Quarry in the Middle (Max Allan Collins, 2009)

I’m not big fan of Max Allan Collins but I admit he’s a good writer and his stuff is easy to follow and entertaining enough to pick up every once in a while. And as prolific as he is, maybe I just missed his better stuff somehow. Anyway, I wasn’t in the mood for experimenting with some new authors and decided to finally check out one of his Quarry books. 

I picked this one up in the bookstore because it has a cool opening line (I had a body in the trunk of my car). I think it’s at least the fourth novel in the series, and it has a really original premise. Our hitman Quarry has in possession some kind of register of his fellow trade colleagues obtained from his former (before he killed him) employer, a guy named Broker. So he uses these files in a very clever way – he randomly picks an assassin and follows them (maintaining surveillance) to find out who the next target is. Quarry then contacts the target, offering discreet elimination of the original killer and an eventual bonus if he finds out who has ordered the hit (and yes, of course, killing the bastard too). 

So this setup brings him to a little town run (and divided) by two criminal branches of Chicago organised crime. And according to the book title, you would expect some sort of “Yojimbo – Fistful of Dollars – Last Man Standing” type of shit, which just doesn’t happen. Sure, there is a bit of scheming, double-play, and such, but far too little to make it outstanding. Which is disappointing enough, but even worse is that there’s hardly any mystery or suspense. The final twist is soooo predictable, and I’ve seen it happen so many times: the author falls into this trap of neglecting to introduce more characters and subplots, so by the end of the book, there’s just one of them who can actually be guilty. What makes this ending especially funny is that our hero himself knows that, and he cracks the case simply by:

Culprit: “What makes you think that I took out the contract?”

Quarry: “No other candidate makes sense”

Bravo, Sherlock! 

But I’m probably being a bit nasty because the book isn’t bad at all. It’s just not a crime novel; I would classify it more as a thriller. I liked the style of writing; it’s tight and precise, with little ballast, and it includes some cool, well-conveyed passages between past and present that explain Quarry’s story. I’ve found some lines hilarious, which, strangely enough, may even damage the wholesome impression, because sometimes I thought the author had trouble deciding whether he was writing a hard-boiled hitman story or a script for Hollywood thriller/comedy-type crap that needs to feed Bruce Willis with quirky dialogue. It also relies too much on descriptions and not enough dialogue, and lacks a little bit of higher pace, but that is probably because there’s really not much going on – guy comes into town, kills some bad guys, has sex, gets beaten, plays poker, has some more sex, a few more bad guys are dead. Then he collects his fee and goes home.

All in all, it’s good stuff. I think I’ll check Quarry again.

3/5

Facts

Hero: 
Ex-hitman Quarry, using the name Jack Gibson

Location: 
Little town Haydee’s Port, Illinois, mostly in clubs/joints/casinos Paddlewheel and Lucky Devil, probably mid 80s (as Disco is dead)

Dames: 
One good (kind of), one bad and one absolute angel. Teaser, not spoiler: Quarry fucks two and gets a blow job from one.

Body count: 
5 (they all deserved it)

Cool lines:

Disco was dead, which was fine by me, only I wish somebody had paid me to kill a fucker.

Kind of girls you don’t take home to mother…unless mother is a doctor specializing in the clap.

Little blackjack dealer. Redhead. She likes you, Jack. I could fix you up. Kid can suck the chrome off a ’71 Caddy.

“Shut up,” I told her. “I’d rather kill you than fuck you.” (he tells this twice to the same girl!)