Spillane, Mickey Books

The Mike Hammer Collection, Volume 2: One Lonely Night, The Big Kill, Kiss Me Deadly

Mickey Spillane

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Mike Hammer -- named appropriately 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read these books shortly after they were published originally. I was a teenager who fantisized myself as Mike Hammer and his conquests - both with the ladies and in giving the bad guys their due. Spillane introduced me to the wonderful world of paperback novels that have kept me a voracious reader of them to this day. A few years later, I marveled at the exploits of 007, first in the books by Ian Fleming and then the movies so ably done by Broccoli and Saltzman - not to mention Sean Connery (the only real James Bond). Mickey has now gone on to his reward and I would say to him "job well done, Mick."

Editorial Review:

"There's a kind of power about Mickey Spillane that no other writer can imitate." (The New York Times)

Apparently. With his trend-setting Mike Hammer detective novels, Mickey Spillane shot to superstardom as one of the most notorious bestselling sensations in publishing history. This powerhouse collection includes three of the master's long-out-of-print greatest novels-together for the first time in one explosive volume:
The Big Kill
One Lonely Night
Kiss Me, Deadly

Includes a special introduction by Shamus and Edgar Award-winner Lawrence Block.

The Mike Hammer Collection Volume 1

Mickey Spillane

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Solid, tough-guy fiction 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

It had been around fifteen or twenty years since I had last read a Mickey Spillane book before I had started the Mike Hammer Collection Volume 1. Back then, it had been the first Hammer book, I, the Jury. Over the years, I had forgotten almost all about the book except the very end. Rereading it and the other two novels in this edition, I figured out that this was appropriate: Spillane ends his stories with exclamation points, not periods.

This omnibus edition contains the first three Mike Hammer novels: in addition to I, the Jury, there is My Gun is Quick and Vengeance is Mine. As with the other books, I, the Jury doesn't waste much time with exposition. By the end of the first page, we already have a dead body, in this case, Jack Williams, Hammer's best friend. Almost immediately, Hammer makes a vow: he will kill Jack's murderer. The bulk of the novel is Hammer's investigation, a combination of legwork, intuition, deduction and intimidation, with a little romance added into the mix. It is, in a way, a routine tough guy private eye story, with some decent writing and a memorable ending.

My Gun is Quick - the longest of the three novels - moves a little more slowly, with the first death not occurring until the eighth page. In this case, it is a prostitute trying to get out of the business and who briefly befriended Hammer. The investigation again takes Hammer into the seedy side of New York City, and unlike the first novel, Hammer takes a real beating this time. Eventually, however, he will get to administer his own violent sort of justice.

Vengeance is Mine! has a corpse not only on the first page, but in the first sentence. The trouble for Hammer is that the man was killed with the detective's gun while the hero was drunkenly unconscious. This leads to Hammer losing his license, but that doesn't stop him from finding the killer, in this case entangled with a modeling/call-girl outfit and an illegal casino.

Outside of Hammer, there are really only two recurring characters. Pat Chambers is a homicide captain who is Hammer's friend and tolerates Hammer's behavior because he delivers the goods. He is able to keep Hammer on a leash, but it is a long one and occasionally it doesn't work. Velda is Hammer's beautiful secretary, who adores her boss. Hammer knows he should marry her, but at the same time he can't keep away from all the other beautiful women who fall for his hard attitude.

Mike Hammer, however, is the center of each story, a narrator with barely restrained rage. He is often a bully, but he also has a sense of fairness and is more tolerant than many fictional detectives of this era, even having a love affair with a prostitute in My Gun is Quick. In I, the Jury, Spillane is still honing Hammer's voice, but by the second novel, he has Hammer perfected. This is not great art - I doubt even Spillane would have claimed that - but it is solid entertainment and really hard boiled fiction in the classic vein.

Editorial Review:

SEX AND VIOLENCE. Mickey Spillane, the tough-as-nails, bestselling publishing phenomenon knew what readers wanted. Now he's really letting them have it...times three.

MIKE HAMMER-Spillane's ultimate creation, the original no-holds-barred private eye who became homicide's hottest anti-hero.

THE MIKE HAMMER COLLECTION, VOLUME 1-the first-ever trade anthology of Spillane's masterpieces of literary mayhem. In one exciting collection, here are the first three novels featuring legendary detective Mike Hammer.

I, the Jury
My Gun is Quick
Vengeance is Mine!

Mickey Spillane is a master. (The New York Times)

Mickey Spillane is the living master of the hard-boiled mystery. (Detecting Men)

Dead Street (Hard Case Crime)

Mickey Spillane

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Vintage late Mickey 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Here's a detective novel which was about 3/4 complete at the time of Mickey's death, and which has been finished by Max Allan Collins. The joining of the Mickey and the Max material is fairly seamless, and I had to go back and look for it after reading past it.

A retired New York City cop is still brooding over the kidnapping and death of his girlfriend 20 years before, when he suddenly learns she is still alive, but blind and with no memory whatsoever of her life before the kidnapping. This sets off a complex plot, which turns out to center in more ways than one on a "dead street," which is being cleared of all its existing structures--- many of which have important history touching on the life and career of the main character--- so that Saudi investors can build a hive of yuppie lofts.

The action swaps back and forth between a gated retirement community in Florida, inhabited mainly by ex-cops, and the mean streets of New York. As usual in the Mickster's work, the plot takes many twists and turns, and Collins manages to tie all the loose strands together fairly well at the bloody climax.

There are some echoes of previous Spillane novels here and there, but by and large the old master still had it when he wrote this, his final non-Hammer crime novel. Enjoy.

A Century of Noir: Thirty-two Classic Crime Stories

Various

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Not much noir here 2 out of 5 stars.
18 of 19 people found this review helpful.

I guess the editors decided that noir sells, the problem is there's not much noir here. Of the 30 some odd stories in this book, maybe a third of them could be considered noir. I guess the editors expanded the definition to any crime story. There are some good stories here, particularly by Carroll John Daly, Mickey Spillane, David Goodis, Max Allan Collins and Norbert Davis, but there's also a lot of mediocre stuff (most of the stories in the second half of the book range from fair to awful). Even terrific writers like Lawrence Block are represented by pretty bad stories (and as bad a Block's story is it's not even remotely noirish). I don't know, I have to think that if Spillane and Collins took this book more seriously they could have come up with a better representation of noir fiction. Even a noir master like James M. Cain is represented by a mediocre story that doesn't even classify as noir.

Editorial Review:

Thirty-two stories of stunning ingenuity. Thirty-two writers of legendary genius. One hundred years of crime fiction in a one-of-a-kind collection. Edited by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins. Introduction by Max Allan Collins.

Featuring stories by:

Lawrence Block
Leigh Brackett
Gil Brewer
Fredric Brown
James M. Cain
Max Allan Collins
Carroll John Daly
Norbert Davis
Loren D. Estleman
William Campbell Gault
David Goodis
Edward Gorman
Chester Himes
Dorothy B. Hughes
Evan Hunter
John Jakes
Stuart M. Kaminsky
John Lutz
John D. MacDonald
Ross Macdonald
Stephen Marlowe
Lia Matera
William P. McGivern
Marcia Muller
Sara Paretsky
Talmage Powell
Richard S. Prather
Bill Pronzini
Robert Randisi
Benjamin M. Schutz
Mickey Spillane
Donald E. Westlake

The Deep

Mickey Spillane

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

WAITED NINE YEARS FOR THIS ONE! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

With the publication of "The Deep" in 1961 Mickey Spillane ends a nine year writing silence. This tale has Hammer doing a lot of reflecting along with the fast action.

Today Mickey Spillane is 85-years-old, and acclaimed around the globe for inventing the hard-hitting, hard-boiled protagonist who is a compelling mix of sex and sharp shooting. It's hard to believe this many years have gone by for the Brooklyn born Spillane. He's outlasted and out sold many of his contemporaries, and when last heard from was still hard at work.

Perhaps those of us who love to read don't take time to thank the writers who have given us so many hours of pleasure. I certainly fall into that category, so a big hats off to Mickey Spillane and gratitude for the wealth of reading pleasure he's given so many.

A going-back to your childhood book, for a man of violence 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the best Mickey Spillane books because it appeals to a broader audience by not being quite as quick to violence as his Mike Hammer series. I have given this book to people who thought they would never read a Mickey Spillane book, and they have enjoyed it.

The Erection Set

Mickey Spillane

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

This book was just what I expected from the Great Mickey 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The plot was rich with intrige and the players did not know that they were playing with The big Dog. Kelly is a average Spillane characture. He knows what women want and what men fear. He is ready to give them both every thing he's got with both barrels.

ANOTHER DEPARTURE FOR SPILLANE 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

While many may dub "The Erection Set" Spillane's "most ambitious work, " I can only comment that to my knowledge it's the longest. For this reader it simply didn't have the impact - the pow- of some of his earlier novels.

"I, The Jury" (1947) was the beginning, the beginning of a round of thrillers by then unknown Mickey Spillane. Mike Hammer, one of thrillerdom's ace protagonists was introduced, and the world couldn't read enough of his adventures.

Today Mickey Spillane is 85-years-old, and acclaimed around the globe for inventing the hard-hitting, hard-boiled protagonist who is a compelling mix of sex and sharp shooting. It's hard to believe this many years have gone by for the Brooklyn born Spillane. He's outlasted and out sold many of his contemporaries, and when last heard from was still hard at work.

Perhaps those of us who love to read don't take time to thank the writers who have given us so many hours of pleasure. I certainly fall into that category, so a big hats off to Mickey Spillane and gratitude for the wealth of reading pleasure he's given so many.

Something's Down There: A Novel

Mickey Spillane

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

From Mickey Spillane, the hardest-boiled of detective writers, comes ... a sea story? Surprising but true, and a fun yarn it is. Mako Hooker is enjoying retirement from a life of lethal undercover work, fishing the days away on the remote Caribbean island of Peolle. But his idyll is shattered by the "eater"--an unknown presence in the deep water that bites the bottoms out of boats. As the attacks intensify, the outside world converges on Peolle: the media, a Hollywood film company, and some of Hooker's old colleagues from the Company, one of whom once put a bullet in him. As the intrigue thickens and the action gets nasty, Hooker reluctantly reactivates his old "kill or be killed" skills while trying to solve the riddle of the eater and kindling a romance with a beautiful heiress from a neighboring island.

Spillane published his first Mike Hammer novel in 1947, and though his pace has slowed, he has continued to publish into his 80s. Here, his touch here falters at times, with phrasing or pacing that seem off kilter. But the prose is often vigorous, the characters are well-drawn, the settings are vividly evoked, and the plot contains more angles than a geometry test--capped by an ingenious solution to the central mystery. Something's Down There is a pleasing concoction from a storied writer. --Nicholas H. Allison

Mickey Spillane: 5 Complete Mike Hammer Novels

Mickey Spillane

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Black Alley

Mickey Spillane

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

The Grandmaster Says Good-Bye 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Black Alley is the latest and possibly last book in the Mike Hammer series, featuring the toughest private eye in the business.
Hammer is out to avenge the death of an old war-buddy, who was murdered during a mysterious burglary. His vendetta is complicated by several events: He catches a bullet during a mafia gang shootout, which renders him weak and vulnerable througout the book; his dying friend reveals the approximate location of a 89 billion dollar stash that he has stolen and hidden from the mob, who - of course - want to get their money back; and last, but not least, Velda, Hammer's beautiful secretary, is adamant in her desire to finally walk him down the aisle.
Black Alley is somewhat different from the previous Hammer-novels. The crime noir atmosphere is missing for the most part; Hammer has definitely arrived at modernity. This becomes apparent when the hero muses about and decries corporate America, aluminum beer cans, and the future of warfare, which he believes to bring about "ugly, destructive death" due to the use of chemical and biological weapons. Moreover, some humor is added, in the form of Miller Lite Beer, which is consumed in considerable quantities throughout the book (Spillane appeared in TV ads for Miller Lite in the 70s).
It is obvious that Hammer is nearing retirement. Having just recovered from an almost fatal gunshot wound, he is feeble throughout the book. And he does something he has never done before: When he has finally cornered the villain, he does not finish him off with a bullet in his guts, but turns him over to the cops. However, don't be fooled by Mike's ostensible softness - he is still dangerous, and the turks who are trying to take his place still get their feathers ruffled.
Black Alley is not one of Spillane's strongest books. At times, the plot is somewhat predictable; the characters are rather transparent; and the final solution lacks the shocking explosion of the other Hammer novels. On the other hand, perhaps Spillane didn't even attempt to create an ending like that - for a good-bye to his fans the book's ending is definitely better suited, and as a good-bye Black Alley seems to be intended, after all.
Despite its not-so-great plot and characters, the book is still a gem. Spillane's style is still unmatched by any author in the genre. He still makes you not want to put the book down before you've arrived at the last page. In case this is really his last Hammer novel, I would like to extend a sincere "thank you" to him. What he has written is not just "good garbage", as he once described his novels in a reply to his numerous critics, but literature that will stand the test of time. Let's all have a Miller Lite now. Cheers!!

Editorial Review:

It's not clear whether Spillane himself or his venerable detective hero Mike Hammer has been in a coma during the seven years since his last book, but loyal fans who discovered and fell in love with the hard-boiled genre because of his early books won't care. Hammer is back, along with his trusty sidekick/secretary Velma, and age hasn't slowed them down more than a step. Hammer wakes from his brush with death to find himself embroiled in a mess involving $89 million of missing mob money. Not the smoothest writer in the arena of mystery, but certainly one of the most popular -- and influential.

The Killing Man

Mickey Spillane

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

I Love the Pulp Fiction Detective 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The Killing Man is a typical Mike Hammer murder mystery, only in this story, the tables are turned and bad things are happening to Hammer himself. The tale begins as Hammer walks into his office and finds his darling secretary, Velda, knocked unconscious and a strange man, brutally murdered, occupying the office chair. From there, things only get worse for the detective, and the reader finds himself in a fast-paced, sexy and interestingly plotted adventure. Reader beware, however, this is Mike Hammer, a guy who doesn't know the meaning of, `a feminine side.'
Here's a quick example of what I mean: (The story is written in the fist person. Hammer is speaking.)
"I cocked the .45, took real deliberate aim and touched the trigger. The gun blasted into a roaring yellowish light and for that one second I saw the leg jerk and twitch with a grotesque motion, and even before he could scream, I did it again to the other leg...
The pain really hit him...He glanced down and was ripping at his clothes again and screamed, `You killed me!'
`Not yet,' I told him... Then he found the small-caliber pistol his hands had really been groping for and brought it up in a sweeping, deadly arc, one finger tightening around the trigger.
There was one smashing roar of the .45. His blood went all over the place. Fresh specks of crimson were on the back of my hand. I stood up slowly and gave him a hard grin he couldn't see any more.
I said, `Now I killed you.'
If you like Pulp Fiction, you'll like this one.
Gerard Bianco, author of the mystery novel, Dying For Deception (www.dyingfordeception.com)

Editorial Review:

Hammer finds his secretary severely beaten and a mutilated corpse in his desk chair--the victim of a vicious killer who is clearly after Hammer.