Open File (Peter Corris, A&U, $19.95 pb, ISBN 9781741754179, March) ** 1/2

This 31st instalment of Corris’ ‘Cliff Hardy’ series begins with a dispirited Hardy packing up his office after losing his private investigator’s license in the fallout from a nasty case. As Hardy goes through his files, he finds the ‘cold case’ pile and begins to reminisce on an unsolved job from 20 years ago. The rest of the book is a re-telling of this case, which begins as a run-of-the-mill missing persons enquiry but quickly spirals out of control with the involvement of violent gangsters and crooked politicians. The Cliff Hardy of 20 years ago is younger and keener than his present-day self—but no less cynical, of course—and he gets himself into all sorts of strife as the case unfolds. Frustratingly, though, while the corruption is exposed, the original mystery is never really solved and the book ends with a weary sigh from Hardy as he packs the file back into its box. The flash-back structure of the book can seem rather contrived, and this reviewer got the sense that perhaps Corris is getting a little tired of Hardy. For die-hard fans of the character, this book may well fill in a gap in his past, but readers may conclude that Corris can do better.

Tim Coronel is deputy publisher of Bookseller+Publisher

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

Tags: peter corris