'See heroes never die. John Wayne isn't dead, Elvis isn't dead. You can't kill a hero.'
Mickey Spillane
'Mickey Spillane isn't dead. Mike Hammer isn't dead.'
Gary Dobbs
The Goliath Bone
Mickey Spillane with Max Allan Collins
Quercus
UK £17.99
Mickey Spillane was America's best selling hardboiled writer and although he was often critically mauled he shrugged this off - once telling an interviewer, "When are these big shot writers going to realise there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar?"
Raymond Chandler disliked Spillane's work as did Hemingway - when asked about this on national TV Spillane said - "Hemingway who?"
Whilst Chandler may have been more of a stylist than Spillane and responsible for some of the best hardboiled stuff ever written, I don't think he was necessarily a better writer. Different yes but not better. And Spillane is also responsible for some of the best hardboiled fiction ever. His debut, I The Jury (1947) still reads well today. That book was written in 19 days and sold six and a half million copies in the US alone. Maybe that's what got up the noses of Chandler and Hemingway who may be critically better remembered but could not hope to rack up the sales of Spillane and Hammer.
Spillane's style is so readable and the words tumble off the page which is surely proof positive of a creative genius, a man with an instinctive grasp of prose and narrative.
The story behind this book is that Mickey Spillane handed over this manuscript and extensive notes to his friend Max Allan Collins to complete - a week later the writer died. I'm not sure how much of the manuscript was completed before Collins started work on it - I've heard reports from it was virtually finished to it was there quarters done.
Reading the book doesn't give any clues since the job is so well done that the entire narrative is pitch perfect and retains the one voice throughout.
The result is that Mike Hammer, that right wing bruiser is back walking the mean streets of post 9.11 America. And it's great to have him there.
Hammer is drawn into danger when he spots two teenage kids being tailed by a man in a cab. Moments later shots are fired and Mike Hammer is up to his neck in trouble involving Asian terrorists, the American Government and the bone of some big guy who was once killed with a sling shot.
"Somebody down here in Washington is pretty damn sharp. When that bone was given a name, they saw right away the implications of what that thing could become in their so-called war on terror. Me, I don't believe in declaring war on nouns - I prefer to take on a person like Bin Laden or a group like al-Qaeda or maybe an whole damn country if I'm feeling ambitious."
In short it's an excellent book and Mike Hammer is still the same old Mike Hammer - well, except for the fact that he's finally going to marry the long suffering Velda.
Forget the bullshit and the pretensions Mike Hammer's back and it's damn good to have him.
There are other manuscripts in Max Allan Collins care and we should see several more Hammer novels - I for one will be first in line for these titles. I thoroughly enjoyed this nail biting thriller and felt that an old friend had returned.
A top quality thriller from the old school style but chillingly relevant to today's mixed up world. If you like crime thrillers then it's a must buy but if you're new to Hammer then buy it anyway. This is chronologically the last Mike Hammer novel and any more will be prequels.
Excellent stuff.
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INFO - When I first got the Internet around 2002 I was amazed to find that Mickey Spillane was still alive. I'd read a number of the Hammer novels as a kid but to my mind, over here in the UK, he belonged to the Chandler and Hammett era. We'd never seen the famous beer adverts and Spillane was very much a name of the secondhand book stalls and old TV movies.I emailed him via a link on his web site and got a friendly reply - he seemed to find that fact that I thought he was long gone quite humorous.
Anyway I later bought this signed photograph of the author and it takes pride of place on the wall above my desk.
Check out the video below to see the type of character he was - it's comforting to have a talent like Max Allan Collins guiding his legacy.
The TAINTED ARCHIVE hopes to run a interview with Max Allan Collins on the responsibility of continuing the Hammer novels. This is currently in the contact stage but watch out for any announcements on this blog.
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