Helen Adams
and Neal Wallace review Torn Apart and Cut &
Run.
Peter Corris is an award-winning Australian crime writer
whose hero, private investigator Cliff Hardy, has featured in
35 previous novels.
His latest, Torn Apart (Allen and Unwin, pbk, $35),
has Cliff recovering from heart surgery and semi-retired.
However, the sudden appearance of his look-alike second
cousin Patrick gets Cliff involved in a series of incidents,
including murder, that require all his sleuthing skills to
solve.
The story is rather disjointed, moving from Sydney to Ireland
and back while the two men explore their links to a band of
gypsy-like wanderers The Irish Travellers.
Their return to Sydney culminates in murder and Cliff is a
suspect, so he has his work cut out as he untangles the
mystery of the killer's identity and motive while trying to
clear his name.
Although there is plenty of action, the writing is rather
pedestrian and the characters don't come alive.
It was disappointing.
I had
few expectations that Cut & Run, by Alix Bosco
(Penguin, pbk, $37), would be anything other than another
clichéd murder-thriller when I picked it up over the
Christmas holidays.
I was wrong.
It has an intriguing story line and the polished,
easily-digested text captured me.
That interest could be perhaps because the scene is set in
Auckland and involves New Zealanders and incidents I can
relate to or which have recently had a public profile.
But, regardless, Alix Bosco has created an enjoyable book,
for her first novel.
She has successfully taken the clichéd topic of someone
falsely accused of murder and put in a New Zealand context of
South Auckland gangs, life in those suburbs, P-use, violence
and the shallowness of the celebrity set.
The story revolves around Anna Markunas, a lawyer recovering
from a family tragedy, who is asked to help defend a South
Auckland youth accused of murdering his former friend, a
rising Polynesian rugby star.
It has many twists and turns which keeps your attention right
to the end.
All up, an engrossing but an easy read by a writer I am
certain we will hear more from.
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