The Mike Hammer Collection: Volume I (2001) - Plot & Excerpts
I had been meaning to read this shit for, like, seven years. From a page in, I could tell that every parody of hardboiled detective stories (seriously, EVERY one) from the 1950's onward was, in large part, parodying Spillane: even if they didn't realize it. I had always hesitated jumping into Mike Hammer myself because I had often heard the books described as a bigoted, ultra-right-wing vigilante fantasy. You can make an argument for that interpretation, but you can also make arguments against it. Besides, whatever these books may be, they are certainly some of the most important, formative, entertaining, and riveting old school tough guy crime stories ever written, and that's a genre that I will always love unabashedly.Spillane has to find his feet a bit here, as the first book, I, the Jury is a little more run-of-the-mill than the others (also, very racist at times, but I got through it). Since Spillane's mysteries themselves aren't that amazing (I figured out every one of them awhile before the reveals, and I never TRY to figure out mysteries), these stories work better when they aren't structured or treated like normal mystery fiction. I, the Jury is still pretty great, but the series definitely had somewhere else to go, and does it ever.The second book, My Gun is Quick (gotta love those first person titles) was probably my favorite in the collection. In it we have the beginnings of Mike Hammer realizing what a terribly destructive person he is, although it's in the last book that his violence really becomes three-dimensional. What the second book really excels at is an amazing leap forward in ways of looking at gender, considering it's still a crime novel written in 1950. Mike Hammer books seem to pretty much always be homophobic, unfortunately, but the sexism is often pretty restrained, and Spillane, and indeed Hammer (who I don't think is an author avatar), are very upfront about how fucked up and unfair sexual double standards are... and without giving much away, that, and the fact that most cops couldn't care less about the murder of a prostitute, are central to the story of My Gun is Quick.The last one, Vengeance is Mine, also has some very interesting things bouncing around in it, some that I can't mention for fear of spoilers. But this book gives us a wonderful sense of continuity, as much of it is wrapped up in Hammer's own psyche and the way his violent life has affected him and his own self-worth. The ending of the first book, especially, seems to be one of the formative moments of his life, and so that in part accounts for the Hammer of that first book being a less captivating character.In the end, I leave this review at four stars not for the racism and homophobia that crop up intermittently (those are, unfortunately, par for the course in books from this period), but because a little more moral nuance in Hammer's violent nature, and a little less of every woman (and gay man) ever being hopelessly attracted to Mike Hammer would have been nice--I could only push suspension of disbelief so far. Nonetheless, don't get it twisted, these are classics of the genre that should be read and enjoyed. They fly by and are immensely fun and riveting: they may be a guilty pleasure, at times, or they may not be perfect to you, but they're more complex than they're given credit for, and even if they weren't they'd be damn good crime yarns. For all of his problems, Mike Hammer is, in the end, an admittedly evil necessity who sticks up for the disenfranchised who aren't supposed to exist in the happy, sunshiney world of the 1950s. (Just... you know, only some of the disenfranchised.)
If you want to experience one of the great masters of the hard boiled detective novel, a writer who defined the genre and raised it to a fine art then I whole-heartedly and without reservation encourage you to move on to Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. If you want to read the third guy, the one who made a lot of money writing shlock this three novel collection is the way to go. For the price of a single trade paperback you get Spillane's first three novels, allowing you to trace his career from first-novel jitters to hitting his stride, such as his stride was.Though infamous in their day for bringing a new level of sex and violence to the detective genre, they're actually quite tame by modern standards. What's more likely to offend are scenes many would consider racist, sexist, or homophobic today, though by comparison to other writers of his era Spilane was actually not so bad on those points. REaders with a sense of historical change will not be offended.The good in Spilane is that he keeps the pace moving, and that his descriptions are very cinematic in their color and clarity. You get a real feel for a darkly romanticized New York in the years just after Word War 2. Sadly, Spilane's faults overwhelm the good.A striking problem is that Mike Hammer is a sociopath. He brags endlessly about being the guy who can snuff the criminals that the police cannot, and more than once admits that he enjoys doing so. HIs first novel is aptly named except that it leaves out "judge" and "executioner". Villains of sufficient badness he kills outright, while toward characters of secondary goodness or badness he meets out less than terminal justice accoding to his own harsh code without ever questioning he might be wrong. Spilane's character might saitisfy a certain quality of male ego, I rather suspect one frustrated by his inadequacy at meeting the challenges of the world, but quite frankly I've played video game assassins with a more balanced sense of justice.A more heinous crime for a mystery writer is that Spilane's supposedly surpise endings came as no particular surprise to me. For all three novels I was able to identify the killer well before the end. As a fluke you can expect to work out who the killer is once in a great while even with the best of writers. Being able to do it three out of three times means just plain bad writing. Hint: Just look for the character (not necessarily a suspect or witness) related to the case who is being painted as the least likely, who will also be the character associated with the Mike Hammer likes the most. That's your killler. Spillane's style gives it all away, the only mystery being how he'll contrive to make the clues add up in the last scene. Then Hammer will kill the perp.
What do You think about The Mike Hammer Collection: Volume I (2001)?
While these are supposed to be detective stories, they really are guns n sex fueled action pulp stories starring a real brute who happens to be detective. The mysteries themselves can be at times no brainers ,but Mike Hammer is not about that. These stories focus more about the bloody relentless path to get there,less on plot and I am fine with that . Mike Hammer is not a man to cross.If you like your pulp like a raw steak then Mike Hammer is for you. If you do not, move along, nothing to see here but a bloody mess..
—Mario Geraci
This book contains the first three novels with the character Mike Hammer. These books are so enjoyable. Within pages the reader is transported back to a simpler time. The author does a wonderful job of painting a picture and as the reader I had no trouble imagining the simpler time era. These books are a murder mystery and by the end of each book you cannot wait to find out the conclusion. The third book "Vengeance Is Mine" is one of the best murder mysteries I have read. I believe these books can be enjoyed by anyone and stand up to the test of time.
—Jim C
I read Mickey Spillane in junior high and revisited these three books a couple of months ago. Like most things first experienced when young, they were both fun to revisit but failed to match the memories. I was a little taken aback to learn that the “bad guy” in all three novels was similar, so all three books had somewhat similar - and frankly, a little annoying - resolutions. I was also surprised to learn that Mike Hammer was quite tolerant of gays and that a scene in all three books was the same gay bar that for reasons never explained, Hammer liked to frequent. In fact, the books’ description of gay life in 1947-50 was fascinating and completely unexpected. I’m glad I read them but probably won’t read more.
—Lee Miller
