mass market paperback, 246 pages
English language
Published May 1, 1977 by New American Library.
I thought I would enjoy some pulp crime stories from the master himself. It turns out that Mike Hammer is just too over the top and not likeable at all.
Fairly predictable, but I liked it much more than I thought I would. It was exciting and action-packed. The language is pretty amusing (and offensive in some parts), but then it was written in the 40s. This is one of the first hard-boiled detective novels, dating back to 1947. A quick, enjoyable read that has had a huge influence on pop culture and crime fiction.
The cover for my copy is different, but it is a Signet book published in 1947 from the looks of it, so close enough to the one depicted here in good reads. I got in the mood for some hard-boiled, so I am rereading it. We'll see how it stacks up.
* *
Once I got a chance to sit through it, I zipped through it. I enjoy this type of tale a lot. Mike Hammer pulls no punches. This is a great example of the hard boiled genre. For modern readers, I will warn that this is not a PC book, so if you happen to be "sensitive," go read something else. When Spillane died, one of the obituaries compared Mike Hammer to Dirty Harry. I think that would fit. Sure, the times may change, but a lot of us still like our heroes hard, with a strong sense …
The cover for my copy is different, but it is a Signet book published in 1947 from the looks of it, so close enough to the one depicted here in good reads. I got in the mood for some hard-boiled, so I am rereading it. We'll see how it stacks up.
* *
Once I got a chance to sit through it, I zipped through it. I enjoy this type of tale a lot. Mike Hammer pulls no punches. This is a great example of the hard boiled genre. For modern readers, I will warn that this is not a PC book, so if you happen to be "sensitive," go read something else. When Spillane died, one of the obituaries compared Mike Hammer to Dirty Harry. I think that would fit. Sure, the times may change, but a lot of us still like our heroes hard, with a strong sense of justice, and who don't let any bureaucratic nonsense stop them. As for the tale, the action pretty much grabs you from the first page and goes on to the twist at the end, which I will not reveal. If you like hard boiled, then this is for you.
This was written back in the forties, so it reflects its time, which for me is one reason I like reading this kind of fiction. Just to get a bit of a glimpse. But one also reads it just for the pure escapism. For me at least, this is one of my favorites now. I will be looking for other works featuring Mike Hammer. Since I got my copy of this one second hand, I think it may be fun to find others in second hand stores. We'll see how it goes.
