Deal Me Out

Cliff Hardy #9

by Peter Corris

Cliff Hardy starts out to help a friend but before long he's looking for an enemy - William Mountain: a boozer, TV scriptwriter, would-be novelist who is missing and searching for adventure. Mountain's adventure is Hardy's 'case' which rapidly becomes a case he would rather not have. Mountain is the dealer in a deadly game and the hands he deals become more and more bizarre...

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Australia

Hardcover

First published April 1, 1986

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

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Called by his friend Terry to find the rental cars he’d had stolen from his used car lot, Cliff Hardy thought it would be a simple case to solve. But the involvement of William Mountain, an acquaintance whom Hardy had never liked for his boozy, sadistic ways meant more trouble than it was worth. Mountain was a psychotic, egotistical person who thought he was a great writer – he had yet to prove his worth…and he was missing.

The arrival on the scene of Mountain’s girlfriend, Emily Fong set alarm bells ringing in Hardy’s head. But Emily was desperate to find Mountain so joined forces with Hardy. The escalation of violence and danger shocked Hardy – he realised there had to be something more to the situation than just a simple case of car theft.

Enter the drug world of inner Sydney and in many cases the person wouldn’t get out. Was that to be the way for Hardy? He was in too deep and desperately wanted not to be – but he had more at stake; much more…

Deal Me Out by Aussie author Peter Corris is #9 in the Cliff Hardy series and not one of the best I’ve read. Violent, graphic, filled with blood and gore – plus the bending of the law and turning a blind eye to the horrors. Smoking and heavy drinking seemed to be the norm as well. It’s a great series though and I enjoy Hardy’s tough and resilient character; his utter determination to solve the case he’s on and will definitely read more.

[Gary Vassallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable Cliff Hardy novel. Not my favourite but still a rollicking good read.

[Warwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Corris early novels, a bit bloodthirsty, later novels are better. Having said that, still 200 pages read in one day, so it must have held my interest, hence I must have enjoyed reading it.
The cases Cliff Hardy gets, while seeming at first to be reasonably normal, certainly develop into the extraordinary. Corris has quite an imagination and conveys the twists expertly.

[Christine Ku · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of the book is actually not that interesting in that it’s been used multiple times before. But it reads okay until I figured out the basic premise. Overall, I would say it’s so-so.

[Gavan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am biased and I love Corris' Cliff Hardy series. It is my "go to" series when I want simple well written crime. Sadly, this isn't one of the best in the series. The plot meanders from a fraud investigation into a missing persons search into a drug induced haze. The last section is particularly weak. It didn't seem in character for Hardy to be duped into drugs. Ah well, there had to be a weak link in the series ...