The Mike Hammer Collection, Volume I

It had been around fifteen or twenty years since I had last read a Mickey Spillane book before I had started the Mike Hammer Collection Volume 1. Back then, it had been the first Hammer book, I, the Jury. Over the years, I had forgotten almost all about the book except the very end. Rereading it and the other two novels in this edition, I figured out that this was appropriate: Spillane ends his stories with exclamation points, not periods.This omnibus edition contains the first three Mike Hammer novels: in addition to I, the Jury, there is My Gun is Quick and Vengeance is Mine. As with the other books, I, the Jury doesn't waste much time with exposition. By the end of the first page, we already have a dead body, in this case, Jack Williams, Hammer's best friend. Almost immediately, Hammer makes a vow: he will kill Jack's murderer. The bulk of the novel is Hammer's investigation, a combination of legwork, intuition, deduction and intimidation, with a little romance added into the mix. It is, in a way, a routine tough guy private eye story, with some decent writing and a memorable ending.My Gun is Quick - the longest of the three novels - moves a little more slowly, with the first death not occurring until the eighth page. In this case, it is a prostitute trying to get out of the business and who briefly befriended Hammer. The investigation again takes Hammer into the seedy side of New York City, and unlike the first novel, Hammer takes a real beating this time. Eventually, however, he will get to administer his own violent sort of justice.Vengeance is Mine! has a corpse not only on the first page, but in the first sentence. The trouble for Hammer is that the man was killed with the detective's gun while the hero was drunkenly unconscious. This leads to Hammer losing his license, but that doesn't stop him from finding the killer, in this case entangled with a modeling/call-girl outfit and an illegal casino.Outside of Hammer, there are really only two recurring characters. Pat Chambers is a homicide captain who is Hammer's friend and tolerates Hammer's behavior because he delivers the goods. He is able to keep Hammer on a leash, but it is a long one and occasionally it doesn't work. Velda is Hammer's beautiful secretary, who adores her boss. Hammer knows he should marry her, but at the same time he can't keep away from all the other beautiful women who fall for his hard attitude.Mike Hammer, however, is the center of each story, a narrator with barely restrained rage. He is often a bully, but he also has a sense of fairness and is more tolerant than many fictional detectives of this era, even having a love affair with a prostitute in My Gun is Quick. In I, the Jury, Spillane is still honing Hammer's voice, but by the second novel, he has Hammer perfected. This is not great art - I doubt even Spillane would have claimed that - but it is solid entertainment and really hard boiled fiction in the classic vein.

If you love a good "who done it" this series it excellent and old school.

Thank you Mickey Spillane for creating Mike Hammer. I thought Raymond Chandler was the king of noir until I read these 3 books and this noir is dirty, nitty and gritty, getting under your skin like a tough old B&W movie. I felt like I was right there with Mike feeling everything. Amazing

I quite liked the TV-series with Stacy Keach portraying Mike Hammer. At least the first batch. When he came back for a second batch it went downhill. Anyway, I though I should read at least a few of these, now classic, books so I bought myself volume one of The Mike Hammer Collection on kindle.It is quite a bit a change of pace from my usual reading. No high-tech, no magic, no monsters, no spaceships etc… Well, it was a fun read nonetheless. The book was originally written 1947 so the language, especially the use of slang, is of course somewhat outdated.Today it is difficult, at least for me, to understand why this book became the first of a whole string of bestsellers. Yes, it is not my top-favorite genre and it is the first book in the Mike Hammer series and the first book in a series can often be a bit of a practice exercise for the author. Still, the book is readworthy but not fantastic. To me it is a fairly standard crime novel and a rather predictable one at that.One thing that I have to say that I do appreciate though is that the hero, although being quite a bit of a womanizer, does not jump into bed every five minutes with every good-looking chick he meets. Having said that, I suspect that in 1947 when the book was written, the behaviour of Mike Hammer was considered just as promiscuous, as jumping into bed left, right and center might be today.Anyway, it was a fun book to read. The old-fashioned language and the equally old-fashioned behaviour of the hard-core and hard-hitting (in 1947 at least) Mike Hammer was indeed enjoyable. There are two more books left in the collection volume I got so I will read two more books in the series for sure. After that, well it remains to be seen if I pick up another volume or not.

It had been more than forty five years since I first read these first three Mike Hammer detective novels by Mickey Spillane. As a long time fan of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer series, I was happy they have put nine of Spillane's novels into three volume sets. Even though I had read all the Mickey Spillane's novels many years ago, I decided to again visit these great detective stories when they came out in these volume sets.This volume (#1) has I, The Jury, My Gun is Quick and Vengeance is Mine. It has been more than forty five years since I first read these great detective stories. However, reading them a second time I enjoyed them even more. The hard-boiled and gritty Mike Hammer series is a real throw-back to the great early detective novels. With our politically correct society today, the kind of old style detectives like Mike Hammer would probably be out of place. However, this is exactly why I throughly enjoyed again reading these Mickey Spillane's novels. The first novel, "I, The Jury" opens with Mike investigating the murder of one of his best friends from the service. The second novel, "My Gun is Quick" is also an action packed tale. The third novel, "Vengeance is Mine" is probably the most fast paced and action packed book of this three-book series.In conclusion, if you are an old timer who has read Mike Hammer books in the past, you will enjoy this three-book series. If you have never read any of the Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer books, you are in for a treat. This detective will leave an impression on you. In my opinion, the late Mickey Spillane is one of the best detective story writers in American History.Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Use of the Monadnock Straight Baton (MEB) )

Mickey Spillane-a brilliant author. His main character "Mike Hammer" is brilliant, he does'nt mess about with villians. All these books are great, they may be old but give them a try you wont regret it!!!

Wer Chandler, Hammet oder auch Ambler liebt, sollte von diesem Machwerk die Finger lassen. Die Bücher sind zwar leidlich spannend, aber unfassbar plump. Was anfangs vielleicht noch amüsant ist (die Neigung jeder schönen Frau, sich dem Helden Mike Hammer sofort hingeben zu wollen und beim Kuss erwartungsvoll zu beben), wird von Mal zu Mal langweiliger. Neben den offenkundigen schriftstellerischen Mängeln hat mich am meisten die Verherrlichung der Selbstjustiz gestört. Kein Wunder, dass diese Bücher in Amerika millionenfach verkauft wurden. Brauchbar ist das Ganze höchstens als Sittengemälde der fünfziger Jahre in Amerika. Dafür widerstrebend einen zweiten Stern.

I READ THESE BOOKS SOME 35 YEARS BACK. OLD STYLE OF THRILLER WRITING BY SPILLANE WHICH I LIKE VERY MUCH. AMAZON SHOULD SELL THESE BOOKS AT A CHEAP RATE. THANKS !

These are some of the best pulp novels I have read.

The "Good Old Days"...when a 'Nickel' went a very long way.!