Max Allan CollinsQuarry: The First of the Quarry Series

I really like Quarry novels.They come from the 'can't-put-'em-down' stable.I was delighted to hear that a new Quarry novel is being published in November.

Things go awfully wrong for assassin, Quarry, when he's double crossed by the person who hired him during a hit. It's time for payback! Excellent 70's hardboiled crime.

Well written story.

Arrived well packaged and it's HCC, so it will be a good read.

The assignment was simple enough – too simple, really. Roll into a small town in Iowa, locate your partner, and murder a man with some form of mental disability who’d really never hurt anyone. Couldn’t be simpler, right? Then your partner’s dead, millionaires are involved, the local celebrity Betty Crocker is playing a part, as is a former Playboy gal, and you’re $4000 short of the $4000 you were supposed to make for this hit. Oh, and someone tried to kill you with a wrench.That’s the trouble facing Quarry, Max Allan Collins’ notorious hitman, in his debut novel. Not Collins’ debut, Quarry’s.Not only was this my first Quarry novel, it was my first Collins novel, and I have to say I’m impressed. I don’t usually go out of my way to read first-person accounts (other than A Princess of Mars), and did find the style a little off-putting the first chapter or two, but the character is interesting enough that it ends up working quite well. As does the story itself, and the numerous side-stories that culminate (of all places) in a quarry at the end of the novel.You could tell this was one of Collins’ first novels a few times throughout, as the writing and punctuation are a little rough in spots, but it’s never enough to remove you from the story and, again, Quarry is just too cool to give up on once he leaves the airport. My only real qualm with this one is that the violence is almost entirely after-the-fact or off-screen, though this is minor and not enough to detract.Highly recommended for fans of pulp-style action and men’s adventure. I’ll definitely be going through the rest of the Quarry novels (which currently sits at 14) in the near future.