The Million Dollar Wound [Hardcover]

Max Allan Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1986

From a foxhole on Guadalcanal (shared with Barney Ross) to the glitzy underworld of Hollywood in the '40s, Nate Heller fights his memories and the Mob. Something happened at the Canal, something Heller's blocking out. What he can't block, though, is the wound he received-the million-dollar wound, the one that got him home. Back in the States, and back in Chicago, he becomes involved once again with Frank Nitti during the gang boss' last violent days, and with the gangland attempts to take over the movie unions. The homefront is every bit as violent as the war-torn Pacific, and even the solace of Sally Rand can do nothing to ease Heller, who is haunted by the death of a friend in Guadalcanal, and surrounded by the mayhem of gangland murders.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Collins has wrapped up his "Frank Nitti trilogy" in fine style: new readers will be tempted to go back to True Detective and True Crime. Private-eye narrator Nate Heller is hired by Hearst columnist Westbrook Pegler and movie star Robert Montgomery to get the goods on Willy Bioff, crooked head of the movie technicians' union. Set mainly in Chicago from 1939 to 1943, with several stints in Hollywood and Guadalcanal, the book is rich in local color, period flavor and action. It is also populated with actual characters, including Eliot Ness and boxer Barney Ross. Brooding over these assorted personalities is Frank Nitti, Capone's successor as head of the Chicago mob, who has an odd, almost-friendly relationship with Heller. Collins, writer of Dick Tracy, shows his comic-strip background, but the slam-bang action is nicely fleshed out with believable characterizations. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

In 1942, Chicago P.I. Nate Heller and his childhood pal, boxer Barney Ross, join the Marines and see bloody action together at Guadalcanal. Upon his return to gangland Chicago, the shell-shocked Heller—more dangerous than ever—is thrust into the midst of an inter-gang war to depose Capone’s successor Frank Nitti, whose minions are infiltrating Hollywood movie unions. In this crushing finale to rough-and-tumble Nate Heller’s Frank Nitti trilogy, Max Allan Collins delves into the damaged psyche of war veterans as a full-on gangland war threatens to explode. As tempers in Hollywood flare-up, Heller attempts to solve a murder committed behind enemy lines, and deal with the drug addiction of his friend Barney. But not even the company of fan dancer Sally Rand can ease Heller’s conscience as he is haunted by the events at Guadalcanal even as he’s surrounded by the murder and mayhem of Nitti’s final, violent days.

“A serious social chronicle of Chicago’s turbulent history as the ‘30s and ‘40s gangland capital of America. It’s also serious fun…a terrific sense of vitality.”—Marilyn Stasio, New York Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 335 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (February 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312532520
• ISBN-13: 978-0312532529
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 4.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,038,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Max Allan Collins is a New York Times bestselling author of original mysteries, a Shamus award winner and an experienced author of movie adaptions and tie-in novels. His graphic novel ROAD TO PERDITION was made into a major motion picture by Tom Hank's production company, Playtone.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On my Top 10, August 27, 2003

By 

Carl Hoffman (Cleveland Heights,, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Million - Dollar Wound (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the jewels in Collins' long-running series THE MEMOIRS OF NATHAN HELLER. It's distinguished by the titular private eye's combat trauma in the U.S. Marines during the bloody 1942 battle for Guadalcanal. Invalided home on a section 8 discharge for mental illness, Heller struggles to recover his own identity at the same time he unravels a series of interlocking mysteries in Hollywood and Chicago. Historical highlights include the mob-related murder of Edward O'Hare, father of the Navy hero for whom Chicago's airport is named, and one of Collins' certified revisionist theories about Outfit godfather Frank Nitti, the man who succeeded Capone. The book features a smashing balance of action, historical research, and psychological insight, transcending the private eye genre. It's on my all-time Top 10 list of historical novels, and I'm overjoyed it's back in print. See also NEON MIRAGE and STOLEN AWAY.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent detective novel, April 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Million Dollar Wound (Hardcover)

The last in Collin's Nitti Trilogy is better than it's predecessor (True Crime), but not as strong as the first in the series (True Detective). Still, a fine novel and a fitting end to the cycle as Nate Heller's relationship with the famed gangster comes to an end.

The next in the series, The Neon Mirage, begins a new stage in the charater's existence.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The series continues wonderfully...., December 8, 2005

By 

Craig Clarke "Living After Midnight: Hard and... (New England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Million - Dollar Wound (Mass Market Paperback)

Max Allan Collins sends his historical detective Nathan Heller off to war in The Million-Dollar Wound, the third in the series after True Crime. A little male pride, some misplaced patriotism, and a few drinks too many land Heller, too old for the draft, in the Marine enlistment office in 1942, right alongside best friend and ex-boxer Barney Ross. Far too soon after, they find themselved smack dab in the middle of Guadalcanal Island, surrounded by "Japs" and fighting death in both its projectile and contagious forms.

As especially bad case of malaria finds an amnesiac Heller back in the States with a fuzzy memory but a thriving investigation practice, and a request to testify against Frank Nitti, now in control of the territory left vacant by Al Capone's prison sentence. The story quickly flashes back to 1939. Those used to the linear narratives of the first two novels in the series (True Detective and True Crime), and their relative chronological proximity to each other, may be thrown by The Million-Dollar Wound, which takes place nine, then six, then ten years after the events in True Crime.

The Million-Dollar Wound was Max Allan Collins' most complex novel, both emotionally and narratively, up to that point. The weight of the combat experience weighs heavily on Heller's mind throughout the remainder of the novel, especially the bad dreams he has involving a fellow Marine's death by "friendly fire." Did Heller fire the fatal shot? He can't remember. This lends a gravity to this third entry that only enhances the reading, offering a deeper sense of character through Heller's reaction to the truth. I understand that the war effects Heller throughout the series, but only time will tell. (Note: The title refers to a war wound that gets a soldier sent home, but doesn't kill him.)