The Wrong Quarry

May 12, 2014
Collins's 10th noir featuring John Quarry (after 2010's Quarry's Ex) is easily his bestâa sharp-edged thriller with more than one logical but surprising twist. Quarry used to work as a hit man on assignments arranged for him by a middleman known as the Broker, but that work ended when Quarry had to take him out. Making use of the Broker's records, he has begun a new phase in his killing career. He identifies the targets of other hit men, and then, for a price, offers to take them out on behalf of the intended victims. And, for an extra fee, Quarry removes the threat entirely by killing the person who ordered the hit. The early 1980s find Quarry doing exactly that in the "Little Vacationland" of Stockwell, Mo. He learns that the local dance instructor, Roger Vale, is to be killed because he's suspected of murdering a teenage girl, and offers to save his life, for a price. The lean prose, brisk pacing, and clever plotting are a winning combination.

January 1, 2014
Happily, Collins was just teasing when he published The Last Quarry in 2005. This is the fifth installment since then in the adventures of a hit man with a heart of not exactly gold but certainly a nice semiprecious metal. These days, Quarry picks his own hits, always targeting other hit men on a job (for a tidy price, paid by the intended victim, Quarry will dispatch the hit man on hire and clean up any loose ends). This time, though, our boy is puzzled. Did somebody really hire a killer specializing in torture to do in a high-school cheerleader? Or is the intended victim the cheerleader's seemingly gay dance teacher and pageant consultant? That takes some sorting out, and, in the process, Quarry becomes involved, sexually and otherwise, with several of the principal players. As usual, Collins, ever the pro, combines solid, twisty plotting with a light touch and plenty of witty self-reflection from Quarry ( If you think . . . there was a trickle of treacle running through the gristle that made up most of me, you are wrong ). Pure entertainment for fans of old-school, hard-boiled prose.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)