Quarry's Return

Quarry #17

by Max Allan Collins

The hitman hero of the acclaimed Cinemax series comes out of retirement when his daughter, a true-crime writer, is abducted by the subject of one of her books. A nail-biting suspense thriller from the author of ROAD TO PERDITION.

MWA Grand Master Max Allan Collins’ longest-running series, which inspired the show on Cinemax, makes a ferocious return following the Edgar Award-nominated QUARRY’S BLOOD as aging hitman Quarry is forced to come out of retirement when his true-crime-author daughter is abducted by one of the killers she’s written about. Perfect for fans of Liam Neeson thrillers and authors such as Lee Child.

Genres: Noir, Fiction, Crime

224 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2024

About the author

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.

He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.

Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black

Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quarry’s Return is Collins’ latest foray into the ever-growing legend of the man known as Quarry. Think about that classic rock concert you went to last year and the band coming out for an encore, then coming out for another encore, and then perhaps (after most have left the stadium heading for the parking and traffic) the final penultimate encore. Well, that’s what we get with the Quarry series, encore after encore, which is good because the series is always tremendous fun to read.

Quarry’s Return has a still trim Quarry (who swims every day whether on a job or in the lakeside resort he runs) in his Seventies and who has discovered he has a forty-year-old daughter, courtesy of the playboy bunny he once had a wonderful fling with, and who writes true crime stories, some of which are based on Quarry himself. With that introduction to the book, you know if you are a long-time fan of the series that you will get a few tidbits to take you down memory lane and Quarry’s checkered past, including the basic Quarry story, which is that he got send by Uncle Sugar to Vietnam, only to return to find his dear wife had not waited for him. He kicked a jack out from under the new boyfriend’s car, managed not to get convicted of murder, and went to work for the Broker as a hitman, often part of a two-man team. Later, he took out the Broker and went to work ferreting out who was ordering hits and turning that around on the guys who were making the orders.

This time it is personal as Quarry himself is apparently targeted and his daughter has vanished. With Lu (previously of Quarry’s Deal), a sloe-eyed blonde beauty who is Quarry’s match in skills, you get a pair tag-teaming their way across the novel. The writing is crisp. The story is fast-paced and includes all the requisite action even right from the beginning and shows us fans that Quarry, even a geriatric Quarry, can still hold his own. There are points where Quarry plays at being more of a private eye ferreting out clues than just an action hero. Nevertheless, this one is just a whole lot of fun to read and an invitation to revisit all the previous sixteen Quarry novels.

[Ayz · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a solid ending. Another great quarry.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last we heard from Quarry was when hé became the proud father of a fortyish old daughter who writes about True Crime and is rather good at it.
Having spend Christmas with his daughter Quarry receives an unwanted visitor who wants him dead, being a seventy year old man that possibility seems quite large were it not for the fact that the second visitor is far more welcome and a friend from the past.
While looking into this assassin they discover that Quarry's daughter has dissapeared while investigating a current real life serial killer case concerning the murder of cheerleaders. So Quarry and his female friend Lu go on a roadtrip. The serial killer will meeting two killers fairly soon.

Another excellent update on the life of former hitperson named Quarry who should have been retired but still is a fascinating character and not just a legend.

Glad Max Allan Collins kept Quarry around and alive, hé still makes for splendid reading.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars for Quarry’s Return: Quarry, Book 17 (audiobook) by Max Allan Collins read by Stefan Rudnicki.

The legendary hit man comes out of retirement to help rescue his daughter that he barely knows. He’s finally getting to be the father that she needs. And someone is going to pay the ultimate price for abducting his daughter.

[Blair Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quarry is a septuagenarian on the hunt for a serial killer known as The Cheerleader Killer. We see him doing some amateur sleuthing, although most of the time, he just gets lucky.

The story takes place after Quarry’s Blood, but this time, an old-time acquaintance arrives to help out. Quarry comes full circle, returning readers to places from the first novel.

“Shit fuck cunt piss hell, getting old was a bitch!”
-Max Allan Collins

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quarry is my favorite series written by Collins. I can never get enough. After previously "ended" the series, renewed interest has resulted in this, the second post end of the series book. This is somewhat meta, with Quarry having written a series novels based on his life. As a 70+ year-old who has gone through heart surgery, Quarry is not as spry as he once was. Check out Amazon or Goodreads for a summary of the plot, but read Max Allan Collins' Quarry series, and this one as well.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 17th Quarry novel is another fabulous escapade into yet another chapter in Quarry’s storied career. This follows up the well-received, award-winning previous entry, “Quarry’s Blood” and so we have the older version of him, at 71 years of age. Quarry, now retired from his killer-for-hire life, has recently discovered a daughter, Susan, that he never knew he had, and who also happens to be a journalist and a well-regarded true-crime writer. When she turns up missing and presumably kidnapped by a subject of one of her true-crime books, Quarry must return to his old stomping grounds of Port City to hunt for clues. But he’s not alone, being accompanied by the beautiful and exotic Lu, a former target of his, but who has now become a staunch ally. The trail leads to what appears to be a serial killer who targets former cheerleaders. Unfortunately, Susan also has that distinction…so the stakes couldn’t be higher.

I tend to enjoy books like this where the hero is an older man but still fit and capable of a lot of action, even if he has painful joints or moves a tad slower. Perhaps this is due to my own accumulating years, but I find them fun to read, regardless. I just recently read the very first Quarry novel ever written (simply titled, “Quarry” but originally titled, “The Broker”) and that served me well here as there are a lot of throwbacks to that book, even though it took place nearly 40 years previously. Max Allan Collins admits that the Quarry books are a “sort of left-handed biography” of himself and for those of us who have followed his career and read his blog, there are a few Easter egg tidbits here and there that make this an even more fun book to read.

Whether the next Quarry book continues to follow an aging Quarry or turns out to be a flashback, I will certainly be onboard for another fun outing.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quarry answers the door to find a hit man after his own life. You think he'd know better than to just answer the door, but age has a way of slowing you down.

It seems his daughter, the true crime writer, has uncovered something someone wants covered up. He and his sort of girlfriend drive around Iowa looking for answers and victims.

Not bad, but in these later Quarry novels, MAC seems a bit softer.

[Andy Rausch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quarry's back. What can you say? This is the seventeenth book in the series, and they've all been good. So, as one would expect, this one was solid. Collins sounds like he's finished with the series, and who can blame him? He's had a great run here. What more is there to do?

But make no mistake: if he writes another Quarry book, I'll be there to read it. Again, they're all good books, so I have no complaints whatsoever.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quarry is retired at 71 in Minnesota, and has reconnected with his daughter. A guy breaks into his house and nearly kills him when he is stopped by a woman from his past. Turns you that Qarry's newfound daughter has become a known writer of true crime books, and she has gone missing. Quarry and Lu go looking after her. Lots of suspense and killing ensues. As with the other Quarry novels, it's filled with action and is a fast read that's hard to put down.

[Vernon Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Quarry books are quintessential Hard Case Crime! Quarry, now retired and getting up in years, teams up with an old flame to find his daughter, a true crime writer who has disappeared while researching a series of unsolved murders. Classic Quarry: fun, exciting, and irreverent!

[Tras · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent addition to the series. Contains all of the ingredients you both want and expect from a Quarry novel. Bringing Lu back was a master stroke, and I would happily read about Lu and Quarry's adventures all day long!

[Ron Panarotti · Rating 5 out of 5]

One thing I've come to like about the Quarry novels, especially with the two most recent installments, is that Max Allan Collins is positively embracing the character's advancing age. It's not like Spenser, for instance, where the private eye eventually stayed locked in some mid- to late-40s limbo (although they did finally drop the references to his having served in Korea). But still, Spenser could drink like a fish and have doughnuts and coffee for breakfast every day and still outrun and outfight anyone he came up against. Not very believable. But now, Quarry is well into his 70s, and the changes imposed by his aging have actually made the books and the character more interesting.

Which brings us to Quarry's Return, the newest novel in the series. By now, Quarry has long been retired from the hitman profession. His living these days comes from his managing a Midwest lodge aimed at those in the higher income bracket. But, as has happened before in this series, a ghost of seasons past pays him a creepy visit, setting the stage for a wintry slay ride. In the previous book, Quarry's Blood, the ex-hitman learned he had a daughter from a brief relationship he had back in the mid-1970s. Now, the daughter, a true crime writer, has mysteriously vanished after paying Deadly Old Dad a holiday visit. It seems like the fact she was in the middle of a new writing project may figure into her disappearance. Aided by the timely arrival of another woman from his past who was a "coworker" of Quarry's back in his hitman days, he sets out to find his daughter.

If you're a loyal reader of this series, then by now the books are almost like comfort food. But even though Quarry is a retired senior citizen, he hasn't lost any of his deadly edge except for the natural limitations imposed on him by age. By now, we've been given a clear narrative of Quarry's life from his days serving in Vietnam to the present. Unlike the Spenser books, Collins makes no effort to hide the fact that Quarry is getting older. The fact that the character has such a lengthy, developed history has made the books richer. By this point, the older books are actually period pieces, mostly set in the 1970s and 1980s. But regardless of the era, the character still works, and that is much to Collins' credit.

The author has said that this may be the final novel in the series -- or at least, that if there is another, it would likely return to somewhere in Quarry's younger years as a hitman. In fact, much like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Quarry has had several endings already. Chronologically, in terms of the character's life (as opposed to publication order), the previous 3 books to this one all were intended to serve as a final chapter, with one of those even titled The Last Quarry. But I hope we have not seen the last of the hitman. Despite what he does, you end up rooting for him to survive. Collins once wrote that he enjoyed the idea of creating a first-person narrative in which the reader would be challenged to see how much they could identify with a character on the wrong side of the law. Now, nearly 20 books later, the fact that Quarry's exploits are so dependable as satisfying pulp fiction simply comes as a matter of course -- or should that be corpse?

[Craig Childs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seventy-one-year-old assassin-turned-author Quarry is having another bad day. First, a killer shows up on his doorstep with a knife. Second, his daughter Susan is kidnapped…

The only bright spot? His former girlfriend Lu, whom he once believed dead, is on the scene and ready to rumble by his side…

I read this seventeenth Quarry novel in a day. I started listening to the audiobook narrated by Stefan Rudnicki during a workout. It was so engaging, I just kept listening while I cooled off in the swimming pool. Then after dinner, I switched to the print edition over drinks. What can I say? The plot is campier than any since Quarry's Cut, yet the book still remains fun especially in the first half.

Despite being a cranky septuagenarian with a suspect heart, Quarry keeps besting men half his age and rising to the occasion, so to speak, with Lu's amorous advances. The pair leave an impressive trail of bodies in their wake.

When Quarry and Lu go undercover, believing Susan's kidnapping may be connected to a cheerleader serial killer, the mystery aspects reminded me of The Wrong Quarry. Unfortunately, the whodunnit reveal is neither clever nor surprising. Questions are raised but not answered:

Why would the police (especially one with a secret) give their open case files to a true crime writer's assistant? How did the killer learn Quarry's true identity?

Best not to think about these questions too hard.

Lu is one of the stronger series characters because Quarry can never be sure where her allegiance lies. However, when she is squarely on the good-guy side of the ledger, as here, her role becomes less intriguing. Plus, her return undoes the great sendoff in Quarry's Blood.

3 stars

[Peter Ackerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Quarry’s Return” by Max Allan Collins continues the gripping adventures of the now-retired killer for hire known as Quarry. Both longtime fans of the series and new readers will be quickly captivated by this page-turner, which begins with a serene post-Christmas scene as Quarry bids farewell to his adult daughter after her visit.

The tranquility is short-lived, however, as Quarry’s daughter suddenly goes missing, after an attempt on his life. The only clue to her whereabouts lies in the unsolved true crime she was researching for her next book. What follows is a story packed with hard-boiled action, classic noir atmosphere, and Collins’ signature narrative asides, which are always a delight.

“Quarry’s Return” proves that, like his aging protagonist, Max Allan Collins remains a master of his craft. While any Quarry novel could be the last, depending on the author’s whim, I sincerely hope this series continues. It’s clear that both the writer and his character still have much to offer.

This review is based on an advanced reader’s copy of the novel, provided in exchange for an honest review, which I have endeavored to provide here.

[Greg Trosclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Quarry's Return. It was an excellent edition to the Quarry series. While each of the last couple of books Collins has written feel a little like he is tying up some of his series not entirely sure why but having been the person to finish up many of Mickey Spillane's ideas might have given him reason to finish some of his character's stories. Quarry comes back after spending Christmas with his daughter only to be assaulted in his longtime home, saved by Lu a returning character from an earlier novel Quarry's Deal the third Quarry novel. The book moves swiftly from there as Quarry finds his daughter missing and the chase to find her is on. It is a fast paced and fun book. Aging Quarry has his weaknesses and we see how he deals with them. He is still mostly a badass just needs to be a little more canny than the heavier handed younger Quarry might be. Lu is a fun supporting character. Collins sets the novel primarily in his beloved Tri State area, need to get there sometime to see how it looks. Anyway this is a very good book. I hope that it isn't the last of Quarry past, present or future.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most recent "last" Quarry book. In an amusing afterwards, Collins reviews the multiple times that he believed he was finished with the series only to write one more.

Quarry is 71 years old when the book opens. He started out as a professional hitman. He had a second career hiring out to protect victims from hitmen. Now he is retired. He has been reunited with his long-lost daughter, who is a successful true crime writer. He is also reunited with a long time ago girlfriend.

His daughter disappears It may be connected to a serial killer she is researching for her new book. Quarry and his girlfriend go in search for her. It is a good thriller plot with a not very surprising ending.

The Quarry books are almost all set in the tough Midwestern industrial towns. The towns usually feature crooked rich guys who control everything, corrupt cops and seedy bars and hotels. Port City, Iowa fits the bill. It has a particularly creepy rich guy.

I will say that, as a 70-year-old, I am a little dubious about Quarry's ability to handle himself in a fight at the age of 71, even if he works out allot.

This is a good solid addition to the series.

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, I have become a big fan of Max Allan Collins and his hardboiled writing style. The Nolan books are a hoot, the Heller books are a fun trip through mid 20th century history, and "The Road to Perdition" is a straight up classic.

This is my third book featuring Quarry, the hitman who targets other hitmen (and assorted bad guys). This is 70+ year old Quarry enjoying retirement, spending Christmas with his (recently discovered) daughter, a true-crime writer we met in the previous book. But we all know that retired bad guys in novels never stay retired...

Shortly after his daughter leaves, someone comes after Quarry, out to kill. Not as quick and skillful as he used to be, Quarry is saved by Lu, another professional from a previous chapter, who is out to find out why her retirement is being upended as well. And when this deadly pair find out Quarry's daughter is missing, off they go to rescue her and make sure that someone is going to pay.

A fun pulp-ish romp with two senior citizens leaving a trail of bodies. Quarry may not be what he once was, but you still don't want to get in his crosshairs. Go and enjoy the mayhem.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seldom give a 5 to any book, but this latest entry in the series was very good. Part of it is set at Sylvan Lake which was also the site of a Bonita Granville Nancy Drew movie. If you liked the earlier Quarry's, you will like this one. Incidentally, there is a good deal of difference between the books and the one season only TV series - books are much better.
Unfortunately, a few years back Collins re-released some of his earlier Quarry books but with different titles. So, you can accidentally get a book you have already read. I hate it when authors/publishers do that.
As for Collins, I recommend not buying any books that he "co-authored" with Mickey Spillane, who has been deceased many years. Apparently he has rights to the unpublished works of Spillane and finishes them. Read one and was neither Spillane nor Collins.

[Joseph Maniscalco · Rating 5 out of 5]

As he ages, he keeps getting better...

Quarry is now in his seventies, as is author Collins (and this reader). Many books later, Quarry seems resigned to getting older. But when a crime hits home, and family, Quarry is back! Not necessarily as a hit man, as he's been for most of his "professional" career, but in search of his missing daughter.
As a possible ending to the canon, Quarry shows surprising emotion and some of his age. But Collins is definitely not showing his age. Quarry is still wisecracking and dangerous.
Collins' readers might also recognize more than the usual similarities to his creator.
The last? Could be? But maybe Co!!ins has saved best for last.

[Solitairerose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quarry is one of my favorite series characters, and Collins is a master as hard boiled prose, so a new Quarry novel is always appreciated. This one builds on the last novel where Quarry found out he has a daughter, and Quarry discovers she's been kidnapped. So, despite being a senior citizen, he dives into the mystery to save her. Collin's brings back another character from an earlier novel and weaves a tight tale. The mystery is complex enough to pull the reader along, the character of Quarry (a retired hitman), as well as the lean prose make for a quick, enjoyable read. There are a couple places where Collins has to use the trope "And then someone came through the door with a gun" and a couple sequences seem unearned. However, the characters and brisk pace more than make up for it.

[Tim Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quarry’s Return was my least favorite book in the series. The appeal of the books for me is the Parker-like sleekness of the plot and character, tales told with efficiency, dark humor and the hard-assed narration of the hitman…er, professional. Quarry’s Return has too many characters, Quarry acting as a private investigator, a meandering plot and just a whole weird feel to it, especially now knowing that Quarry is recording and publishing his exploits - way too meta for me. I would have been happier if the series had ended with Quarry’s Blood with any future entries being flashback books.
Overall a fantastic series, I just don’t like the current direction it’s taking.

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Max Allan Collins brings Old Man Quarry back for the coda to the coda in Quarry's Return. I love seeing the older, and sometimes wiser version of the character and Collins fixes his biggest mistake of the previous volume with a great character return. As always, he's at the top of his writing game and no matter which version we get next (young or old) I'll be here when Quarry comes back again.

Special Thanks to Hard Case Crime, Titan Books and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quarry is 71 years old! But he’s the same old Quarry, and this book has the same old Quarry plot - someone close to him is kidnapped and he is out to rescue her! ( or is that the Nolan series plot? ). Oh, and Lu is also back, again. So it’s back to Quad Cities. Again.
Quarry and Lu investigate his daughter's disappearance and run into a serial killer. The book is barely 200 pages and it takes quite awhile to get there. I know it sounds silly to say, but after 17 of these books, I might have finally lost interest. I'm not swearing to it, but this may be my last Quarry.

Fun game - count how many times Diet Coke is mentioned in this book!

[Iris Pusemuckel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't let it end like this, Mr. Collins.

Unfortunately, Quarry is rather weak in this last one. Two woman save his ass on different deadly occasions. I didn't like that, and I wished he at least would have shot some villains himself instead of stumbling around and losing in fights his gun all the time. Quarry is 72 in this novel and not 92. So why make him such an old geezer? You have to rectify that, Mister Collins and write another "last one" where he is 73 and is recovered enough to do his killings himself! Please, don't let him die as this helpless old man as he is in this novel. I beg of you! :-)
Since years, I read your Quarry novels over and over again because they are unique, funny and full of great characters and events. I love Quarry. Don't let it end like he is too old to hold his gun in his hand! Please!
Oh well, I give 5 stars anyway.

[Michele Zuniga · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked having Quarry come full circle back to “Port City” as a senior citizen, and despite his aging Boomer body and reflexes look for his daughter and escape those trying to kill him. It’s kinda fun to enjoy Hitman Retirement Humor. And a little sad to follow the parallel deterioration of Port City and Davenport, my old stomping grounds.

[Taylor Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Yet another fun entry in the Quarry series. Mixes the typical hitman antics with an interesting serial killer plot. Quarry has lost a bit of a step with old age but it’s nice to see him a bit more vulnerable than usual. If you are a fan of Quarry or Collins, you’ll love this book.

[Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Max Allan Collins is an author who appreciates his fans and knows what they want, and what they want is more Quarry. So here it is, another Quarry story filled with violence and retribution as Quarry struggles to find his newly found daughter who has mysteriously disappeared. He is helped by an old friend from his past who is just as deadly as Quarry himself. This is truly modern pulp fiction.

[dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

Max, Quarry deserves more attention . When you confessed that you could write a Quarry in a couple of months and a Heller could take two years I wondered what's up with that? I hope to buy another Quarry in 2025.

[Joe O'Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very Good; Continuing character: Quarry; when his true-crime writing daughter disappears and a hit man tries to kill Quarry, he goes hunting along with a woman who also used to be in the killing game