Mark,
Re your comments below
"Maybe [my disliking Spillane's books] was because I read
them in college that the anti-intellectualism particularly
offended the intellectual I was then
(somewhat ostentatiously) trying to become. I like to think
I've outgrown at least some of that snobbiness."
Ah. I went to Berkeley, and being an iconclast, I railed
against all the intellectualism. Maybe that's why I started
to find Spillane appealing at that time.
"And with that mind, maybe I'll try him again. Which Hammer
book do you (or anyone else) recommend as his best?"
I would say his best book was ONE LONELY NIGHT. The narrative
drive (and Hammer's near-psychopathic rage) is well-sustained
throughout. And the noir-ish atmosphere, as Hammer stalks the
nocturnal, rain-swept, concrete canyons of Manhattan is very
well-done.
Be advised, though, that, aside from I THE JURY, this is the
book Spillane's critics find most objectionable. It pits
Hammer against the Red Menace
(and the Red Menace hasn't got a chance), whihc, all by
itself is enough to get the Cultural Elite's back up. Hammer,
convinced he is on a Mission from God, goes after a Soviet
spy ring aided and abbetted by home-grown commies. If there's
a trace of intellectual snob left in you, this'll be the book
that convinces you that you were right about Spillane all
along.
On the other hand, it might be the one that convinces you
Spillane's a lot more underrated than he deserves to
be.
JIM DOHERTY
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