Behind the prosperous, genteel landscape of the inner city lies a very different world of hardship and insecurity – where a roof over your head is never guaranteed.
Jack van Duyn is a Melbourne taxi-driver in his mid-fifties, living alone in a dingy Brunswick flat. He’s settled into a drab existence, with little money, few friends, and no prospects.
He’s still recovering from weeks of turmoil triggered by his infatuation with beautiful Somali refugee Farhia, and the bitter conflict with drug dealers, spies, and thugs that ensued — as described in Comfort Zone.
However, Jack’s return to normality is short-lived. He’s about to be hurtled into a vicious power struggle involving crooked property developers, angry unionists, and a deranged stalker from his past. Before he knows it, his world is starting to unravel, and he’s running for his life …
‘Comeback, as the title implies, is a paean to the old school, to an inner-urban culture that is slipping into the past, perhaps more slowly in tribal-tending Melbourne than most cities, even as the patina of grunge remains.’
Ed Wright, The Australian
‘Tanner tackles the Australian property development gorgon, confronting issues of corruption in the Melbourne construction industry, gentrification, and homelessness ... Tanner’s nuanced exploration of this housing crisis is a welcome narrative, lending hard-edged, working-class realism to a genre that sometimes forgets to include relatable people.’
Chris Flynn, Australian Book Review
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‘Lindsay Tanner’s political background shapes a compelling adventure through the unpredictable world of the Carlton crew, the construction industry, and the homelessness crisis.’
Peter Gordon
‘A tribute to life in inner-urban Australia.’
Cameron Woodhead, Sydney Morning Herald
‘A thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable read.’
Samela Harris, Adelaide Advertiser
‘The author captures with fidelity the cadences of working-class Australian speech – which serves to remind us that the exit of a politician who listens to ordinary folk is politics’ loss.’
Ken Haley, Courier Mail
‘Tanner is not afraid to use this selfish, blokey bachelor as a guide, positioning the reader as a passenger being driven around by a friendly motor mouth and it’s quite relaxing, in a nostalgic kind of way.’
Rhonda Dredge, CBD News
Praise for Comfort Zone:
‘Comfort Zone is, in many respects, a love letter to the inner-city electorate that Tanner represented … held together and sustained by a wonderful warmth and a lightness of touch.’
Michael McGirr, Sydney Morning Herald
Praise for Comfort Zone:
‘A decent man is pitched into a dangerous world where his strengths are tested and his weaknesses exposed.’
Robert Gott, author of The Port Fairy Murders
Praise for Comfort Zone:
‘The story is an entertaining one … Behind the plot is evidence of a keen moral intelligence … Tanner shows a keen sense of life’s variety and the luck that attends to it.’
Edward O. Wilson, University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
