Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Peter Corris, Allen & Unwin, $29.99.
This is the last Cliff Hardy book by Corris, “the godfather of Australian crime fiction”.
Why stop after 41 others (written over three decades) in the series? Deteriorating eyesight as a result of long-term type one diabetes.
Regrets are not evident as Corris says: “Cliff has finished up happy, and so have I”.
The plotline sees a missing teenager, drugs, yachts, the sex trade and a cold trail that leads from Sydney to Norfolk Island, Byron Bay and Coolangatta.
A wealthy businessman, Gerard Fonteyn, hires Hardy to find his teenage daughter, Juliana, who has been missing for over a year. There have been other half-hearted attempts to find her, but there’s never been a hint that she’s dead or alive.
Initially Hardy is ‘inclined to agree with this assessment, but a photograph that eventually comes to light is just enough for him to get out, kick some rocks and see what crawls out’.
The police suspect Gerard Fonteyn. How can that be as he’s hired Cliff to find her, given him unlimited expenses and posted a $250,000 reward for information about Juliana.
The questions are relentless. Finally there’s a break – an unconfirmed sighting of Juliana Fonteyn, alive and well. Nothing is straightforward. Various other players are in the game – and Cliff knows neither the game nor the rules Lives are in danger.
An agreeably complex plot is stylishly executed without the chance of getting distracted. At the core of these books is the “tough-guy, lone-wolf, rough-around-the-edges, good-bloke”, Cliff Hardy.
As luck would have it, Win, Lose or Draw finishes with an “ending intrinsic to the story, on an upbeat note”.
