Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly, by Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer is driving south to New York city when he found a woman standing in the road. He picked her up, and learned she escaped from a sanatorium. Soon a dark sedan cut them off, the men attacked Mike and knocked him out. The now dead woman and Mike are placed in his car, then it is pushed over the cliff. Mike rolls out before it goes over the cliff. He wakes up in a hospital, where State and Federal police want to question him. Mike resolves to get even with the guys who sapped him, then wrecked his car. Capt. Pat Chambers advises him against that, they work for a powerful member of organized crime. Mike learns his place had been searched, but not just by the FBI! Powerful forces suspended his PI license and cancelled his right to carry. This is all because Mike is "coincidence proof". Mike tracks down Lily Carver, the roommate of Berga Torn (the hitchhiker on the road). Somebody left a new souped-up car for him, but he gets the bombs removed. He then started his investigation. Mike learns that two Miami boys are looking for him. Mike drives to the estate of Carl Evello, who once knew Berga. Upon his return, two gunman take him for a ride, but their plans are upset at a Dead End. Later Mike walks along Broadway and finds two more gunmen; they will not bother him again. Mike is searching for the reason Berga and others died. Could it be $4 million in hidden drugs (Chapter10)? This dirty racket created a lot of orphans and widows. Mike found a letter from Berga but could not understand the short message. The men from the dark sedan are there. Later Mike escaped from their trap, and has a hunch where the missing shipment was hidden. After more events (padding out the story?) Mike figured out where Berga hid something, and he has someone retrieve it. Mike follows the leads and finds Velda, and the Big Wheel who had been well concealed. Mike gives him an early retirement. There is a final surprise at the end, for which clues had been planted earlier. Somebody is burned up over the ending, Mike lives for another day. The book lacks a final chapter to tie up the loose ends. Who got the long-hidden package? What effect did it have? In this novel Mike has no regular client. He acts as if he was subsidized by some hidden power, presumably the local government who can then disavow responsibility for his actions. This story was change drastically for Hollywood, was the subject matter Too Controversial? The film seemed to kill off "Mike Hammer" with the appearance of a final explosion. It would be 10 years before Spillane wrote another "Mike Hammer" novel. [The devaluation of the dollar would make $4 about equal to $80 today.] Hammer mostly operates above the law, like the later James Bond, a more polished agent with the same license to kill. Spillane used to write stories for comic books. His violence may be a way to describe what was implied by cartoon drawings. The success of his early novels met the public's nee

Many will recall Berga Torn, the gorgeous gal wearing only a trenchcoat who brings Hammer's car to an abrupt halt. She's an escapee from a treatment center, and it's amazing how she treats Hammer. It seems as the story ends that the jig may be up for Hammer, but is it? Today Mickey Spillane is 85-years-old, and acclaimed around the globe for inventing the hard-hitting, hard-boiled protagonist who is a compelling mix of sex and sharp shooting. It's hard to believe this many years have gone by for the Brooklyn born Spillane. He's outlasted and out sold many of his contemporaries, and when last heard from was still hard at work. Perhaps those of us who love to read don't take time to thank the writers who have given us so many hours of pleasure. I certainly fall into that category, so a big hats off to Mickey Spillane and gratitude for the wealth of reading pleasure he's given so many.