Quarry's List - Max Allan Collins

Quarry's List was originally published in 1976 as The Broker's Wife, as a follow up to Quarry. It was never intended to be a series, but at least Max Allan Collins didn't kill him off like Nolan (Two for the Money) and then have to rewrite the ending to continue the series. He still had a problem though, as Quarry had more or less retired as a professional hit man in the first standalone book, or to be more accurate, he has "retired" his agent the Broker. When asked by his publisher to follow up, Collins was faced with the question of what is Quarry going to do next?

Quarry, as we know for being introduced to him in first book, can be ruthless in his methods, in killing as much as in taking care of his own security. Despite the arrangement with his Broker as a killer for hire coming to an unfortunate end, and despite taking every precaution to leave the professional hitman business behind him, he know he needs to still be careful. He expects that eventually someone will come looking for him with the intention of taking him out. He's not wrong.

There's every reason to be cautious because Quarry had a hand in the elimination of Broker, and he knows he's not going to be safe while other ambitious players are looking to take over the business. To do that, they would need to get their hands on Broker's list of killers for hire. They don't know if Quarry has that list, but either way, he's a loose end that needs to be eliminated. Quarry is ready for them.

While he is cautious about who he deals with Quarry lets his guard down a little however when it comes to women, especially one as striking as Carrie, who he meets at a hotel swimming pool. Carrie has recently been widowed and neither of them realising at first that Quarry had a hand in that, since we're talking about his old boss, the Broker.

Damn, but Max Allan Collins can write. There's not a word wasted, Collins writing short hard declarative sentences, clear and direct narrative in short high-impact chapters. You know exactly what is going on, what Quarry is thinking and what is at stake. Needless to say, considering his background in Vietnam and as a killer for hire, Quarry's first-person perspective is as hard boiled as they come, but every line holds you.

I thought I might just read one or two of Max Allan Collins' Quarry series just to get a feel for his writing, without having to read the whole series (there are a lot of others I want to try in this genre not to mention Collins' other Frank Nolan series and Nathan Heller series), but this is so compelling you just want to read more. Which is great, because there are plenty more where this one came from...

Reading notes: Quarry's List is published by Hard Case Crime, who are publishing the original first four novels written in the seventies, an additional one added in the eighties and the still continuing adventures of Quarry. Read from the paperback edition.