Man in the Shadows

Cliff Hardy #11

by Peter Corris

Gareth Grenway wasn't all he seemed, but Cliff Hardy was used to that. What he wasn't used to was the shadowy world Greenway leads him into: neurosurgeons, mental patients, AIDS sufferes, all negotiating a landscape of dreams and delusions. An old firend of Hardy's ends up dead while Hardy chases the shadows, catching some, losing others.

The accompanying stories find Hardy on more familiar ground. When organised crime, political corruption and the Australian army are involved, Hardy battles the odds. But when it comes to a man-to-man contest, put your money on Hardy to win.

Genres: Crime, Mystery

Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

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

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great set of shorter Cliff Hardy adventures.

[Gavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, not his best - 2.5* rounded up to 3*. The short stories are not great - just tasters of what could have been interesting books in their own right.

[Balthazar Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not all the jobs a private investigator gets hired for are long drawn out affairs. This book is a collection of a short novel and several short stories featuring Cliff Hardy. An enjoyable insight to the character of Cliff as he handles a different cases where he has to be a bit more rough and tumble than the average bloke.

[Mike Penlington · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
The title novelette was sort of building, but it felt rather a hurried ending. Almost like a change of mind about it being a more full novel.
Some of the short stories were quite good, but for me, not enough to rescue it to a 4 star read.
Still, I really enjoy the character and so without question I will look forward to picking up the next book in the series.

[Robert Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

+This book consists of a number of short stories. The first, title story is the best of the lot and would rate 4 plus stars itself. The others are some pretty good, some not so good. However, Corris is always easy to read and interesting.+

[Sue Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novella and several short stories. Well up to standard, but I do prefer full length novels.