Daren
Added to list5 Starwith 196 books.
Pinney's second volume, following Trooper Johnno, who becomes a Corporal for a period of time becomes demoted and then isn't really sure where he stands... The 8th Commando Squadron are shipped to Bougainville, to replace the departing American forces who are off to the Philippines.
Pinney's writing is surely at its finest in these later books. While I always enjoy his writing, it has really scaled new heights here. It is incredibly rare for a book on a single page to be able to describe landscape and the soldiers moving through the jungle through jungle so clearly; to be able to clearly explain a soldiers attitude towards the Japanese - of pure hatred for the solider, but in all soldiers, not necessarily hatred of the man; and to perfectly fall into step with the conversation of a common man - in pure Australian complete with slang and rhyming slang yet still making it sound authentic.
The name of this book comes from a discussion near the end of the book, but it is quoted on the inside cover. Obviously about the futility of war, I have replicated it here.
"It's a stupid bloody fight," he said. "We will be needin' more than mops when the big rains come."
"Free tucker," Buster grinned. "Six bob a day and permission to fart. What more you want?"
Jonas glared. "It won't accomplish nothing', and a lot of blokes are going to get hurt. And when them rivers flood, and he poor bloody infantry bog down, the whole thing's going to blow up in our faces. It's like firing a glass cannon at bloody rainbow, ay? But galahs like you can't see that."
In the Preface, Pinney states that this book ... is intimately based on (his) diaries... and represents the limited experience of one man. An attempt has been made to eliminate factual error, but bias and prejudice remain, and the dialogues recorded here approximate only a few of the conversations that took place. The book is in no sense a unit history, nor is it meant to be. If it gives even a marginal notion of what the campaign meant for a small group of men on Bougainville, it will have served its purpose.
There is plenty of bias and prejudice - these are men tasked with eliminating an enemy - there is limited capacity in most soldiers to separate the individual from the enemy. They are referred to a Nips and Japs, they are ridiculed for their fear of the jungle (they like the clearer ground), but only the foolish believe they are not a risk.
Johnno introduces his fellow soldiers, we learn about their character, their flaws, their fears. Some are friends, some are frustrating men to be thrown in with. Some are not alive by the end of the book. The futility of war is written throughout, but this was a book I tried to read in small doses, not because it was a tough topic, or a heavy read, but because I didn't want the slender 228 pages to end. Mainly because I have not found a copy of the third in the trilogy yet.
5 stars
Pinney's second volume, following Trooper Johnno, who becomes a Corporal for a period of time becomes demoted and then isn't really sure where he stands... The 8th Commando Squadron are shipped to Bougainville, to replace the departing American forces who are off to the Philippines.
Pinney's writing is surely at its finest in these later books. While I always enjoy his writing, it has really scaled new heights here. It is incredibly rare for a book on a single page to be able to describe landscape and the soldiers moving through the jungle through jungle so clearly; to be able to clearly explain a soldiers attitude towards the Japanese - of pure hatred for the solider, but in all soldiers, not necessarily hatred of the man; and to perfectly fall into step with the conversation of a common man - in pure Australian complete with slang and rhyming slang yet still making it sound authentic.
The name of this book comes from a discussion near the end of the book, but it is quoted on the inside cover. Obviously about the futility of war, I have replicated it here.
"It's a stupid bloody fight," he said. "We will be needin' more than mops when the big rains come."
"Free tucker," Buster grinned. "Six bob a day and permission to fart. What more you want?"
Jonas glared. "It won't accomplish nothing', and a lot of blokes are going to get hurt. And when them rivers flood, and he poor bloody infantry bog down, the whole thing's going to blow up in our faces. It's like firing a glass cannon at bloody rainbow, ay? But galahs like you can't see that."
In the Preface, Pinney states that this book ... is intimately based on (his) diaries... and represents the limited experience of one man. An attempt has been made to eliminate factual error, but bias and prejudice remain, and the dialogues recorded here approximate only a few of the conversations that took place. The book is in no sense a unit history, nor is it meant to be. If it gives even a marginal notion of what the campaign meant for a small group of men on Bougainville, it will have served its purpose.
There is plenty of bias and prejudice - these are men tasked with eliminating an enemy - there is limited capacity in most soldiers to separate the individual from the enemy. They are referred to a Nips and Japs, they are ridiculed for their fear of the jungle (they like the clearer ground), but only the foolish believe they are not a risk.
Johnno introduces his fellow soldiers, we learn about their character, their flaws, their fears. Some are friends, some are frustrating men to be thrown in with. Some are not alive by the end of the book. The futility of war is written throughout, but this was a book I tried to read in small doses, not because it was a tough topic, or a heavy read, but because I didn't want the slender 228 pages to end. Mainly because I have not found a copy of the third in the trilogy yet.
5 stars
This was a re-read for me, having read it around 2005. I recalled enjoying it, enjoying the writing which was overwhelmingly descriptive of the scents and odours throughout the book, and enjoying the dark character of Grenouille.
Reading it again some fifteen years later was equally enjoyable, and I retained the four stars I awarded it when I joined Goodreads (which, lets face it, is just an estimation based on recollection of lots of books).
I don't intend to plot outline - there are loads of reviews to do that, so there really is no need. I will touch on things I thought well done...
The amount of research the author did to describe the methods and techniques used in the tannery and the perfumers was impressive. It was very detailed, and as Grenouille learned, so did we as readers. N0t that I would be in a position to criticise, but it seemed very legitimate and accurately described.
The writing of Grenouille was clever - he was presented as a genius, a psychopath and a repellent man, but all the more fascinating for it. We see his disdain for mankind, his feelings of superiority, and his rapid learning, and his manipulations using scent. Either the translation is brilliant, or the writing and translation are very good!
And one minor quibble - long paragraphs. I am generally not a fan of long paragraphs, and some of them in this book get a bit long-winded. I don't resent them when they suit the tone (which most of them do) - for example the breathless learning of something that take effort to explain, but long for the want of some editorial tidying I dislike. Only a minor quibble here though.
And so to the ending (no spoilers), while it was sudden and I see other reviewers were disappointed, I thought it fitting, and ultimately Grenouille achieves all he can imagine.
Some quotes I enjoyed:
In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages.-He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.-In the period of which we speak, there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of moldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust, the bedrooms of greasy sheets, damp featherbeds, and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. The stench of sulfur rose from the chimneys, the stench of caustic lyes from the tanneries, and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth, from their bellies that of onions, and from their bodies, if they were no longer very young, came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease. The rivers stank, the marketplaces stank, the churches stank, it stank beneath the bridges and in the palaces. The peasant stank as did the priest, the apprentice as did his master's wife, the whole of the aristocracy stank, even the king himself stank, stank like a rank lion, and the queen like an old goat, summer and winter. For in the eighteenth century there was nothing to hinder bacteria busy at decomposition, so there was no human activity,either destructive or constructive, no manifestation of germinating or decaying life, that was not accompanied by stench.
This was a re-read for me, having read it around 2005. I recalled enjoying it, enjoying the writing which was overwhelmingly descriptive of the scents and odours throughout the book, and enjoying the dark character of Grenouille.
Reading it again some fifteen years later was equally enjoyable, and I retained the four stars I awarded it when I joined Goodreads (which, lets face it, is just an estimation based on recollection of lots of books).
I don't intend to plot outline - there are loads of reviews to do that, so there really is no need. I will touch on things I thought well done...
The amount of research the author did to describe the methods and techniques used in the tannery and the perfumers was impressive. It was very detailed, and as Grenouille learned, so did we as readers. N0t that I would be in a position to criticise, but it seemed very legitimate and accurately described.
The writing of Grenouille was clever - he was presented as a genius, a psychopath and a repellent man, but all the more fascinating for it. We see his disdain for mankind, his feelings of superiority, and his rapid learning, and his manipulations using scent. Either the translation is brilliant, or the writing and translation are very good!
And one minor quibble - long paragraphs. I am generally not a fan of long paragraphs, and some of them in this book get a bit long-winded. I don't resent them when they suit the tone (which most of them do) - for example the breathless learning of something that take effort to explain, but long for the want of some editorial tidying I dislike. Only a minor quibble here though.
And so to the ending (no spoilers), while it was sudden and I see other reviewers were disappointed, I thought it fitting, and ultimately Grenouille achieves all he can imagine.
Some quotes I enjoyed:
In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages.-He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.-In the period of which we speak, there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of moldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust, the bedrooms of greasy sheets, damp featherbeds, and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. The stench of sulfur rose from the chimneys, the stench of caustic lyes from the tanneries, and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth, from their bellies that of onions, and from their bodies, if they were no longer very young, came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease. The rivers stank, the marketplaces stank, the churches stank, it stank beneath the bridges and in the palaces. The peasant stank as did the priest, the apprentice as did his master's wife, the whole of the aristocracy stank, even the king himself stank, stank like a rank lion, and the queen like an old goat, summer and winter. For in the eighteenth century there was nothing to hinder bacteria busy at decomposition, so there was no human activity,either destructive or constructive, no manifestation of germinating or decaying life, that was not accompanied by stench.
A memoir, written much later in life, of the author as a six year old, arriving in Kenya with her parents in 1913. The story follows her life for a few years, before her father leaves for the war and she and her mother return to England.
At the time Thika was a remote area of Kenya, and their neighbours were other settlers, English, Scottish, Dutch and South African. There were of course native people in the area.
Written with the author as a child, she displays the childlike naivety in some areas, but also demonstrates a complete understanding of the adult interactions, which is a little strange. I couldn't pick whether she embellished the memories she had, was filled in on details later, or this is more fictionalised than memoir.
Having said that, it was well written, interesting and very readable.
A memoir, written much later in life, of the author as a six year old, arriving in Kenya with her parents in 1913. The story follows her life for a few years, before her father leaves for the war and she and her mother return to England.
At the time Thika was a remote area of Kenya, and their neighbours were other settlers, English, Scottish, Dutch and South African. There were of course native people in the area.
Written with the author as a child, she displays the childlike naivety in some areas, but also demonstrates a complete understanding of the adult interactions, which is a little strange. I couldn't pick whether she embellished the memories she had, was filled in on details later, or this is more fictionalised than memoir.
Having said that, it was well written, interesting and very readable.
Added to listOwnedwith 2744 books.
As one of the first Europeans to attempt the crossing of Northern Africa West to East, this book is perhaps better read before other, later books where other, similar journeys are undertaken.This was 1972, and the purpose of the authors journey was fear - fear of undertaking this journey! Moorhouse doesn't portray himself as heroic, as brave or as fearless. He contemplates failure quite openly for the second half of the book, and the journey ends a little less than half way to his original goal. But it really is a journey fraught with danger, and the honesty with which the story is told makes it a gripping read, and well worth seeking out.Really it makes the subsequent journey of Michael Asher ([b:Two Against the Sahara: On Camelback from Nouakchott to the Nile 116729 Two Against the Sahara On Camelback from Nouakchott to the Nile Michael Asher https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1406529056l/116729.SX50.jpg 1007369]) all the more remarkable.
As one of the first Europeans to attempt the crossing of Northern Africa West to East, this book is perhaps better read before other, later books where other, similar journeys are undertaken.This was 1972, and the purpose of the authors journey was fear - fear of undertaking this journey! Moorhouse doesn't portray himself as heroic, as brave or as fearless. He contemplates failure quite openly for the second half of the book, and the journey ends a little less than half way to his original goal. But it really is a journey fraught with danger, and the honesty with which the story is told makes it a gripping read, and well worth seeking out.Really it makes the subsequent journey of Michael Asher ([b:Two Against the Sahara: On Camelback from Nouakchott to the Nile 116729 Two Against the Sahara On Camelback from Nouakchott to the Nile Michael Asher https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1406529056l/116729.SX50.jpg 1007369]) all the more remarkable.
This is Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer #4, published in 1951, when America's fear of communism was again on the rise - the second red scare was at its beginning. Spillane really goes to town in this novel with the secretive reds, working in the background of society to undermine America.
It is a well woven thread in this story, with high pace and a good twist at the end, of which I admit I had picked the easy part, but not some of the important detail.
There is much of the Hammer we know - picking up women who love him, despite now being ‘engaged to be engaged' to the lovely Velda, who again plays a much larger role in this story. There are no real surprises in the rest of Hammer's activities - pushing beyond the boundaries of the law, taking advantage of his friendship with Pat (and continually pushing his buttons), drinking (and driving) and smoking like a train. Clearly not a book you want to be judging by today's moral standards, but separate yourself from that and it is action packed. It is perhaps a little more brutal than the previous books, certainly the kill count is higher!
To try and explain the plot would be unhelpful, but there are a couple of threads at the start which fairly quickly wind together and become one, a well paid job (for once), and a lot going on that Pat doesn't know about.
Look, it's not Raymond Chandler, but it is still easy, accessible and pretty funny in places.
A solid 3 stars - probably 4 if you haven't read Chandler!
This is Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer #4, published in 1951, when America's fear of communism was again on the rise - the second red scare was at its beginning. Spillane really goes to town in this novel with the secretive reds, working in the background of society to undermine America.
It is a well woven thread in this story, with high pace and a good twist at the end, of which I admit I had picked the easy part, but not some of the important detail.
There is much of the Hammer we know - picking up women who love him, despite now being ‘engaged to be engaged' to the lovely Velda, who again plays a much larger role in this story. There are no real surprises in the rest of Hammer's activities - pushing beyond the boundaries of the law, taking advantage of his friendship with Pat (and continually pushing his buttons), drinking (and driving) and smoking like a train. Clearly not a book you want to be judging by today's moral standards, but separate yourself from that and it is action packed. It is perhaps a little more brutal than the previous books, certainly the kill count is higher!
To try and explain the plot would be unhelpful, but there are a couple of threads at the start which fairly quickly wind together and become one, a well paid job (for once), and a lot going on that Pat doesn't know about.
Look, it's not Raymond Chandler, but it is still easy, accessible and pretty funny in places.
A solid 3 stars - probably 4 if you haven't read Chandler!
Mike Hammer is back in the second offering in the series from Mickey Spillane.
This time around Mike Hammer gets caught up in the death of an prostitute, called accidental by the cops, but of course, Mike knows it was no accident. He met her in a bar a few hours before, and took a liking to her - and was now determined to track down her identity, and locate her family.
This of course escalates. Mike gets a few hidings, gives out a few hidings, and of course any attractive women he comes in contact with ends in love with him, then winds up dead. He must be the most unlucky guy in New York when it comes to love.
For me this was a quick, easy read. Not too challenging, as it was pretty obvious from the midway point who was going to be to blame for the murders, just perhaps not the detail until later. No more around this without spoilers.
3.5 stars, rounded down.
“He couldn't lose me now or ever. I was the guy with the cowl and scythe. I had a hundred and forty black horses under me and an hour-glass in my hand, laughing like crazy until the tears rolled down my cheeks.”“They were going to die slower and harder than any son of a bitch had ever died before, and while they died I'd laugh my god-damn head off!”
Mike Hammer is back in the second offering in the series from Mickey Spillane.
This time around Mike Hammer gets caught up in the death of an prostitute, called accidental by the cops, but of course, Mike knows it was no accident. He met her in a bar a few hours before, and took a liking to her - and was now determined to track down her identity, and locate her family.
This of course escalates. Mike gets a few hidings, gives out a few hidings, and of course any attractive women he comes in contact with ends in love with him, then winds up dead. He must be the most unlucky guy in New York when it comes to love.
For me this was a quick, easy read. Not too challenging, as it was pretty obvious from the midway point who was going to be to blame for the murders, just perhaps not the detail until later. No more around this without spoilers.
3.5 stars, rounded down.
“He couldn't lose me now or ever. I was the guy with the cowl and scythe. I had a hundred and forty black horses under me and an hour-glass in my hand, laughing like crazy until the tears rolled down my cheeks.”“They were going to die slower and harder than any son of a bitch had ever died before, and while they died I'd laugh my god-damn head off!”
This installment #3 of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, and it is increasingly hard not to feel sorry for any of the women Hammer falls in love with, as his track record continues here.
This is a pretty excellent opening couple of sentences - “The guy was dead as hell. He lay on the floor in his pajamas with his brains scattered all over the rug and my gun in his hand. I kept rubbing my face to wipe out the fuzz that clouded my mind but the cops wouldn't let me.”
So this time around Mike isn't working a case, he is a part of the case. As the quote alludes to, Hammer has been out on a bender with a friend, and they stayed in his hotel room, and when Mike woke up, his friend had apparently committed suicide, with Hammer's gun. The DA takes pleasure in suspending his PI license and his gun license. Except of course, it wasn't suicide at all, it was a murder.
So for a large part of this book, Hammer is on the wrong side of the law, with only his friend Pat on the force to help him out (and Mike pushes the boundary on this relationship, as usual), and without his favourite gun. Back at the office he reminds Velda that she not only has a gun license, but also her PI license; he tells her she runs the show now, and he does the legwork. So Velda steps up her involvement in this book more than she has done previously.
The plot unwinds fairly slowly, and while I can't say I was completely satisfied with the ending (in terms of being believable), the pathway there was fun. Unusually, Hammer wasn't the source of the bodies piling up, but was a factor in who became a liability to the murderer. I can't really expand on the issues without massively spoiling the book, but the twist in this tale just didn't hold up to the level of scrutiny applied beforehand...(this would hopefully make sense to someone who has read it!).
So another hardboiled detective fiction guilty pleasure book done.
3 stars.
This installment #3 of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, and it is increasingly hard not to feel sorry for any of the women Hammer falls in love with, as his track record continues here.
This is a pretty excellent opening couple of sentences - “The guy was dead as hell. He lay on the floor in his pajamas with his brains scattered all over the rug and my gun in his hand. I kept rubbing my face to wipe out the fuzz that clouded my mind but the cops wouldn't let me.”
So this time around Mike isn't working a case, he is a part of the case. As the quote alludes to, Hammer has been out on a bender with a friend, and they stayed in his hotel room, and when Mike woke up, his friend had apparently committed suicide, with Hammer's gun. The DA takes pleasure in suspending his PI license and his gun license. Except of course, it wasn't suicide at all, it was a murder.
So for a large part of this book, Hammer is on the wrong side of the law, with only his friend Pat on the force to help him out (and Mike pushes the boundary on this relationship, as usual), and without his favourite gun. Back at the office he reminds Velda that she not only has a gun license, but also her PI license; he tells her she runs the show now, and he does the legwork. So Velda steps up her involvement in this book more than she has done previously.
The plot unwinds fairly slowly, and while I can't say I was completely satisfied with the ending (in terms of being believable), the pathway there was fun. Unusually, Hammer wasn't the source of the bodies piling up, but was a factor in who became a liability to the murderer. I can't really expand on the issues without massively spoiling the book, but the twist in this tale just didn't hold up to the level of scrutiny applied beforehand...(this would hopefully make sense to someone who has read it!).
So another hardboiled detective fiction guilty pleasure book done.
3 stars.
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer #9
As other reviewers have pointed out, this one doesn't chronologically fit in the series. Velda doesn't feature at all, which is out of synch after the last two books (#7 The Girl Hunters & #8 The Snake) in which the story really was focussed around Velda. Pat Chambers is also only a brief mention, and without any of the intricacies of their relationship. Apparently it was written early and published out of sequence.
This one is also set out of New York, in a small town with its own corrupt cops - who we meet on page one, where they are interrogating (beating up) an ex-con kid called Billy, now going straight as a chauffeur for a wealthy scientist. The cops fancy Billy for a part in the kidnapping of the scientists boy, as Billy has a record - Billy used his one phone call to phone Mike Hammer. (Quite why the cops would let Hammer into the interrogation room I don't know!)
From this start, Hammer is off side with the cops, but frees Billy, and goes back with him to see Rudolph York, Billy's employer. He ends up being commissioned to find the kidnapped boy (a boy genius, no less, who is the result of the scientists confidential research into learning techniques). The boy is quickly recovered, and things enter your usual Mickey Spillane spiral from there, with York being murdered.
As we come to expect there is the usual brutality (dished out by, and received by Hammer), plenty of shooting, blackmail, car chases, local criminals and attractive women falling at Hammers feet. In this case everyone in the extended York family was a suspect, all wanting a sniff of the scientists money.
This one was a good story, lots of confusing things going on, multiple layers of mystery to be unravelled. As the story evolves and Hammer is drawn from one aspect to the next, some things fall into place, but others remain out of reach and the reader shares with Hammer the inability to pull the threads together (well I struggled...).
I can't resist mentioning the archaic view Spillane puts forward of lesbians though, I thought that very odd, and thought for a while that the twisted thing of the title was going to be the lesbian character, the way Spillane describing her before it becomes obvious she is lesbian as as mannish, wearing slacks, and (god forbid) without makeup; then after as not a real woman, more like half-man. Reflective of the times I guess.
3 stars
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer #9
As other reviewers have pointed out, this one doesn't chronologically fit in the series. Velda doesn't feature at all, which is out of synch after the last two books (#7 The Girl Hunters & #8 The Snake) in which the story really was focussed around Velda. Pat Chambers is also only a brief mention, and without any of the intricacies of their relationship. Apparently it was written early and published out of sequence.
This one is also set out of New York, in a small town with its own corrupt cops - who we meet on page one, where they are interrogating (beating up) an ex-con kid called Billy, now going straight as a chauffeur for a wealthy scientist. The cops fancy Billy for a part in the kidnapping of the scientists boy, as Billy has a record - Billy used his one phone call to phone Mike Hammer. (Quite why the cops would let Hammer into the interrogation room I don't know!)
From this start, Hammer is off side with the cops, but frees Billy, and goes back with him to see Rudolph York, Billy's employer. He ends up being commissioned to find the kidnapped boy (a boy genius, no less, who is the result of the scientists confidential research into learning techniques). The boy is quickly recovered, and things enter your usual Mickey Spillane spiral from there, with York being murdered.
As we come to expect there is the usual brutality (dished out by, and received by Hammer), plenty of shooting, blackmail, car chases, local criminals and attractive women falling at Hammers feet. In this case everyone in the extended York family was a suspect, all wanting a sniff of the scientists money.
This one was a good story, lots of confusing things going on, multiple layers of mystery to be unravelled. As the story evolves and Hammer is drawn from one aspect to the next, some things fall into place, but others remain out of reach and the reader shares with Hammer the inability to pull the threads together (well I struggled...).
I can't resist mentioning the archaic view Spillane puts forward of lesbians though, I thought that very odd, and thought for a while that the twisted thing of the title was going to be the lesbian character, the way Spillane describing her before it becomes obvious she is lesbian as as mannish, wearing slacks, and (god forbid) without makeup; then after as not a real woman, more like half-man. Reflective of the times I guess.
3 stars
The Snake is Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer #8, and for the first time follows on directly from the previous book. #7, The Girl Hunters, which ended abruptly as Mike was about to be reunited with Velda after 7 years of thinking her dead.
As a regular reader might come to expect, a gunman gate-crashes their reunion, and minutes later two more - and we are only a few pages in and the body count is 2 dead one wounded! And so Mike Hammer is wrapped up in another adventure.
The return of Velda wraps up the last story, but she has with her a girl who is hiding from her step-father who she thinks is trying to kill her. He turns out to be a prominent politician running for Governor...
This book also sees Hammer back in the good books of Pat Chambers, police captain, but a new DA is out to rid Hammer of his agency ticket - (obtained in the previous book) which he brandishes to override the wishes of the cops when he needs to, protecting him and antagonising them in equal measure.
This all rolls into a connection to a 30 year old heist where three million bucks was taken and never recovered.
This is more of a return to form for Hammer - local crime, no international plot for world power, and there were a couple of Spillane worthy twists to the story, but really the very end is so implausible it was a bit of a let down.
3 stars
The Snake is Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer #8, and for the first time follows on directly from the previous book. #7, The Girl Hunters, which ended abruptly as Mike was about to be reunited with Velda after 7 years of thinking her dead.
As a regular reader might come to expect, a gunman gate-crashes their reunion, and minutes later two more - and we are only a few pages in and the body count is 2 dead one wounded! And so Mike Hammer is wrapped up in another adventure.
The return of Velda wraps up the last story, but she has with her a girl who is hiding from her step-father who she thinks is trying to kill her. He turns out to be a prominent politician running for Governor...
This book also sees Hammer back in the good books of Pat Chambers, police captain, but a new DA is out to rid Hammer of his agency ticket - (obtained in the previous book) which he brandishes to override the wishes of the cops when he needs to, protecting him and antagonising them in equal measure.
This all rolls into a connection to a 30 year old heist where three million bucks was taken and never recovered.
This is more of a return to form for Hammer - local crime, no international plot for world power, and there were a couple of Spillane worthy twists to the story, but really the very end is so implausible it was a bit of a let down.
3 stars