My Gun Is Quick

Chapter One reminds the reader that what they read about in books is actually happening outside, somewhere. Its real life, not vicarious entertainment, and it isn't nice. Mike Hammer just completed a job and stopped at an all-night diner for coffee. A redheaded woman asked him for a cup of coffee. A man came in to meet the redhead and there was trouble. Mike ended it. Later when Mike returned to his office he saw a newspaper that told how this woman was killed in a hit and run accident. Mike visited the Captain of Homicide to see if she was identified; she wasn't. [No fingerprints?] So Mike Hammer begins his quest to solve the murder of this unknown woman. Mike locates where the redhead lived. Her room was torn apart by someone looking for something. A lead takes him to a wealthy person on an estate out on Long Island. Later he learns why the redhead's room was searched. Captain Chambers tells him the hit and run was solved - it was a young kid who was drunk and speeding. But Mike noticed the redhead's ring was missing; it wasn't a simple accident! More facts are discovered, her name was Nancy Sanford. Mike learns more about her (Chapter Four), and then about the racket (Chapter Five). Does Mike give too many details to his client (Chapter Six)? An old overnight bag has some clues about Nancy (Chapter Seven). Will Mike's source be safe? Will another lead find more clues (Chapter Nine)? Inspecting a hidden cache of photographs yields new clues (Chapter Twelve). The police begin a series of raids that create chaos for organized crime. Will the ones on the top get caught (Chapter Thirteen)? Will they get revenge against Mike's friend (Chapter Fourteen)? The solution in the final chapter ties up the loose ends. Mike gets his revenge on the man behind all this evil. [Did the ending inspire the film version of "Kiss Me, Deadly"? Was this story inspired by an actual New York city scandal?]

After a hiatus of 50 years, I read this hardboiled novel again. I was in high school the first time and very taken by the tough-guy attitude and Mike Hammer's ease with willing women. I had neither and still don't, I'll add as an aside. The book still works for me, but for somewhat different reasons. Nickel calls, "rods," cheap subway fares, etc. date it but delightfully so. After all, 1950 (when this was published) was in a vastly different world from today. The plot doesn't really matter much. We see Mike Hammer get beaten severely of an evening, never hospitalized, and fully recovered apparently by morning. So what? That's part of the theme in Spillane. The dark, wet streets of Manhattan are a perfect setting, a sort of film noir on paper. The characters are comic book cutouts, hookers with good hearts, twisted bad dudes, tough-minded and tough-muscled good guys. The dialogue is almost funny sometimes, especially in the last chapter with Hammer laying it all out for the lord-high evil doer. And we don't get the denouement until the last page. Mickey Spillane doesn't waste time with cool downs. I give this one five stars for nostalgia if for nothing else.

This book was exciting, moved fast, and Spillane's character, Mike Hammer, as always, was in top form. Spillane's stories are always suspenseful and exciting.