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Nolan #3
Fly Paper
Third in the series by Max Allan Collins that's an homage to Richard Stark's Parker novels
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
12 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
About the author
Max Allan Collins
819 books1,334 followersReceived 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 26, 2024
I went into this with the mind set of "thieves on a plane." I wasn't too disappointed, but the skyjacking was pretty close to the end. The bulk of this is Nolan and Jon helping out a fellow thief get his money back from some double-crossers. After all that is resolved, then they take a plane home. Can't go wrong with this series.
March 5, 2019
Un pulp ligerito, muy entretenido aunque, al principio, algo confuso. El héroe, Nolan, es el protagonista de una serie de libros de Collins y éste es el tercero. Escrito en 1981, cuando los secuestros aéreos eran más comunes que en la actualidad pero en los cuales, raramente había consecuencias fatales, amén de unas cuantas excepciones. El 11-S lo cambió todo para siempre, convirtiendo esta clase de historias en una curiosidad que nos parece inverosímil pero atractiva. No es una joya literaria, como una cerveza no es champaña, pero igual se le disfruta.
October 4, 2019
#3 in the Nolan series. This 1981 series entry by author Max Allan Collins was actually about the same time as #1 & 2 in 1973 but publisher ownership problems delayed publication until 1981. This decade delay accounts for the somewhat anachronistic hippie-like personality of Jon and the skyjacker secondary plotline. This is an exciting series featuring a thief and started as an homage to Donald E. Westlake's series character Parker. A quick reading hard boiled series with a sense of humor.
Nolan was a tough guy and a mob guy in Detroit until a disagreement with the reigning powers left him on the outside looking in for twenty years. Nolan has now made good in some fashion with the powers that be and runs the Tropicana, a sweet little motel an hour out of Chicago where he has a young girlfriend, who helps him run the place. Jon is a somewhat naïve young kid, although twenty-one and with a major job under his belt. After his uncle ("the Planner")'s demise, Jon is running the antique shop, collecting his comics, and sometimes shacking up with his older girlfriend. Jon desperately wants to win Nolan's confidence and show himself as a cold, hard professional, not a dumb kid who is in over his head. A third character who shows up in this story is Breen, a thief who owes his bookie a bundle has been spending his evenings, breaking into parking meters with his partners, the Comforts. After a disagreement with the Comforts leaves Breen shot, he wanders into the antique shop to Jon's dismay and you have Jon and Nolan reuniting to right some wrongs and make a few bucks the old-fashioned way: by grabbing it.
Nolan was a tough guy and a mob guy in Detroit until a disagreement with the reigning powers left him on the outside looking in for twenty years. Nolan has now made good in some fashion with the powers that be and runs the Tropicana, a sweet little motel an hour out of Chicago where he has a young girlfriend, who helps him run the place. Jon is a somewhat naïve young kid, although twenty-one and with a major job under his belt. After his uncle ("the Planner")'s demise, Jon is running the antique shop, collecting his comics, and sometimes shacking up with his older girlfriend. Jon desperately wants to win Nolan's confidence and show himself as a cold, hard professional, not a dumb kid who is in over his head. A third character who shows up in this story is Breen, a thief who owes his bookie a bundle has been spending his evenings, breaking into parking meters with his partners, the Comforts. After a disagreement with the Comforts leaves Breen shot, he wanders into the antique shop to Jon's dismay and you have Jon and Nolan reuniting to right some wrongs and make a few bucks the old-fashioned way: by grabbing it.
January 22, 2026
I am so happy that the Nolan novels have made their return to print after around 30 years. This is the 3rd one of 9 and Nolan is still kicking butt.
Not necessarily focused around the hijacking of an airplane, this novel again switches between different POVs. On the one hand there is the D.B. Cooper copycat, on the other a mix between (briefly) Breen, Jon and the titular character of course. While the whole shtick of Nolan's sort of one-time partner in crime (Breen) being double-crossed, bringing danger to Jon's doorstep and thereby putting into motion a low-profile mini-heist was fun, the action really kicks into gear in the final section of the book when it turns out the boys are on a plane that's being hijacked.
What I enjoyed the most in this one - aside from the kick-ass hijacking and Nolan just being a no-nonsense bad ass - was the continued development of both the Nolan-Jon dynamic and Nolan just overall becoming slightly more humanised, which also becomes more visible in his interactions with people aside from Jon.
What a fun, easy-to-read, shut-the-hell-up-and-do-the-thing kind of pulp fiction. Gimme more.
I really hope the Nolan-Jon duo remains a recurring trope throughout the series.
Not necessarily focused around the hijacking of an airplane, this novel again switches between different POVs. On the one hand there is the D.B. Cooper copycat, on the other a mix between (briefly) Breen, Jon and the titular character of course. While the whole shtick of Nolan's sort of one-time partner in crime (Breen) being double-crossed, bringing danger to Jon's doorstep and thereby putting into motion a low-profile mini-heist was fun, the action really kicks into gear in the final section of the book when it turns out the boys are on a plane that's being hijacked.
What I enjoyed the most in this one - aside from the kick-ass hijacking and Nolan just being a no-nonsense bad ass - was the continued development of both the Nolan-Jon dynamic and Nolan just overall becoming slightly more humanised, which also becomes more visible in his interactions with people aside from Jon.
What a fun, easy-to-read, shut-the-hell-up-and-do-the-thing kind of pulp fiction. Gimme more.
I really hope the Nolan-Jon duo remains a recurring trope throughout the series.
December 19, 2019
Another Great Nolan Outing
I'm a long time fan of Max Allan Collins and his many series' of novels, and the heist novels featuring Nolan are perhaps one of my absolute favorites of his work, up there with Heller and Quarry, as well as his co-written works with Mickey Spillane and Barbara Collins (as Barbara Allan), respectively. Fly Paper is just a great, well written heist novel. It has the usual fast pace of a Collins work, and the writing is so tight and the prose right there with the best of the genre or really any genre. I cannot more highly recommend this book.
I'm a long time fan of Max Allan Collins and his many series' of novels, and the heist novels featuring Nolan are perhaps one of my absolute favorites of his work, up there with Heller and Quarry, as well as his co-written works with Mickey Spillane and Barbara Collins (as Barbara Allan), respectively. Fly Paper is just a great, well written heist novel. It has the usual fast pace of a Collins work, and the writing is so tight and the prose right there with the best of the genre or really any genre. I cannot more highly recommend this book.
February 19, 2026
The good payoff at the end doesn't make up for the earlier issues. I feel like the first 75% of the book was just filler....marking time to get to the good stuff. This would have been better as a short story.
Unrealistic dialog and contrived situations. Also, I don't need to have the characters re-introduced to me in detail when this is the third book in the series.
Two and a half stars...rounded up to three.
Unrealistic dialog and contrived situations. Also, I don't need to have the characters re-introduced to me in detail when this is the third book in the series.
Two and a half stars...rounded up to three.
May 31, 2021
This is the 3rd Nolan novel and they keep getting better. The writing is excellent and I really like the dynamic between Nolan and Jon. I thought the story was great, fast paced and had a satisfying ending. The narrator does a great job of putting the listener in the story. I highly recommend this series!!
August 31, 2024
Another fun installment in the Nolan series; as our cranky old gangster is working to yet again regain his stolen take. When a gangster buddy is double-crossed and left injured, Nolan has a chance at financial redemption…but is luck ever on Nolan’s side? A fun and easy listen, masterfully narrated by Stefan Rudnecki for Audible.
November 1, 2024
Nolan and his young protege take a commercial jet home to the Quad Cities from a heist. The money is in their checked luggage, along with two revolvers used in a killing.
When a D. B. Cooper type hijacker takes over.
Fun chess game
When a D. B. Cooper type hijacker takes over.
Fun chess game
June 24, 2025
6.5/10 - Solid read. You can definitely see the influence of the Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) Parker series, down to the 4 part structure. Collins is a bit hit or miss for me so far. This one is a hit.
September 14, 2019
I liked this Nolan novel very much. Wish that Collins would take another crack at the character.
August 15, 2021
8/10
192 pages
Nolan #3
192 pages
Nolan #3
September 6, 2021
another early tale about tough thief Nolan
March 2, 2023
Nolan still ain't Parker but this is the best in the series so far.
May 10, 2023
4/5 quirky, quick, and fun. For being a professional thief, Frank Nolan biggest scores happen in the bedroom lol.
July 8, 2025
Great story very pulp fictional
July 21, 2017
Take an overgrown twenty-one year old long-haired comic book afficiando who longs to attend comic book conventions and pair him up with an ex-Mafia enforcer who now runs a motel in a small Midwest town and you have the dynamic duo, Batman and Robin. Well, maybe not quite, but you do have a pretty good series of hardboiled crime novels. "Fly Paper" is the third in Max Allan Collins' Nolan series. The first two being "Bait Money" and "Blood Money," now re-issued in one volume as "Two for the Money." "Fly Paper" continues the story where "Blood Money" left off and, although the author has said all the novels in this series consist of one long story that resolves in the final novel in the series ("Spree"), you don't need to read the first two to get into this one. Nevertheless, by the time you reach the end of this tale, you probably are already heading into the bookstore (electronic or otherwise) and searching for the first two in this series. This is an underappreciated series and is deserving of far more attention and acclaim than it has thus far received.
January 27, 2011
Nolan had finally gotten off the mob's s**t list. He'd pulled off the bank job(Bait Money) and netted three quarters of a million dollars on the deal, though not without a double cross by old enemy Charlie and a couple of bullets in his hide. He'd survived that and exposed Charlie to the mob, which got him what he really wanted. Retirement from the life of pulling these jobs and back to what he really wanted: managing a nightclub for the mob.
He was fifty, getting a bit old for the old life. The mob tested him by giving him a motel/restaurant to run, one not profitable. In a year, he proved out and a deal was set. For a quarter of a million, he'd get twenty percent ownership of a big nightclub and run it for $60,000 a year.
As the money was set to be transferred, someone hit his banker, Planner, who'd been holding the money for him. Shot and killed, the money gone, Nolan knew it could only be one man: Charlie(Blood Money).
Charlie was supposed to be dead. Nolan uncovers a conspiracy that a few of Charlie's friends had helped him put over on the mob. But the money was gone, burned up by Charlie in revenge for his hatred of Nolan.
Now in FLY PAPER, the third Nolan novel, an old comrade stumbles into Planner's shop, shot,expecting help, only to find the old man dead. He'd been double-crossed on another job by an old man and his son.
Nolan perks up when he hears about the $200,000 in the pair's money box. He'd grown bored with his job at the motel and needed something to spark renewed interest. He and his partner Jon, Planner's nephew, set out to find the money and take it.
He was fifty, getting a bit old for the old life. The mob tested him by giving him a motel/restaurant to run, one not profitable. In a year, he proved out and a deal was set. For a quarter of a million, he'd get twenty percent ownership of a big nightclub and run it for $60,000 a year.
As the money was set to be transferred, someone hit his banker, Planner, who'd been holding the money for him. Shot and killed, the money gone, Nolan knew it could only be one man: Charlie(Blood Money).
Charlie was supposed to be dead. Nolan uncovers a conspiracy that a few of Charlie's friends had helped him put over on the mob. But the money was gone, burned up by Charlie in revenge for his hatred of Nolan.
Now in FLY PAPER, the third Nolan novel, an old comrade stumbles into Planner's shop, shot,expecting help, only to find the old man dead. He'd been double-crossed on another job by an old man and his son.
Nolan perks up when he hears about the $200,000 in the pair's money box. He'd grown bored with his job at the motel and needed something to spark renewed interest. He and his partner Jon, Planner's nephew, set out to find the money and take it.
August 21, 2012
**possible spoilers for previous books **
Continuing my reading of all the Nolan books by Max Allan Collins. Nolan and Jon are still looking for a way to recoup their losses from the previous heist in which the money was eliminated rather smokily. (It does help to read these books in order.) As is typical with Richard Stark’s Parker series (the inspiration for this series), there is a pattern where the heist is planned, accomplished and then something always goes wrong and the “heroes” have to extricate from the crumbling situations.
Collins pays homage to DB Cooper and plane hijackings in this book. For those who might argue it was too much of a coincidence for Nolan and Jon to be on a hijacked plane, and for those of you too young to remember anything other than 9/11 and who believe that when you get on a plane you will actually arrive at the scheduled destination, hijacking airplanes was very common in the sixties. In 1969 alone there were 82 skyjackings, so many one might call them a routine occurrence. The average number of skyjackings between 1968 and 1977 was 41. According to the Wikipedia, hijacking was used by the CIA as a weapon against Castro.
While Parker remains relatively ageless; Nolan is very conscious of his age. He knows he’s getting old and wants to retire and settle down, if that’s possible, but events continue to conspire against him. Very good series.
For the order of the Nolan series see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Alla...
Continuing my reading of all the Nolan books by Max Allan Collins. Nolan and Jon are still looking for a way to recoup their losses from the previous heist in which the money was eliminated rather smokily. (It does help to read these books in order.) As is typical with Richard Stark’s Parker series (the inspiration for this series), there is a pattern where the heist is planned, accomplished and then something always goes wrong and the “heroes” have to extricate from the crumbling situations.
Collins pays homage to DB Cooper and plane hijackings in this book. For those who might argue it was too much of a coincidence for Nolan and Jon to be on a hijacked plane, and for those of you too young to remember anything other than 9/11 and who believe that when you get on a plane you will actually arrive at the scheduled destination, hijacking airplanes was very common in the sixties. In 1969 alone there were 82 skyjackings, so many one might call them a routine occurrence. The average number of skyjackings between 1968 and 1977 was 41. According to the Wikipedia, hijacking was used by the CIA as a weapon against Castro.
While Parker remains relatively ageless; Nolan is very conscious of his age. He knows he’s getting old and wants to retire and settle down, if that’s possible, but events continue to conspire against him. Very good series.
For the order of the Nolan series see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Alla...
June 23, 2014
I notice this gets an aggregate score of 4 so maybe I didn't get it. I think Nolan is an appealing and interesting character which is good, but the story as a whole felt a little...underbaked. I did laugh out loud though, at a scene involving a pair of pantyhose and and continued snickering about it for days every time it popped into my head.
Most likely, I'll try one more book in the series.
Most likely, I'll try one more book in the series.
January 13, 2017
Wow. A far cry from the first two in the series. I was very disappointed in this installment. The heist element never really fully comes together for me, and a lot of elements were just floating around in the ether of this one. Wondering if I should go back and revisit Nolan again.
January 8, 2010
A book that was read during a trip to Manchester. A poor book to be had with a vacation.
February 25, 2019
Nolan is growing on me, kind of like the old school feel
February 16, 2014
Decent, fast-paced third entry in the Nolan series.
March 7, 2018
Bit slow compared to previous 2 novels - sometimes it was a drag.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews