first novel in the Luke Dunlop series by Australian author, Peter Corris and is set in Sydney in 1992. Luke Dunlop (not his real name) is an ex-cop turned Witness Protection Officer. In one of his first assignments, his task is to find a way to hide celebrated prison escapee, Kerry Loew, after his testimony against two men accused of the murder of the Assistant Police Commissioner. Things are running smoothly until Dunlop meets the TV-star wife with her own checkered past, Cassie May Loew and he finds his priorities changing. This is a fast-paced action-filled novel with realistic characters, credible dialogue and a plot that twists and turns. Corris‘s inclusion of his (then) hometown of Coledale will appeal to Illawarra locals. A page-turner.

[Damo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Corris is best known in Australia for his long running, fast-paced detective series featuring Cliff Hardy. Along the way he has thrown in a couple of smaller series delving into the spy arena and the Hollywood set to keep things fresh. But the shortest series, at least to date, features Luke Dunlop, a Witness Protection Agency officer working in Sydney. Set Up is the first book of a 3 book series that takes us into the dangerous and often lonely world of disappearing.

Lucas is assigned to protect Kerry Loew, an armed hold-up crook, prison escapee and now low down grassing dog. He's in court giving testimony in the murder of an assistant police commissioner.

Protecting him during the trial is only half the job for Dunlop, however. Once the trial is over Loew will need to be relocated and given a new identity. Although it can be a difficult task it is usually a fairly standard procedure. The difficulty factor on this case is elevated considerably by the fact that while he's been in prison, Loew has gone and got himself married to Cassie May, a TV star whose profile is so high that helping her disappear will be nigh on impossible.

Then Dunlop meets Cassie and suddenly everything changes. Witness Protection Agents should never become emotionally involved with their clients, that's rule number one. It's dangerous for all parties concerned, clouds judgement and is completely unprofessional. Dunlop doesn't care, he can't help falling for her and the protection of the low-down grassing dog in prison is no longer such a pressing priority to him.

Set Up is a very fast paced novel of intrigue that manages to take us right into the heart and soul of Luke Dunlop, to get a sense of the sacrifices he has to make for his job. The examination of Dunlop gives the book a noir quality with a sense of helplessness taking over after he makes his first incorrect decision.

Behind the emotional turmoil that Dunlop is trying to keep secret, there is still a trial taking place, plus the fact that Kerry Loew will be released from prison at its conclusion. It creates a delicious tension as his release draws inexorably closer. The question of how well he will be protected and what his reaction be should he find out what's been going on looms large. A fiery ending is set up.

Peter Corris has introduced a complex character in Luke Dunlop, an anti-hero in some respects, but a man with whom it is easy to identify. Right from the start of the book it is demonstrated to us that he is a man who is far from perfect, yet on the other hand displays many endearing qualities. Your average everyman asked to do a tough job.

While reading Set Up I couldn't help but feel a little surprised that the series only lasted for 3 books (Set up was published in 1992 and the last of the series was in 1994). Luke Dunlop is an interesting and well developed character doing a job that is unusual when compared to the more often seen police inspector stories that are out there. The plot is tight and finely drawn leading you to a thrilling conclusion. Everything about the book invites you to read more, so I'll be happy to immerse myself in the other two books, Cross Off and Get Even to round off the series.

[Thomas Trang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pitch perfect Aussie crime fiction ("yeah noir") with dialogue and characters that ring 100% true. No good guys, no outright bad guys, just shades of moral compromise. Has the laconic sensibility and humour of Australia, and the vernacular is authentic.

Recommended for anyone who likes grizzly noir stories, fans of Elmore Leonard's Detroit books, this is lean and mean crime fiction done right.