The Undertow by Peter Corris

Publisher's Synopsis

Frank Parker, retired senior policeman and Cliff Hardy's longtime friend, has a problem. A case from early in his career involving two doctors, one of whom was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill the other and went to gaol for the crime, is coming back to haunt him. The convicted, now dead doctor may have been innocent, and Parker had been the lover of the beautiful Catherine Castiglione, the doctor's wife.

Hardy tracks back through the now ageing names and faces, trying to tease out the truth. If the doctor was set up, who was responsible and why? Along the way Hardy encounters dodgy plastic surgeons, a broken-down ex-copper, a voyeuristic cripple and a hireling who wields a mean baseball bat.

A charismatic player is the son of Catherine Castiglione, a super-bright charmer, who just may be Frank Parker's love child. Animosities, arrogance and ambition create a spider's web around the violence that breaks out as Hardy searches for the spider.

My Review 

Now Catherine has contacted Frank with the news that her husband, who has since died while serving his prison sentence, was innocent of the murder and wants Frank to do what he can to do what he can to prove it. But why has she gotten in touch with Parker after all this time? Well, she had a child that she claims could be his love child and now the young man's life has gone off the rails. She thinks that if the truth about the man he has known as his father were to be revealed he might be able to pull himself together and be saved.

Out of a sense of duty to his friend, Hardy takes the case and his investigation leads him to an underground plastic surgery racket, one used by people who want their appearance altered for other than cosmetic reasons. His questions inevitably stir up a reaction from someone who doesn't appreciate the past being brought up and suddenly the stakes are raised much higher and his investigation becomes a fight for survival.

The crux of the matter is that Dr Gregory Heyson, the man convicted of murder, looks to have been an innocent man who may have been set up. But who set him up and what was the reason for doing so? Someone doesn't want Hardy to find out and that's the type of thing that just makes him all the more determined.

Cliff Hardy appears to be a contented man and methodically works his case with a minimum of fuss and a steady flow of alcohol. Not one given to serious self-reflection, he is given cause to pause and ponder over a comment that one man makes at the end of an interview when he tells Hardy he is "drawn to intrigue and violence like a moth to a flame." The intrigue he agreed with but wondered seriously whether he welcomed the violence. One thing is for sure, he doesn't dodge the prospect and it finds him often enough in this case to leave the argument well and truly open for debate.

It's an unusual situation to come across a hardboiled PI living in a comfortable personal relationship and Cliff Hardy has had his rough moments to say the least. At this point in his career he's in one of the more tranquil phases, enjoying a steady relationship with freelance journalist Lily Truscott. In a way, the state of his relationships have pretty much acted as a barometer for his state of mind while working on a case. The more steady it is, the greater the concentration and the better his decision making process seems to be. Such is the case in The Undertow.

Like all other Cliff Hardy investigations, the focus remains squarely on the case, rarely wavering to more mundane matters such as lifestyle. We have to pick up the snippets thrown in passing to glean information on that front. Hardy's first person narration ensures that we get a good perspective on his reaction towards the people he comes in contact with and the way he digests clues. The result gives us little room for surprises or twists but a fine example of dogged detective work unearthing a few nuggets and plenty of action.

With the spare dialogue that fans of Peter Corris have become accustomed to and the forthright no guts, no glory attitude of Hardy, The Undertow thrusts us into an old crime. And yes, there's plenty of intrigue and violence to draw Cliff (and us) in, but it's also a case that promises to bite him fairly and squarely on his arse.