Quarry [Hardcover]

Bill Pronzini (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pronzini's ( Breakdown ) brisk, efficient, action-packed mystery is set on the earthquake-ravaged San Francisco waterfront and in the now-arid salad-bowl country to the south. Here the Nameless Detective hunts for a methodical, brutal stranger who is pursuing withdrawn Grady Haas, 31, daughter of rancher Arlo Haas, the detective's old friend. Secretive Grady won't tell why she has suddenly left her job as an insurance adjuster specializing in marine claims and returned to the Salinas Valley . Nameless finds that her San Francisco apartment has been thoroughly tossed. All he has to go on are the three claims Grady had been investigating and her ex-boyfriend's savage beating by a stranger seeking Grady's whereabouts. Nameless may lack a moniker but he's full of character, describing himself as a "throwback--the kind of man who hates progress, mistrusts technology, and never quite feels comfortable in any place where he can't see or touch some small piece of the past." Still haunted by the horror described in Shackles (1988), in which he was chained for three months to the wall of an isolated mountain cabin, Nameless now must endure a new ordeal, being locked inside a burning building. The book's exciting final scene nicely plays on the title's double meanings.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

When Grady Haas, depressed and uncommunicative, moves back in with her dad, he asks Nameless to find out what's wrong. Suspecting nothing more than a soured love affair that she'll soon get over, Nameless is surprised to learn that the lover is a true mystery man--with several aliases: Blackwell, Jack King, David Jones. And that he's gone underground. Who is he really, and how did Grady, a claims adjuster at Intercoastal Insurance, meet him? The answers lie in Savarese Importing, but when Nameless is lured there, the owner has been murdered, the door clangs shut behind him, and the snap, crackle, and pop of an arsonist's handiwork warm things up. Nameless escapes (did you doubt it?) and tracks the arsonist to a gravel quarry for a vigilante justice ending. Pronzini, who since Nameless's kidnapping (Shackles) has been pioneering the noir-kvetch novel, whines more than he plots here. Add to this the unappealing wedding-mania that partner Eberhardt is experiencing and the outcome is bathos--plus reader annoyance. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: The Delacorte Press; 1st edition (December 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385305192
• ISBN-13: 978-0385305198
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,494,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough detective with brains and sense of ethics makes a name, December 1, 2001

By 

Paul Skinner (Manassas, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quarry (Mass Market Paperback)

This book had it all. Film - err - book noir style old fashioned tough gumshoe trying to rescue the damsel in distress, even if she doesn't want it. Our nameless hero gets into some fairly thrilling detective work, chasing a monster who keeps changing names. Unfortunately, the monster seems to know more about our hero than he should, putting "nameless" in extreme danger. The ending was spectacular.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Does Justice Require?, November 24, 2003

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Quarry (Mass Market Paperback)

Quarry is a major turning point in the Nameless Detective series. In many of the books beginning with Quarry, women are victimized by men in particularly unpleasant ways. Legal options are probably not going to be adequate to protect the women in the future. Nameless will find himself drawn to wanting to do the right thing, and looking beyond the boundaries of the law to do so. As a result, Nameless becomes more human and appealing as he wrestles with his conscience.

The book is set both in San Francisco and in the Salinas valley (and contains the inevitable references to Steinbeck). The local color is particularly strong in this book which adds to its appeal.

The mystery plot is a minimalist one which allows for more emphasis on psychology and action. It's a good choice by Mr. Pronzini.

Ailing farmer Arlo Haas knows something's wrong when his daughter Grady returns home unexpectedly. Always a loner, she's extremely uncommunicative, but it's clear she is troubled. And she doesn't want to do anything about what is troubling her. Arlo offers to pay Nameless to drive down to the farm to discuss the problem. Nameless takes the case, but cannot get any information out of Grady either. Although she's alive, she might as well be dead for all of the help she provides Nameless.

Speaking with her employer, Nameless is hard pressed to find any clues. There may have been a new man in her life. But who is he? Is he the right quarry?

Nameless's partner Eberhardt has been proposing to his girl friend Bobbie Jean for some time. She's now accepted his proposal, despite her concerns about her former two unsuccessful marriages. But Eberhardt is driving everyone crazy with the wedding plans, which keep getting more elaborate and expensive. The stress becomes too much for everyone, and leads to an emotional explosion. What will be the consequences?

Fans of the early Nameless Detective novels will continue to recognize the noir style, and may like seeing Nameless as a heat seeking missile doling out justice on his own. That's certainly consistent with the original hard-boiled detective novels. On the other hand, it also represents a loss of innocence that makes the books more cynical. Some may enjoy that aspect less well. In either case, you owe it to yourself to read Quarry to decide.

Increasingly, this series doesn't make a lot of sense unless you have read earlier books. I suggest that you read Dragonfire and Shackles before this one.

Fans of Sue Grafton will enjoy comparing this book to Q Is for Quarry.

As I finished this book, I thought about how much we can hope to protect others from harm. How much pain can we personally absorb to do so? What's the right thing to do when the personal pain will be enormous?

3.0 out of 5 stars Adds to the complete story of "Nameless", February 2, 2007

By 

jon (carlisle, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quarry (Hardcover)

Quarry has great ending and completes needed chapter in life of Nameless.

While not one of the "Nameless" top ten Quarry is essential for the Nameless reader. Looking for more history of characters and less on the SF area.