Mickey Spillane was, among other things, the author of a couple dozen hard crime novels, most notably a baker’s dozen featuring private investigator Mike Hammer. The first Hammer novel was published in 1952 (I, The Jury), the last (Black Alley) in 1996.
I really wanted to like Spillane’s writing and was disappointed to find it of such poor quality.
Survival … Zero (Read 6/22/09) Meh.
Mike Hammer gets a phone call from a friend who has just had his guts ripped open. It’s a slow month, so Hammer decides to investigate. Inexplicably the murder of Hammer’s friend is tied to a Soviet plot to release a virus in to kill the entire population of the United States.
Mike Hammer comes across as a self-righteous asshole. That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem but the narrative is confused and confusing. The story has more holes than my colander. Published in 1970.
The Killing Man (read 6/24/09) Meh
I gave this up in fairly short order when I realized that it was just more of the same. Spillane managed to change or grow not a whit in 19 years.
If you want to read some good hard-boiled crime or detective stories, I recommend John D. MacDonald or Richard Stark. Life is too short to waste on Spillane.
July 10, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Wow!
What a scathing review. Doesn’t sound like very good fiction though.
I agree that there are so many books out there, that you don’t have to waste time reading ones that aren’t any good.