Customer Reviews

Two for the Money (Hard Case Crime)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Max Allan Collins is one of those authors that other authors don't want to hate, but simply have to because he is so prolific, and because he makes it look so easy. Since his first novel was published thirty years ago, Collins has churned out mystery series, stand-alones, comics, and movie and TV tie-ins to the tune of 80+ published full-length works -- even going so far as to write the novelization of the screenplay of a film (Road to Perdition) that was already based on his own work (in this case, a graphic novel)! Two for the Money contains his first two published novels (in their 1981 revised versions, as opposed to the 1973 originals): Bait Money and Blood Money, #1 and #2 in a series of five (so far) books starring professional thief Nolan.

The book seems to start at the end of one story and the beginning of another as we are introduced to Nolan 35 days into his convalescence from a gunshot wound. (Although "convalescence" may be the wrong word since he seems to be spending the majority of the time having sex with the waitress who has put him up -- and put up with him -- for all that time.) One phone call changes all of that, however, and he sneaks out soon after she goes to work.

The first book (Bait Money) of Two for the Money falls under the "last big heist" heading, with Nolan wanting to retire. He's 48 and it's definitely time to give up this high-risk business. Unfortunately, some "Family" members have a grudge against him that makes that difficult-to-impossible. But he has an out: if he pulls one more heist for them, to the tune of $100,000, they will "forgive" him. The catch is that he has to pull it with the planner's nephew, Jon. This contrasting of old blood and new has long been a cliche (it may even have been then), but Collins' skill at characterization makes it work, even if a few leaps of faith need to be taken.

Book Two (Blood Money) was written very soon after the acceptance of Bait Money for publication, and so follows closely on the latter's heels. Collins himself even sees the two as one long novel, hence the omnibus publication. In it, we learn more about Jon, an aspiring comics (or "graphic story") artist. Jon's love of comics is a thread that runs throughout Blood Money and this is a world that Collins certainly knows something about, having written for the comic strip Dick Tracy from 1977 to 1993 (Max Allan Collins fans should note that reprints of that series are becoming available under the title Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles), as well as authoring numerous graphic novels of his own creation.

Collins wastes no time getting Blood Money off to a running start. A vital supporting character from Bait Money is killed -- and $800,000 is stolen -- in the first few pages. Later, Nolan finds out that someone he thought was dead isn't. Collins uses a fascinating technique throughout this entry of having news delivered by telephone to one character and then backing up to show the story leading up to the exchange, this time from the caller's perspective. He also adds useful tidbits of information, like how having high blood pressure can make a victim more likely to die of a gunshot wound. He also showcases the unheralded victim of a gunfight: the guy who has to clean up the mess.

Darkly funny details like these make Two for the Money a joy to read, Max Allan Collins a new favorite author, and Nolan a character I plan on revisiting soon. Collins admits that Nolan is an almost complete rip-off of Donald Westlake pseudonym Richard Stark's Parker, but Westlake appreciated the differences Collins offered the stories and gave Collins his blessing to continue the series. These stories would make terrific movies, and artist Mark Texeira helps out Hollywood's casting directors by drawing his own preferences on the cover painting, with Nolan resembling a cleaned-up Nick Nolte, and Jon and the irresistible Shelly looking strikingly like modern "it couple" Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon. Someone should advise Nolte to latch on to this possible comeback opportunity. In the meantime, I'm going to latch on to all the Max Allan Collins books I can get my hands on.

The two books reprinted in this one volume (Bait Money, Blood Money) are very satisfying early works from Collins. Blood Money is one of the best literary sequels I have ever encountered, perhaps even TOPPING its predecessor. And yet, more than a sequel, the 2nd book works best as the second half of the story begun in Bait Money.

This book makes an EXCELLENT companion piece to Collin's book "Tough Tender," which reprints two other books in this same series (Hard Cash, Scratch Fever). Put them together and add the final novel, "Spree," and you have an epic potboiler that is unequaled in mystery fiction

Max Allan Collins writes some of the best hard-boiled mystery novels out there and this story is not one to be put down and walked away from.

"Nolan", Collin's stoic professional thief is in a jam from the begining with a bullet in his side and a beautiful waitress taking care of him. He decides to make a peace offer to a mobster whose brother Nolan killed years ago. From then on the plot twists and turns relentlessly.

"Two For The Money" is really two books Max Allan Collins wrote previously titled "Bait Money" and the sequel "Blood Money". Having them under one cover is great. The art work on the cover is old-school and so is the action. Characters real enough to be able to pick out of a line-up, and lots of bullets, sex, and betrayal. Hard-boiled mystery and action at it's best.

We all know the old saying about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, and that aphorism holds no less true in the world of writing. Homages to the works of famous authors not only honor the individuals but show the extent of their influence in their chosen fields. The eldritch imaginings of H.P. Lovecraft have gotten mileage far beyond their original iterations thanks to artists as diverse as Brian Lumley and Neil Gaiman. Entire swathes of fantasy are basically testaments to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. What happens, though, when a pasticheur can't quite imitate another's excellence? Can the resulting work be considered a success? It's a question I found myself asking while reading Two for the Money, hardboiled author Max Allan Collin's tribute to Richard Stark's Parker novels.

Nolan is feeling his age. No, scratch that, he definitely feels older than his forty-eight years. Running from the Family will do that to you, and Nolan can't exactly blame the Chicago crime syndicate for chasing him. He'd been doing fine as Family nightclub manager until Gordon got promoted, the thug. You see, Gordon told Nolan to off an old friend, and ... Well, let's just say things got messy. Killing Gordon might've been excusable on its own, but absconding with $20,000 of Family money? That definitely wasn't. Now after sixteen years of hiding from Gordon's brother Charlie, Nolan's ready to call it quits. But to do so he'll have to pull off the most difficult job of his career, a bank robbery where he has a crew of amateurs, a bullet in his side and no other options.

You can't say Collins doesn't line up the Parker tropes like a row of dominos. An amoral, single-named protagonist. A high-stakes heist. A deadly double cross. Plenty of blazing guns and down-n-dirty fisticuffs. Yet despite such similarities, Two for the Money never quite feels like a Stark book. It simply doesn't read the same. Stark's name could describe his style. His novels are bare and unadorned, peeled all the way back to the bone. In fact, the actions of Parker and his associates often seem a little mysterious at first because Stark doesn't let readers into their heads or comment on their actions. He's almost a hardboiled Hemmingway. Conversely, Collins lets his characters unspool paragraphs of internal monologue, ruminating at length about most everything under the sun. That isn't to say the book's bad. Two for the Money does what pulp ought to, namely entertain. But somehow it never quite adds up to the works which inspired it.

Donald Westlake, writing under the pseudonym Richard Stark, penned a number of wonderfully lean crime novels featuring Parker, a thief who coolly goes about his business. Versions of Parker have been portrayed by such actors as Peter Coyote, Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson, but the literary version is physically enigmatic, as he is rarely described. Overall, however, I'd have to peg Parker as being in his thirties: old enough to be wise to the ways of the criminal world, yet not so old as to be in physical decline.

Heist men tend to have short life spans, but what if Parker made it to middle age? He might be a lot like Nolan, the antihero center of Max Allan Collins's Two for the Money. Nearing 50, Nolan knows his days of larceny are behind him, and he'd like to retire. Of course, there are problems with doing so, most particularly with a crime boss who wants to see him dead.

Two for the Money is actually a compilation of two novels: Bait Money (Collins's first published novel) and Blood Money, though the two really form one larger story. In Bait Money, Nolan tries to make peace with Charlie, a crime boss who's been after Nolan for years since Nolan killed Charlie's brother and stole some money from him. Charlie, a cog in a bigger crime machine known as the Family, is willing to let bygones be bygones, but only if Nolan pays him $100,000. Furthermore, the money must come from a heist, not a "legitimate" source.

Backed into a corner, Nolan goes to Planner, a friend to thieves who enjoys semi-retirement. Planner sets up capers though he doesn't do the actual jobs. Since Nolan is persona non grata in the thieving world (due to his troubles with the Family), Planner only has one possible job, a bank robbery. The problem is that the crime must be committed with amateurs, including Jon, Planner's comic book-loving, college age nephew.

Obviously, Nolan survives the adventures of Bait Money or he wouldn't be around in the sequel. Even if he has survived, he has been affected by the incidents in the first book. In this one, a mysterious person kills someone close to Nolan and steals a large sum of money, one that he needed to get a new start in his life. Nolan pieces together who this killer is quickly enough, but hunting him down will be more difficult, exacerbated by the fact that Nolan isn't the only one doing the hunting.

Although it is clear that Collins was influenced by Parker when creating Nolan (he even admits it in the afterword), Nolan is also a different character, more older and tired. While relatively stoic, he does comes off as warm and tender hearted compared to Parker. As Collins intends, this is not a very deep read, but it is an entertaining one, a book with the pulpy prose that will appeal to fans of classic crime fiction.

"Two For The Money" which is two novels in one(Bait Money & Blood Money), was great! I found the plots intriguing, and the character Nolan to be wonderful.

The pages just flew by.

I can't believe these works were Max Allan Collins' first few tries.

Book one "Bait Money" was penned while he was in college at the University Iowa, the 2nd book "Blood Money came several years later. (According to MAC's afterward).

If he could produce work at this level so young, I shutter to think what his later work is like.

I'm definitely going to read all the Max Allan Collins I can get my hands on.

Great books, great author, and a great line of books (Hard Case Crime). I can't recommend all of them enough!

Happy Reading!

Two early Max Allan Collins novels have been combined to make Two for the Money, a Hard Case Crime publication. The two novels are Bait Money and its sequel Blood Money. Both feature the hardboiled Collins protagonist known only as Nolan.

Nolan is a professional thief who is unrelentingly tough but operates within a certain code of conduct. (Though at times it's not easy discerning where the boundaries of Nolan's moral code are.) In Two for the Money, Nolan rather reluctantly pulls a bank heist in order to make peace with the Chicago based mob he unwisely offended some 16 years before. The plotting is less than airtight but the dialogue and the descriptive prose both make for compelling reading. The narrative is action packed and takes a number of unexpected, rather surprising turns.

The most admirable aspect of this book is the way Collins has successfully fashioned a genuinely hardboiled novel which does not take itself all that seriously, yet at the same time does not come off as self mocking. When you think about it, that's no small accomplishment. Two for the Money is a great example of hardboiled fiction. A solid 4 stars.

This volume reprints the first two of Max Collins' novels about Nolan, a character initially patterned as "homage" to Richard Stark's tough guy Parker.

In Blood Money, Nolan, a long time professional heister (that is he earned his money the old-fashioned way: he stole it) has found an apparent opportunity to put to rest the long time animosity of the Chicago Outfit (and to get the contract on his life rescinded). All he has to do is pay a sum reasonably attainable by "withdrawal" from a small town Midwestern bank. He puts together a team of willing amateurs for the task, but things are not as straight-forward as they seem. Internal tensions wthin the Outfit and difficulties within the robbey team complicate life as double-cross after double-criss occurs, up to the last page.

In Blood Money, before Nolan can recover from the near fatal conclusion of Bait Money, the money he secured to satisfy his obligation with the Outfit is stolen, his surviving partner kidnapped, and a senior colleague murdered. Both from loyalty to Jon, and from the principle that no one heists a heister, Nolan is forced, well, to be Nolan. The identity of the robbers and their personal issue with Nolan drive him toward the violent finish as he finds himself working with, or is it against, the Outfit once more.

Collins' style is terse, muscular, and fitting for the noir style of the 70 when these were initially published. Nolan is a hard professional, not cruel or vicious, just very professional at doing what needs to be done. The writing is direct and the action credible.

Fans of the Parker series will enjoy these initial books of the Nolan series.

Collins went on to write five more novels involving Nolan and Jon. In them, the character of young Jon becomes more siginificant, as does Nolan's desire to put heisting behind him and, as he says "go straight." Circumstances, his loyalty to Jon, and the vengeance of some with whom he had dealings during his "professional" years will conspire to complicae the attainment of his objectives. The concluding novels are far less "tough" than the initial two, certainly not Parkeresque, and as Collins himself says the presence of Jon hunanizes Nolan. They are still worth reading, especially once one has got to know Nolan and Jon

"Two for the Money" by Max Allan Collins is the fifth release in the spectacular Hard Case Crime series. The novel actually combines two earlier releases - "Bait Money" and "Blood Money" - which feature Nolan, a Midwestern heist man on the run from the mob. In "Bait Money," Nolan's cover is blown, and he is forced to commit one more major robbery. The second half, "Blood Money" concerns the aftermath.

First published in the early 1980s, these two taut thrillers by Max Allan Collins mark the beginning of the Nolan series, which includes an additional six novels. Collins does a nice job developing the character of Nolan as a cool anti-hero. The character is intelligent and instinctual but still quite believable. At the end of the day, he's just a tired old guy who wants some peace, not some superhuman capable of evading every comer. Another nice touch is that Nolan is paired up with Jon, a twenty-year-old hippie nephew of one of Nolan's associates. The character helps show a different side of Nolan. A final strength is that Collins sets the two stories in small towns around the mid-west, which is a nice change of pace from the LA or New York settings on which most of these types of books rely.

The only real weakness is that the two novels are simply combined together into an omnibus seemingly without being edited at all. Thus, the second half ("Blood Money") often summarizes and repeats things that happened in the first half. I can understand why they didn't alter the books, but it made for some unneeded repetition.

This review is for the Kindle version. The Kindle Fire version displays the attractive cover art by Mark Texeira in brilliant color. The text is easy to read in the Kindle format, with very few obvious errors. As usual, Hard Case Crime has done a stellar job configuring the novel for the Kindle.

Fine vintage noir writing with few wasted words. Protagonist Nolan is a slightly more sentimental version of Westbrook's (i.e., Richard Stark) Parker. If you like the Parker books, you'll like these too. Hopefully, Collins has a few more reprises of this character left ...