By now, Max Allan Collins is something of a Hard Case Crime regular, having penned four of its first 50 releases. After reading THE FIRST QUARRY, I’d be totally cool with him writing every Hard Case title. No slight to any of the other great authors who produce some great books for that line, but with this one, extreme pleasure pours from every page.

With 2006’s THE LAST QUARRY, Collins put his professional hitman character of Quarry — not his real name, which you don’t need to know and he’s not going to reveal — to rest. Lucky for us, the author wasn’t through with him, so jumping back in time for a prequel solves the dilemma presented by retirement.

As one can glean, THE FIRST QUARRY follows the hired gun on his initial job, in late 1970. But first, a little backstory on how he came to be hired: Quarry returned home from serving our country as a sniper in Vietnam, only to find his wife in bed with another man. After a little simmering time, Quarry goes to the guy’s house, where he finds him working underneath a car, so our cuckolded hero simply kicks the jack out from under the vehicle, crushing the guy to death.

Not believing the act was premeditated, the court takes pity on him, and the publicity surrounding the case brings him to the attention of a dapper gentleman known only as The Broker. He takes Quarry under his employ, assigning him with the task of offing a college professor, and then burning a manuscript the academian has in his possession. No further details are offered to the new hire.

Quarry holes himself up in the empty house across the street and watches as the middle-aged, quasi-hippie prof is visited by a couple of beauties (separately), who work in a little extra credit. And by that, I mean blowjobs. The Broker’s rules require that surveillance be conducted for anywhere from a week to a month before the target is snuffed, so it forces Quarry to sit back and watch.

That time delay allows several kinks to be thrown into his plans, in the form of a P.I., a gangster, a pair of hoods, and some honeys with quite a pair. In between torrid hotel-room romps, Quarry and his 9mm get cozy with a few baddies. Scenes of violence strike quick and shock, yet they shouldn’t, given Quarry’s snap decision of kicking that jack to kill that jackass early on. (First rule of Quarry: Do not fuck with Quarry.)

Collins is a master of mystery, and again, things here don’t quite pan out as you’d expect. What makes THE FIRST QUARRY so enjoyable is the author’s pointed wit and wonderful dialogue. The characters’ lines crackle with energy like the very best of old-school detective fiction, yet don’t seem stilted or overwritten.

From the first line (”The night after Christmas and all through the house, it was colder than fuck.”) to the last (not spoiling that one), this thriller planted a stupid smile on my face that remained for the entire ride. Once more, one hopes this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the freelance assassin. By starting at the beginning, Collins generates hope for THE SECOND QUARRY, THE THIRD QUARRY, etc., and he’d damn well better consider it. —Rod Lott

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“Her breasts had needed no help from the bullet bra. Sure, they drooped a little, but that was what my hands were for. I reached up and caressed them, globes that overflowed my fingers, her aureoles large and puffy, and then I suckled them and the nipples grew hard and long, and I was hard and long, too, so I pulled her down on the couch and I climbed on her and we kissed or mostly I kissed her, nuzzling her neck and worshiping those breasts.”

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BLACK HATS by Patrick Culhane
• DEADLY BELOVED by Max Allan Collins
• DICK TRACY by Max Allan Collins
• A KILLING IN COMICS by Max Allan Collins
• THE LAST QUARRY by Max Allan Collins
• MY LOLITA COMPLEX AND OTHER TALES OF SEX AND VIOLENCE by Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens
• QUARRY’S LIST by Max Allan Collins
• RED SKY IN MORNING by Patrick Culhane
• ROAD TO PARADISE by Max Allan Collins
• TOUGH TENDER by Max Allan Collins
• THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER by Max Allan Collins