Customer Reviews

The Big Bang

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First there was Philip Marlow. Then there was Sam Spade. And finally the toughest and the last of the old time P.I's, Mike Hammer. Hammer comes from simpler times, back when women were dolls, the police were pigs, and crime was rampant. There weren't computers or cell phones, no GPS or email, this was back when if a P.I. wanted a case he had to get his hands dirty and do it the old fashioned way, good old fashioned investigating. And this is exactly what Mike Hammer does he does good old fashion P.I. work to get the case solved.
I was genuinely surprised how much I liked the book.

Before I begin on how good this book was I first want to speak a second on its pedigree. It is the long lost manuscript of the infamous and deceased mystery writer Mickey Spillane, the creator of Hammer's world. With the co-author, Max Collins, being the writer of Road to Perdition and Saving Private Ryan, Oscar winners all. All in all a sensational pedigree.

But even with its pedigree building it up The Big Bang still found room to surprise and entertain me. In fact it's one of the best mysteries I've read in years. It takes a simple easy to spot twist in the plot and goes further, surprising and shocking readers and reviewers alike with the coldness and sharp change that occurred in the story.

Spillane and Collins did great job of continuing the Mike Hammer legacy in this book. It's 256 pages, short enough for a cool summer read and long enough to get into the book and really enjoy it. Besides it's length, the book is action packed and filled with all the great aspects mystery readers crave in strong mystery novel.

All in all this is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick entertaining summer read, especially mystery lovers.

[...]

I remember reading the first Mickey Spillane novel "I the Jury" when it came out in 1947. It was such an exciting adventure for a youngster that I can still picture showing my copy to my friends in the school yard. We enjoyed the hard language, the action, Hammer's view of life, and the sex. In fact, we liked the picture of Mike Hammer doing whatever he was doing. Later, I read all of the Spillane novels and enjoyed every one.
When I went to college and had to write a story in the English literature class, I was still so influenced by Spillane's writing style that even though I never intended it, I was surprized when the professor gave me an A for doing a spoof on Mickey Spillane.
And so when this book appeared, I wondered what my reaction would be after so many years.
I recognized the hard writing, the Hammer attitude, and the Spillane-type sex, but I was disappointed. It seemed to me that the writer - either Spillane or Collins, the co-author of this volume who added material after Spillane's death - was spending too much time to copy the Spillane style. Although this may be an exageration, I felt that the book could have said all that it should say and have a far greater impact, if it had said it in one-third of the 246 pages; it would have been a great hard-hitting tale if it was limited to about 80 pages.
Perhaps Spillane also felt that he spent too much time on words rather than action, and this is why he never published it.

Mike Hammer went to Florida to recover from a stab wound from one of Junior Evello's boys -- Junior is the nephew of Carl Evello from Kiss Me, Deadly -- "that had opened my side like somebody wanted to slip in there and hide." On his first day back in Manhattan, he chances across hospital messenger Billy Blue being jumped by drug dealers who think he can get them easy access to the hospital's drug stash, and Hammer quickly dispatches the assailants with his signature brand of street justice.

It looks like Evello might be involved, but Hammer assures Homicide captain (and long-time friend) Pat Chambers that he has no interest in the case. Of course, when somebody tried to kill Mike, he gets interested fast. Now it's on.

The Big Bang is one of the handful of unfinished manuscripts Mickey Spillane entrusted to Max Allan Collins upon his death in 2006. Two others have been published previously: the non-Hammer Dead Street and the "last" Hammer novel chronologically, The Goliath Bone.

In addition to being about one-third complete, The Big Bang was also fully outlined and included the ending, which was one of Spillane's favorites. When the deadline for this book was approaching and it did not look like he could finish it, Spillane took the previously shelved "second" Hammer novel For Whom the Gods Would Destroy (he had written it after I, the Jury but quickly pounded out My Gun Is Quick as a followup instead), updated it with references to more recent cases, and sent that one in. It would be published under the title The Twisted Thing.

Spillane's and Collins's styles mesh well throughout The Big Bang, since Collins expanded Spillane's original one-third out to about one-half and then completed what was missing. Collins has somehow managed to produce a novel that is firmly grounded in the 1960s but does not feel dated. This is not an artifact, but a fully vital modern novel.

Collins stays mostly in the background, preferring to let his friend and mentor shine from beyond. Those who have followed Hammer through numerous adventures will appreciate it most, but The Big Bang can be enjoyed even by those relatively new to the detective.

One definite highlight is the climax, when Hammer unwittingly drops acid and sees his potential final moments with all the clarity of a warped record. ("Shotgun" by Junior Walker and the All-Stars gets a prominent role in the melee.)

But the ending of The Big Bang is just stunning, related to a huge shipment of heroin coming into the city (the "big bang" of the title -- sorry physics fans, no beginning-of-the-universe theories discussed in these pages*). It may in fact be one of the best of the series. Just don't try to skip ahead and read it because you won't understand its significance unless you've read the rest of the book. The whole thing is well orchestrated for maximum impact. It's a keeper and one that will likely go down as one of the more memorable.

At least one more of these Spillane/Collins collaborations (Kiss Her Goodbye) is already scheduled to be published. There are at least three more substantial manuscripts that could be completed: Complex 90 (a sequel to The Girl Hunters), Lady Go Die!, and King of the Weeds. However, whether these see their way into print depends, like all things in publishing, on how well these sell, so support them however you can (preferably with your wallet) and help Spillane's legacy continue well into the future.

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*Try What's Next?: Dispatches from the Future of Science for that -- specifically Sean Carroll's "Our Place in an Unnatural Universe."

It has been a long time since I read any Mickey Spillane...probably close to 20 years. Even with a 20 year lag, it's pretty obvious that Spillane didn't write much of this book. He may have supplied Mr. Collins with an outline and a VERY rough draft, but this isn't Mickey's. Mickey Spillane was a product of the 40s and the 50s. The overt sexuality in this book were NOT a product of his generation.

For all of that, it is an entertaining read, with Mike Hammer at his toughest, and his secretary/fiance Velda at her sexiest. I just wish Mr. Collins hadn't felt the need to update this Mike Hammer novel to today's sensibilities....it would have been more effective with the values and feel of the 40s. Collins' update cheapens it somehow.

As per Max Allan Collins's co-author's note, this story is set in the mid 1960s, which was when Mickey Spillane began it. Facing an impending deadline, Spillane put the manuscript of The Big Bang aside, and substituted another Hammer novel, The Twisted Thing, which he had completed many years before. He later gave he manuscript to Collins for safekeeping, a sound decision, considering that a few weeks later, Spillane's home was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo.

It also proved a sound decision in that The Big Bang, as lovingly completed by Collins, feels like vintage Spillane, and, more importantly, vintage Mike Hammer. Once again, Hammer is on an unrelenting quest to right a wrong (here, seeking the masterminds behind a massive shipment of heroin heading towards New York City), not caring what he has to do, or the dangers he has to face, to do it. Back also are his classic supporting cast, consisting of his partner, the luscious Velda, long suffering police captain Pat Chambers, and a bevy of tiresome hoods and dangerous dames. Combine that with Spillane's unique way with words, and his tremendous, ultraviolent action set pieces, and you have a book guaranteed to transport you into another world for a few enjoyable hours.

As many of the previous customer reviews emphasize, this book is sure to please long time Hammer fans. But, it also represents a good introduction for readers totally unfamiliar with Spillane's canon, as it contains all the classic elements that made Spillane so readable. Start with this, or, better yet, his 1947 masterpiece I, The Jury, and you'll be hooked, ready to seek out and devour the rest of the Hammer books by Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Spillane.

THE BIG BANG is a classic. It immediately took me back not only to the 1960s but to the early 1950s Spillane dreamscape of MY GUN IS QUICK and THE BIG KILL. It has all the lushness of the early Mike Hammer novels with sexuality and wholesomeness played off each other with authorial ease. It has the defense of the innocent and willful crushing of the guilty. The finale is masterful, combining the best of ONE LONELY NIGHT and the underappreciated SURVIVAL...ZERO!

I felt as if I had been transported back to my first reading of a MAJOR Spillane novel, evocative in tone, spirit and action. BIG BANG is seamless, a tremendous piece of writing. Whether you've never read a Mike Hammer novel or you've eagerly awaited this one, you will be rewarded with a major entry into the world of noir. In short, it's quite a book.

Full disclosure: Max Allan Collins and I have collaborated on my many projects, including ONE LONELY KNIGHT: MICKEY SPILLANE'S MIKE HAMMER, the first critical-biographical book devoted to Spillane. We both love and appreciate Mike Hammer and Mickey Spillane. It is my distinct honor to have the book dedicated to me.

Wow, Mike Hammer still lives. This collaboration between Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins is right on target. Many times when one author finishes a manuscript for another it just does not work. I assure you that is not a problem here. You can smell the smoke from the Luckies and taste the Pabst Blue Ribbon in this story. Mike is still the toughest and Velda gorgeous While this is a thriller, it is truly a throwback to the original hardboiled PI novels of the fifties and sixties. The plot is nicely told and the characters are rich. For those who are familiar with Mike Hammer novels this will be a welcome reacquaintance. For those who never read the lurid, violent and sexy novels, this is a great introduction. Collins and Spillane had a friendship that comes across in the writing. Spillane had entrusted Collins with a couple of manuscripts just before his home was destroyed in a hurricane. Collins, who is a great mystery writer on his own, seamlessly rounds it out.

It's been quite a number of years since I last re-read the Mike Hammer series but the big guy was always a favorite and, therefore, I was thrilled to see that a new chapter in the series was being published. Based on an incomplete manuscript that Spillane entrusted to author Max Allan Collins it's definitely a worthy addition to the series. Mike is as hard-boiled, deadly and lascivious as ever, Velda is still gorgeous and Pat Chambers continues to have Hammer's back. The bad guys (and gals) are as bad as they get, there's some honest citizens worthy of protecting and Mike adds some more notches to the grips of his trusty .45. Spillane and Collins have collaborated on a nice addition to the Hammer saga, one that's bound to become a classic in its own right. Definitely worth reading (and keeping).

Here is another lost Mike Hammer, courtesy of Mickey Spillane's foresight and Max Allan Collins' devotion to the task. The Big Bang was unfinished, though Collins had Mickey's outline along with the partial manuscript, which he entrusted to Collins just before Hurricane Hugo destroyed Mickey's South Carolina home. The Big Bang is vintage Hammer and I defy anyone to attempt an estimate of how much is Mickey's and how much is Max's. The book is seamless, the plot as tight as a drumhead.

Mike breaks up an attempted mugging and finds himself embroiled in a major NY drug case. The good Samaritan suddenly finds himself the target of hired killers. Multiple individuals are maneuvering to take over the NY drug trade and one in particular has a unique idea that involves both controlling the trade and ending it. Mike's investigation involves a series of violent encounters, interspersed with sexual ones and its conclusion offers an interesting moral twist on the situation in which he finds himself. I won't spoil it for you; you'll have to check it out for yourself.

This is vintage Hammer, delicious in every way. There is an anachronism or two. At one point Mike talks about the computer between his ears. There were computers in existence at this time (Turing's colossus computer at Bletchley Park, e.g.), but not to the degree that they would serve as a Mike Hammer metaphor. This is a very minor issue, however. The plot is strong; Velda's legs have never looked better; Pat Chambers is bemused and Mike is hammering every bad guy in his path. Highly recommended. P.S. Don't be put off by the PW review; this is a solid story, pure Mike Hammer.

We still read Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer novels because, in this day and age of political correctness, it's nice to see a good guy who's unashamedly violent. He's tough, he's ugly, he gets the girls and the bad guys and, basically, whatever he wants. Mike Hammer is one of literature's most uncouth and interesting heroes.

THE BIG BANG doesn't quite read as a Mike Hammer novel. Sure, a lot of potential is there; Spillane's plot, involving the drug trade in the sixties, is riveting; Hammer's working for himself, as he tries to unravel an attack against him that leaves men dead and him to blame. The problem is, some of the dialogue and narration is incredibly sub-par; and Hammer seems much more toned down, just as American culture is getting into overdrive. Collins does a good job of filling out Spillane's story, but we really wish that Spillane himself had finished it.

For fans of Mike Hammer, this novel is a must-read. For noir fans, check out the original Hammer novels; this novel falls far short of, say, I, THE JURY or KISS ME DEADLY. Still, it's an entertaining read if nothing else; not quite the same mix of brutality and bravado that we've come to expect from a Hammer novel, but there are far worse reads out there than this.