Quarry: The First of the Quarry Series

Max Allan Collins first novel in the Quarry series is a quick read and a decent work of hardboiled pulp fiction. The story centers around Quarry, an ex-military man turned hitman, and his attempt to figure out what happened when an assignment goes wrong. While not close to the masters of the genre like Chandler or Hammett, Collins’ novel is good for what it is and is an enjoyable read.

Collins is one of the most prolific authors of the last several decades. He has written dozens of books, including his Nathan Heller series, his Mallory series, and his Quarry series. He is also well-known for taking over writing the Dick Tracy comic strip, his Road to Perdition series which resulted in a well-received movie starring Paul Newman, and for completing a number of Mickey Spillane's books, including several great Mike Hammer books.The Quarry series, which began with Quarry in 1976, includes Quarry's List, Quarry's Deal, Quarry's Cut, Quarry's Vote, Quarry's Greatest Hits, The Last Quarry, The First Quarry, Quarry In The Middle, Quarry's Ex, and Wrong Quarry.Quarry is a former Vietnam veteran whose real name is never disclosed to the reader. He comes back, finds his fiancé, Joanie, in bed with another guy, finds that guy working under his car and kicks the jack out, survives a murder trial, and is then recruited by a mysterious figure named the Broker to carry out hits.Collins published his first three Quarry novels in 1976, his fourth in 1977, and then his fifth in 1987. Nineteen years later (except for a collection of shorts released as "Greatest Hits"), he published The Last Quarry at the urging of Charles Ardai, publisher of Hard Case Crime. This began a new series of Quarry novels, including First Quarry, Quarry in the Middle, Quarry's Ex, and Wrong Quarry.I have read about two dozen of Collin's books, including half a dozen in the Quarry series, and have never found any of his books disappointing. You can start the Quarry series with any of the books that you find available. You don't need to start with the first one, but some people have the attitude that they start at the beginning and go from there.Collins originally wrote this book while still at a Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa. He explains in an afterword to Quarry that he set out to prove that crime fiction could be written using a Midwestern setting rather than the more cosmopolitan cities of New York or Chicago or Los Angeles.Here, Quarry (there's only one name like Cher or Madonna) is sent out on a job that has been scouted out by his partner. There are things about this job that don't ring right for Quarry. His partner is way too comfortable in the apartment and someone is lying in wait for Quarry when he does the hit. This means a confrontation with the Broker, Quarry's employer, who wants Quarry out of town after the hit.But, Quarry sticks around Port City to find out who tried to carry out a hit on him and his partner. This includes working with a former Bunny who runs the local club ("Bunny's") to get introductions to the family of the target. He first meets Bunny in her club, not knowing who she was or the inside joke about the name of the club. "She had a worldliness about her; a subtle hardness in the unlined face that let you know she was older than she at first appeared, that she was a broad over thirty stuck with a lovely but incongruous sixteen-year-old Lolita of a face."All in all, another great Quarry story that I started and finished all in the same day. Somehow all the Quarry stories include Quarry swimming in the pool at a motel and a woman in a black bikini introducing herself as he comes up out of the water.For those of you who have read other Quarry stories, the plot line might be familiar, but it is so well-written and engrossing that it doesn't matter.Highly recommended.

This is very early Max Allan Collins; the work dates from his time at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he began the novel in 1971. This Hard Case Crime edition of the first Quarry novel is must reading for all fans of the series. The writing is not yet fully mature, but the plot is clever, the characters engaging and the setting fully realized. Collins is on a sure footing with the latter, since ‘Port City’, the fictional location of the story, is MAC’s longtime home, Muscatine, Iowa, a fact revealed in the ‘Afterword’ which accompanies the novel.Quarry (his professional name) has returned from Vietnam to discover his fiancé’s infidelity. After dispatching her lover he is recruited by an individual called The Broker (the original title of the novel). Quarry becomes a professional hit man but discovers the complications that can result from this role on this case. Hit men work in pairs. In this story, Quarry’s partner Boyd plays the advance man, whose job it is to discover the target’s patterns of movement. When Quarry eventually goes in for the hit he discovers (SPOILER) that Boyd is killed while Quarry is at work. When Quarry returns to find Boyd dead he also finds himself at the business end of a very large wrench, which Boyd’s killer is now using on Quarry’s upper body.Quarry then has three issues to solve: a) who would have wanted the nebbish target dead; the hit made no sense; b) who is the wrench wielder; and c) will Quarry sustain his relationship with the former Playboy bunny he meets in Port City? A further complication which gnaws at him is the fact that the Broker has recently entangled Quarry in a drug theft, something that was never part of the original deal. The Broker does not want Quarry to hang around Port City after the job has been done, even if his curiosity is piqued and his loyalty to Boyd cries out for vengeance. Needless to say, the Broker will have to let this case run its course, but to what end?All of these issues are nicely sorted in the debut Quarry novel. I look forward to the other reprints from Hard Case Crime.

I'm finally taking the plunge with this series of novels and enjoyed the crap out of this one, to put it scientifically.It moved along so logically. Port City seemed very real to me, and I enjoyed the familiar elements (the ex-Playmate, the visit to the rich man's house, the meet-up at a deserted quarry, etc.) in 70s clothes. The afterword of the Hard Case Crime edition gave some background on the novel's genesis that made me like it even more. Whenever I read something - and I generally read things that came out before nowadays - I try to read it as if I was the audience of the year it came out. It's a fun exercise but sometimes doesn't amount to much. Here, though, it enhanced my enjoyment immeasurably. I kept thinking this must have seemed so refreshing when it appeared: no NYC/LA, a first-person antihero-assassin who's relatable, a credible Vietnam/ political allegory angle without it being overdone, (i.e. there's no "this is a parallel to the Phoenix program!" speech or "Coming Home" moments) and was pleased to read in the Afterword that all this was all the general idea and ahead of a curve that became self-evident to all shortly afterward. The author deserves all the chapeaus for sticking to his vision and transcribing it for us so well.I haven't read any of the other reviews or anything else about the series at all, really. I'm looking forward to discovering them as I go.

I only learned about it because of the Cinemax TV Series, which is a complement for the book series (specially regarding the main character).The book itself is totally worth it, intriguing and you kinda connect to the characters.I just bought the first 3 books and I can't stay a minute without reading it, almost finishing number 1 and excited for the rest of the story.

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.

Zynisch, spannend, knackig - wie immer bei Quarry

Excellent

Even though there is a book called: "The First Quarry," this book titled: "Quarry," is the actual first ever Quarry novel written by author Max Allan Collins. This book was originally published in 1976 and was reprinted by Hardcase Crime; the current publisher of the Quarry Novels. I would highly recommend starting with this book first as some of the future novels reference the events in this book.      All the Quarry novels are excellent and very fun reads about a hitman for hire referred to as Quarry. I personally never thought I'd enjoy a book, let alone series about a hitman. The Quarry novels are now one of my most anticipated releases. Max takes us right there with Quarry to witness what he does-- learn about his assignment (target) and execute... But there's so much more and that's the beauty of the series. We learn Quarry is more then a hitman, he's a man with morals, a man with a military background as we are brought into this killer's life who we cheer for upon learning about him.     Every Quarry novel is fresh and unique and an overall wonderful adventure. max writes a number of great series books and Quarry is up there as some of his best novels in my opinion with this being the birth of Quarry.