The Wrong Quarry

An interesting mix between hard boiled crime and pulp fiction: a professional hitman who has developed a conscience, of sorts, and targets other professional hitmen. He takes them out and, for an extra fee, offers the intended victim the chance to find out who ordered the contract and take that person out, too.

It's an intriguing premise, and this is told from the first person POV of our conscientious hitman with plenty of sex, violence, gore, and pop culture references thrown in for good measure. The story is a bit on the short side, the twist a bit too simplistic for my tastes, but it was certainly readable. I might try other Quarry novels in the future, if I'm ever in the mood.

As far as amoral homicidal killers go, though, I think show more I'll stick with Win from the Myron Bolitar series - not much as far as a prickly conscience to deal with =) show less

In this go around, Quarry’s job is to save a dance instructor from a hit man who specializes in torture! He is also looking into the case of a missing girl, “…Candy Stockwell, a prom queen/beauty pageant contender/most popular girl/notorious slut/envied/talented/hated/spoiled/rich (but not, Sally insisted, a bitch). Maybe alive, probably dead.” Whew!

Quarry can lip read now!

It's weird - the main family in this book has the last name of Stockwell, which is the same last name as the movie director Quarry 'protected' in the previous book! I wonder if there will be a Stockwell in the next Quarry book....

That being all well and good, this volume of the Quarry series has probably my favorite 'bad guy' so far! I don't want to give show more anything away, but the 'bad guy' really is one sick, twisted puppy! And it is NOT the hitman who specializes in torture! So chew on that one! Maybe the bad guy in the next one will be named Stockwell... show less

In the Wrong Quarry, Quarry no longer works for the Broker, who is no longer among the living. Rather, Quarry has obtained the Broker's lists of contacts and he follows the hired assassins, staking them out and figuring out who their prey is. Once he is confident in that information, he offers a deal to the targets, he will, for a price, take out their hitmen and find whoever is the responsible party. I guess everyone needs a career doing something.

The Wrong Quarry takes Quarry into small-town Missouri, where he has followed an antique dealer and expert at staking out. What is interesting is that Collins takes the reader through Quarry's thought processes as he surreptitiously follows his target to the small-town where Quarry finds that show more women seem to be throwing themselves at him, including the town tramp and the town beauty queen.
Quarry is almost like a hardboiled detective as he works to figure out what is going on, who is targeted and why. Once he has that figured out, he then has to determine if he has the right quarry or the wrong quarry. The fun in this story is not figuring out the whodunit, but following Quarry through his adventures. Although the story is of recent vintage, it has very much the feel of a much older novel, particularly the setting of the early 80's in the rural Midwest which Collins conveys through what plays on the radio.

As with all of the Quarry series, this one is recommended reading. Enjoy. show less

Far from the best in the Quarry series.

Sure, it features all the standard traits, like our hero rolling up in a new town and getting to know the locals, killing a handful of badguys and having sex with a couple of voluptuous vixens, while spending a lot of time describing what everyone is wearing. Especially Quarry himself of course has countless costume changes which are meticulously detailed.

However there's no heart in it. The story is neither as fun, exciting or halfway as entertaining as some of the better books in the series. And it doesn't exactly help that you can spot the twist a mile away.

Overall, it has the flair of Max Allan Collins phoning in a lazy rehash of his old formula, just to cash in on the character.

Quarry is a hitman who kills hitmen. When a hit is ordered he follows the hitmen and discovers who their victim is and offers to kill them instead. He will then, for a price, discover who hired the hit. Quarry follows the stake-out guy to a small Missouri town and finds the victim is a dancer studio owner. Offering his services to the owner, he sets out to kill the hitmen and find out who wants the hit. Along the way he discovers that maybe, just maybe, this time he might be on the wrong side. This is my first Quarry book. I liked him, his work ethic, and his luck with the ladies. He does genuinely want to do what is right, not just kill for killings sake. The story is believable and well thought out. It's full of action and adventure show more with some sex thrown it. I will be finding more Quarry books to read. He's my kind of guy. show less

This time the killer Quarry is tracking ends up in a smallish Missouri town, dominated by a wealthy family. The daughter has gone missing, and Quarry's quarry is tracking down the local dance teacher who has a studio full of high-school age girls. The murderers Quarry is tailing are after this guy. Quarry delves into the family, has some interesting encounters with various members, including a sister of the disappeared girl. He finds out that things aren't what they seem. Of course. Not a bad twist at the end, though maybe it's a bit overdone. Some good characters, though they are stock. Not a bad nibble, but nothing that will be memorable.

I read this book for my mystery book club. We were supposed to read a book from Hard Case publishing - a company going back and reviving old hard case books. I didn't like reading this in public because the cover art is atrocious with a scantily dressed young woman tied up and looking frightened and a touch looking man with a gun. Quarry (not his real name) was an for hire killer working for a middle man who handled the money and the details and gave out jobs to people like Quarry. Apparently, before the book opens, he found the middle man was about to betray him so he killed the middle man and took all his files. He then starts trailing hit men to who they are going to hit, figures out who the victim is going to be and contacting that show more person. He informs the victim someone is going to kill him/her and gets payment to stop the killer. He then kills the killer and tries to find out and get rid of whoever sent the killer. In this case, he trails one of a pair of killers. The man he is trailing is the one who watches the victim, gets his schedule and habits and then passes the information on to the second of the pair who will do the killing. The victim is a man with a dance company teaching pretty young girls dance and helping some get ready for beauty contests. The daughter of the richest family in town disappeared. She was a student. He tells Quarry that he has been blamed for her disappearance. Quarry meets and beds a member of the family who has slept with a lot of men. He believes it was the grandfather who hired the hit. He kills the killers and meets up with the grandfather and discovers the truth about the dance instructor who then trick him and take him picture. He manages to turn the tables and kills him and his partner, a woman posing as a high school student, both of whom have been killing girls across the country. Not a bad book but I hated the cover. show less