![]() And, yes, Collins makes us root for Quarry, or he draws us so completely into Quarry’s world that rooting for anybody becomes beside the point. Yes, he has his own sense of justice and will sometimes kill (pro bono) those he feels are on the wrong side of his very personal scales of right and wrong, but he’s still a killer more than a knight errant. Quarry was the first hit-man antihero in crime fiction, and, unlike most of his successors, he remains the most “pure,” in the sense that he isn’t somehow a good guy who only kills those who need killing (Dexter, et al.) no, Quarry kills for money and tells you so. So begins the severing of the Quarry-Broker connection, a relationship that we learn much more about in succeeding novels in the series.Ĭollins didn’t know Quarry would lead to a series when he was writing it, but he set the table perfectly, even so. ![]() ![]() But he doesn’t like complications, and when the Broker adds a wrinkle involving drugs to Quarry’s latest job, the hit man protests. Trained to kill in Vietnam Quarry finds he quite likes the work and has no trouble distancing himself emotionally from what he does. ![]() Originally published in 1976 as The Broker, this first novel in Collins’ series starring the Vietnam-vet-turned-hit-man finds Quarry five years into his career as an assassin for hire, getting his assignments from a middleman called the Broker. ![]()
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