Customer Reviews

The Erection Set

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The plot was rich with intrige and the players did not know that they were playing with The big Dog. Kelly is a average Spillane characture. He knows what women want and what men fear. He is ready to give them both every thing he's got with both barrels.

I thought this would be enjoyably bad but it was just plain lousy. The lead character is idiotically invincible in every way, like James Bond meets the Terminator meets John Holmes. The plot is all about revenge for childhood mistreatment by villians who are one hundred percent bad. Our hero uses bullets and a conveniently infinite pile of cash to get what he wants. The whole thing is self consciously "seedy" and "sexy" in a way that a junior high age boy might have found impressive in 1979. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, there's also an anti-gravity invention tossed in, with about as much relevence as a space ship in the Maltese Falcon. I've read some Spillane before and I know he's not Shakespeare, but skip this one.

While many may dub "The Erection Set" Spillane's "most ambitious work, " I can only comment that to my knowledge it's the longest. For this reader it simply didn't have the impact - the pow- of some of his earlier novels.

"I, The Jury" (1947) was the beginning, the beginning of a round of thrillers by then unknown Mickey Spillane. Mike Hammer, one of thrillerdom's ace protagonists was introduced, and the world couldn't read enough of his adventures.

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.

I remember Spillane on the Tonight Show plugging THE ERECTION SET when it was originally published. Johnny Carson, of course, asked Spillane about the cover, something like: "Is that a professional model?" "Nah, that's my wife Shari." Carson leered at the audience for laughter and he got it. But Spillane trumped him when Carson asked, "Does she write?" and Spillane deadpanned: "Checks."

Mickey explained the title came from a child he saw playing with an erector set. Spillane had asked the boy, "Whatcha got there?" "An erection set." And Mick told Johnny he'd been waiting for years to write a book where he could use that title. The novel is allegedly Spillane's response to VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (six years after the fact).

THE ERECTION SET is lifted and expanded from Spillane's own novelette The Bastard Bannerman published in THE TOUGH GUYS. The anti-grav device is not Spillane's best idea, I didn't buy it when I first read it at as a teen. All the f-bombs, etc. is not Spillane's voice either, but this is a better book than either KILLING MAN or BLACK ALLEY.

To me the pinnacle of the hardboiled school is Lew Archer, but I get as much satisfaction reading Mike Hammer (not featured in the book on review) as I do Marlowe, the Continental Op, Travis McGee, Harry Bosch, Westlake/Stark's Parker, et al. Started reading Spillane when I was 13, wrote him a fan letter and he wrote me back. God rest ya, Mick!

The book sent was in new condition and was sent very promptly. Thanks! My brother has been looking for these books-very hard to find items.

I'm a big fan of Spillane's 1950's Mike Hammer series and even of his books about Tiger Mann, Morgan the Raider, Ryan the Hood. But Dogeron Kelly? What a second-stringer! I had heard "The Erection Set" was the Mick's most graphic novel. Whoever said that couldn't have been referring to the action in or out of bed. It's got a lot of nasty language and quips about every kind of heterosexual copulation, but the best thing I can say about it is it's very easy to pick up and put down without losing your train of thought. Actually, if you ever wanted to see Mickey's ex-wife almost totally revealed, then the cover photo is the best thing I can say about it. I bought it to take with me on an airplane trip and it served its purpose --- it was better than utter tedium.