O'Fear (Hardcover)

by Peter Corris (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Australian "enquiry agent" Cliff Hardy investigates the death of a trucking entrepreneur in this smartly paced caper. In a first-chapter twist, Hardy learns he's been offered the job via a note left posthumously by the victim, Barnes Todd, who has been killed in a car crash. Hardy has no idea what Todd suspected or why he himself was designated to look into the case, but in short order, he learns that Todd had been an accomplished painter and photographer whose works are worth a mint, that a U.S. Army captain had once sworn to kill him and that a business rival had been sending thugs to tear up the Todd industrial terminal. Hardy also finds out that Todd's last words in the hospital had been "O'Fear," thereby leading him to a prison where Hardy's old friend, the shady Kevin O'Fearna, is awaiting trial. O'Fear, who persuades Hardy to put up his bail, is stabbed before his release; Hardy is persistently tailed; Todd's widow's house is ransacked. Is somebody after the art? Through one surprise after another, Corris ( Man in the Shadows ) reveals his red herrings and various truths about the many players in this engaging yarn.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Corris, an established Australian voice being published by Doubleday for the first time, quickly ingratiates himself with the reader by utilizing a steadily mounting suspense that erupts in violent confrontation. Australian businessman Barnes Todd left instructions--in case of his own "accidental" death--that private eye Cliff Hardy should investigate for murder. Thus begins the insinuating but tough approach that characterizes Hardy's efforts to ascertain Todd's last movements and involvements. Although rapidly falling in love with the grieving widow, Hardy realizes he cannot take everything at face value.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Doubleday; First U.S. Edition edition (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385421192
• ISBN-13: 978-0385421195
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,795,604 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars classic American fare from Down Under, July 5, 2001

By	Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Considering that the hard-boiled private eye novel is one of the distinctly American genres, it's perhaps surprising that one of the best current practitioners of the form is the Australian Peter Corris, with his detective, Cliff Hardy. If we forgive Hardy his affection for wine, which we'll assume is a cultural deal, and a long running relationship, which fortunately never quite achieved Susan Silvermanesque proportions, he's really quite traditional. Of course, it helps that Australia isn't all that different from America, particularly in terms of its cultural heritage. Corris has written 23 Cliff Hardy books, but they are not generally available in the U. S., which is a shame.

From what I've read of them, O'Fear is a fairly representative entry in the series, which is to say, it's quite good. Hardy is hired after an old friend dies in a car accident :

'Barnes Todd has left you some money.'

'Why?'

'To find out who murdered him.'

I sat back in the chair. Sackville unhooked his glasses and set them down gently on top of the file. He massaged the bridge of his nose and tried to look grave, but there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes. It irritated me, the way a lot of small things had lately. What's so funny? I thought. I'd been in this business for nearly fifteen years. I'd found murderers before, hadn't I? Well, stumbled across a couple. 'How much money?' I said harshly.

'Ten thousand dollars. His wife's not too happy about it.'

Hardy learns that with Todd's last breath he gasped the word : "O'Fear..." He recognizes this enigmatic phrase as the beginning of the name of a notorious, but relatively harmless, scoundrel named O'Fearna, who is currently in jail, awaiting trial. His bail just happens to be $10,000.

And he's off...sexy widows, unsavory secrets, random corpses, brutal henchmen, crooked lawyers, the whole nine yards. But what makes the book a real throwback is Hardy's vulnerability :

...I had strewn the contents of my wallet across the desk. I looked at the credit cards and the meagre amount of cash and the creased driver's licence and suddenly felt small and isolated. My only backup in the office was an answering machine; my only means of transport was the Falcon; I had an illegal Colt .45 and a properly licenced Smith & Wesson .38 for firepower. No helicopters, no armoured vans, no shotguns. Who was I kidding? This was too big for me.

If Corris does not quite have the comedic chops of a Robert B. Parker or a Robert Crais, he more than compensates by restoring the dramatic tension of a hero who is truly a lone knight, who can be hurt, even killed, and who has no one he can really trust.

This is good stuff, in a classic vein. Read him, if you can the books.

GRADE : A

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My fellow Americans! You don't know what you're missing!, March 18, 2002

By	Rlyehian (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: O'Fear

Australian fiction is the best you will ever find (and I've read everything from King to Koontz) but 99% of books from Down Under are not released here in the United States. Why? I don't know. But I DO know what I've discovered. O'Fear by Peter Corris (a Cliff Hardy mystery) is fantastic! I've hunted down more Cliff Hardy mysteries over the internet and they're all great.

Other must reads by Australian authors are:

Any book written by Robert G. Barrett! (The Stephen King of Australia)

Jon Cleary's Scobie Malone mysteries! (As good as anything written by Nelson DeMille)
Blood Junction by Caroline Carver (As good as anything written by Dean Koontz)
Every book written by Peter Doyle! (Move over John Grisham)

My fellow Americans, fight to read the books the US publishers won't let you see! You will be glad you did.