The Wrong Quarry by Max Allan Collins
Crime , Max Allan Collins , Titan Books / January 10, 2014

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? Quarry, that’s as close as you’ll get to a name for our enigmatic protagonist, is something of an anti-hero. He’s a hitman who has developed a bit of a conscience, and has taken it upon himself to deal with those that used to be his competition. Don’t get all slushy and sentimental though, he still expects remuneration for his work. He has a hard-bitten, gritty approach to life, hardly a surprise really based on his chosen line of business, and his voice acts as our guide through his latest adventure. I’m not sure I’d go so far as to call him a likable character, if you met him then something has probably gone badly wrong in your life, but he’s undoubtedly interesting. He lives by his own…