Quarry

A Quarry Novel, Book 1

By: Max Allan Collins

Narrated by: Christopher Kipiniak

A hit. And a miss.

Quarry doesn't kill just anybody these days. He restricts himself to targeting other hitmen, availing his marked-for-death clients of two services: eliminating the killers sent after them, and finding out who hired them…and then removing that problem, as well.

So far he's rid of the world of nobody who would be missed. But this time he finds himself zeroing in on the grieving family of a missing cheerleader. Does the hitman's hitman have the wrong quarry in his sights?

©1976, 2010 Max Allan Collins (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Collins should be better known

I found the Quarry series by accident, and wow, I'm glad I did. Although Collins wrote them in the '70s, they are far less dated than many more famous from that time. Despite the sexist pulp covers on each one, sexism is not a problem here, at least for me.

Quarry resembles Richard Stark's (Donald Westlake's) Parker, but I think the writing is better and the character more likable, at least for a hit man. Well done. Perfect narrator.

The only problem is, each book is pretty short. Even so, I think each one is worth a credit. I plan to listen to them all at least twice.

Gritty and captivating

Gritty story of a mafia like hit man who doesn't take no for an answer. It's mysterious at times and down right hilarious at times(especially quarry interacting with women). Keeps your attention with suspenseful moments of near death. If you like the sort of max payne morally questionable characters this is for you. I'll be continuing this series.

Very Entertaining

This book is great. its hard to stop listening to be warned there is some language but the stiry great with lots of twists and turns.

Glad I found this series

It's the second Quarry book I listen to, the first having been the prequel to the séries. I'm surprised I'd never heard of this author before, he does know how to write a crime novel, thanks Audible for bringing this to life. If you like the Keller series from Lawrence Block, Butcher's Boy from Perry or Victor The Assassin from Wood you'll definitely like this one too.

The great Max Allan Collins

Any additional comments?

This is a good start to the Quarry series. However it is far from being the best book. And honestly I would recommend new readers start elsewhere. Max Allan Collins broke new ground with this novel in the 70s by making a bad guy, a hit man, the protagonist of a novel. These days that sounds old hat. Back then it was a risk. One that I am grateful Collins had the nuts to take. (Really it could have harmed his fledgling career, such as it was.)

The problem is that in hindsight, with subsequent Collins and Quarry novels, this one is sorta Mickey Mouse, haha. There isn’t even the Year One type of story you’d expect from the first in a series (check out the First Quarry for that, as well as an all around better novel).

For my money, Quarry doesn’t really become the Quarry we love until Collins revisited the character in the 1980s with the Last Quarry. That’s the one I REALLY started digging the character.

And also....that’s the novel where Stefan Rudnicki takes over for Christopher Kipiniak. Kipiniak is simply nowhere near the voice actor Rudinicki is (judging by their work on Quarry). Kipiniak has the tough guy voice, sure, but none of the wiley music, charm, arrogance and cleverness that Rudinicki conveys.

If Skyboat media (or whoever does the recording) is smart, they’ll ditch all the previous recordings not done by Stefan Rudinicki and do them again. Rudinicki is for me as much part of Quarry as Max Allan Collins. Well, maybe that’s exaggerating since Collins writes Quarry, ha. But you get my meaning.

Spillane style, hard hitting hit man mystery...

Well written in this Mike Hammer style. Good elements, consistent narrative, hard hitting, crime mystery.

I am a long time Max Allan Collins fan, and admire his work... but do not like this narrator. The speaker sounds bored and uninterested in the dialogue. And the speaker is poor at other voices... especially women’s voices where he sounds either effeminate or very deeply male. Sad and bad choice of narrator... as it has let the skill of the written down, greatly.

Quarry 1

Quarry is an original.
You know where he's going but not how he'd get there.
I like intriguing minds.

Horrible narrator.

The narrator makes this almost impossible to listen. His voice is so annoying that it distracts from the story.