Review by C.J. Bunce
Goodness. That’s what you’ll find with the crime novels of Max Allan Collins, and that goes double for his account of his famous Vietnam vet hitman’s very first hit in the novel The First Quarry. Approaching the 50th year since author Collins published his first tale of the man known only as Quarry in the novel Quarry’s Deal in 1976, Hard Case Crime has re-issued the 8th of 18 novels in the series, first published in 2008. It’s where Collins double backs to recount Quarry’s origin story, his very first job for the Broker. In digging into the past of his disillusioned vet, Collins found new ways to reel in new readers to get to know this anti-hero–a guy fans of the series already know–or at least think they know.
Collins is a breath of fresh air for fans of crime novels who get tired of the same old tales set in New York City or Los Angeles. He brings the Midwest to life, and shows in Keith David’s gritty City Confidential style the seedy side of towns found inside the triangle from Chicago to Duluth to Kansas City. In this first story of Quarry, the author takes us to Iowa City, home of the Hawkeyes. I lived there for years decades ago, and can attest to how accurate and intricately Collins re-creates this city. From the Airliner’s greasy pizzas to the tasty sandwiches at Bushnell’s Turtle to its barricaded pedestrian area and its stretch out to the hotels on the Coralville strip, Collins gets it all right (I just wish he’d add in the Hamburg Inn, where you could once get the best pairing of a burger and malt anywhere).
The nuance Collins brings to the table this time is a naive Quarry. After reading the last two Old Man Quarry novels, it’s a fun change to see how Quarry first started out, and dig more into how Collins seems to like incorporating parallels in his series. Usually that finds Quarry literally paired with another hitman. But with Collins: Make a rule, break a rule. This time Quarry operates without a partner. Collins often likes to play with criminals as writers, a thing we now refer to as “meta,” but a tool used by storytellers for a long time (he does the criminal as writer bit twice over in his Nolan series). Here Collins visits the world of the University of Iowa as America’s leading college that produces fiction writers, making Quarry’s first target a womanizing English professor affiliated with the famous Writer’s Workshop–a well-known feature of the U of I.
Quarry’s mistakes often make the story. Collins knows how to lean into coincidences and make them work–a nifty trick. In a Quarry or Nolan tale you might stumble upon that one player who does a 180 when you least expect it. Collins balances a fine line of keeping that knuckle-dragging male-centric aspect to pulp crime while also respecting women and the changing times of this century. When racism is an issue he lets his first person protagonist play with the concept openly, and even explain or defend himself. The genre and style may not work for everyone.
Quarry adds two notches to his belt in this first job, where he must eliminate the professor and the book the man is writing that is critical of a very angry Chicago mobster’s lurid and disturbing past. Everyone who knows Quarry’s story knows he came back from ‘Nam to find his wife in bed with another man, so Quarry doesn’t really care what anyone thinks of who he beds. Quarry works as a criminal because he has a code, something many famous modern crime novelists miss.
Collins pulls in the damsel and the femme fatale, the grimy private eye, the loathsome thugs, and a couple surprise twists that put this novel at the top in the category of oh-so satisfying finales.
If you’re new to the genre but are enjoying the TV series Duster, this book (and the entire series) makes another good entry point from Collins to crime noir. Another great thing about Collins’ crime fiction? Readers have so many ways to get their fix, including his Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer novels, his Heller and Nolan novels, and at least four other book series and standalone novels, the most popular being his Road to Perdition (browse our reviews of several here). My own favorite of his cool and savvy leads is Nolan, but Quarry as an old man comes close. As a young man he’s just as fun. This genre is one for adults only, and as Quarry himself would admit, his sex scenes are straight out of Penthouse Letters.
If you’ve only meandered through Quarry stories over the years, just pick one and jump aboard, like Quarry’s Blood, Killing Quarry, Quarry’s Return or The Last Quarry. Or this one, which might be the most satisfying end-to-end read of the bunch. Artist Ken Laager provided the painted cover art for this edition in its initial release, and it really ties to Robert McGinnis’s later cover image of Quarry. Recommended for fans of crime novels, Collins’s writing, the Quarry TV series and novels, and anyone looking for a good read, pick up The First Quarry now everywhere books are sold, and here at Amazon.
