: I've read all the Mike Hammer novels (and just about
everything else
: Spillane has written), and I like all of them. The plots
don't
: always make too much sense, but there are some great
individual
: scenes in them, like the opening on the snowy bridge in
_One Lonely
: Night_ (my favorite Hammer novel).
I feel pretty much the same. I think I've read all of them
except
_Black Alley_, but I found that in the library the other
day.
Spillane must be one of the longest-lived hardboiled
writers.
The scenes that stick out in my mind are the violent finales,
like
"How could you?" "It was easy." and the one where he plugs up
the
shotgun. It sometimes gets to be a bit much the way it's
always the
gorgeous, seductive woman who's behind it all, and the way
hot sprays
of acid gush out into his churning stomach as he realizes the
bad guys
stole his Velda away, but what the hell. You don't mess with
Hammer.
There's always a place on my shelf for supertough guys who
take care
of business.
Saying Spillane can sometimes be "a bit much" is a bit much,
but you
know what I mean.
Bill
--
William Denton | Toronto, Canada | http://www.vex.net/~buff/ | Caveat lector.
"It is better to incur a mild rebuke than to perform an onerous task."
-- "Uncle" Oswald Hendryks Cornelius
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