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Mike Hammer #6
Kiss Me Deadly
Women and the Web
Friends and enemies alike warned Mike Hammer to drop his feud with the dread Mafia, the sinister international crime network which spread its slimy web over a taxi dancer, a Central Park psychiatrist, a Yonkers millionaire and his impossibly beautiful sister, an ex-pug and a blonde with hair like snow.
But Mike was thirsting to revenge the murder of a satin-skinned Viking. So, single-handed, he defied police and F.B.I., determined to even his personal score with the head man of the Mafia. Deprived of his gun by the Feds, battling thugs from Manhattan penthouses to the Bowery, maddened by the evil around him, he pits himself against a notorious collection of organized criminals and pursues justice to a slam-bang finish.
Friends and enemies alike warned Mike Hammer to drop his feud with the dread Mafia, the sinister international crime network which spread its slimy web over a taxi dancer, a Central Park psychiatrist, a Yonkers millionaire and his impossibly beautiful sister, an ex-pug and a blonde with hair like snow.
But Mike was thirsting to revenge the murder of a satin-skinned Viking. So, single-handed, he defied police and F.B.I., determined to even his personal score with the head man of the Mafia. Deprived of his gun by the Feds, battling thugs from Manhattan penthouses to the Bowery, maddened by the evil around him, he pits himself against a notorious collection of organized criminals and pursues justice to a slam-bang finish.
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1952
59 people are currently reading
1167 people want to read
About the author
Mickey Spillane
316 books447 followersMickey Spillane was one of the world's most popular mystery writers. His specialty was tight-fisted, sadistic revenge stories, often featuring his alcoholic gumshoe Mike Hammer and a cast of evildoers who launder money or spout the Communist Party line.
His writing style was characterized by short words, lightning transitions, gruff sex and violent endings. It was once tallied that he offed 58 people in six novels.
Starting with "I, the Jury," in 1947, Mr. Spillane sold hundreds of millions of books during his lifetime and garnered consistently scathing reviews. Even his father, a Brooklyn bartender, called them "crud."
Mr. Spillane was a struggling comic book publisher when he wrote "I, the Jury." He initially envisioned it as a comic book called "Mike Danger," and when that did not go over, he took a week to reconfigure it as a novel.
Even the editor in chief of E.P. Dutton and Co., Mr. Spillane's publisher, was skeptical of the book's literary merit but conceded it would probably be a smash with postwar readers looking for ready action. He was right. The book, in which Hammer pursues a murderous narcotics ring led by a curvaceous female psychiatrist, went on to sell more than 1 million copies.
Mr. Spillane spun out six novels in the next five years, among them "My Gun Is Quick," "The Big Kill," "One Lonely Night" and "Kiss Me, Deadly." Most concerned Hammer, his faithful sidekick, Velda, and the police homicide captain Pat Chambers, who acknowledges that Hammer's style of vigilante justice is often better suited than the law to dispatching criminals.
Mr. Spillane's success rankled other critics, who sometimes became very personal in their reviews. Malcolm Cowley called Mr. Spillane "a homicidal paranoiac," going on to note what he called his misogyny and vigilante tendencies.
His books were translated into many languages, and he proved so popular as a writer that he was able to transfer his thick-necked, barrel-chested personality across many media. With the charisma of a redwood, he played Hammer in "The Girl Hunters," a 1963 film adaptation of his novel.
Spillane also scripted several television shows and films and played a detective in the 1954 suspense film "Ring of Fear," set at a Clyde Beatty circus. He rewrote much of the film, too, refusing payment. In gratitude, the producer, John Wayne, surprised him one morning with a white Jaguar sportster wrapped in a red ribbon. The card read, "Thanks, Duke."
Done initially on a dare from his publisher, Mr. Spillane wrote a children's book, "The Day the Sea Rolled Back" (1979), about two boys who find a shipwreck loaded with treasure. This won a Junior Literary Guild award.
He also wrote another children's novel, "The Ship That Never Was," and then wrote his first Mike Hammer mystery in 20 years with "The Killing Man" (1989). "Black Alley" followed in 1996. In the last, a rapidly aging Hammer comes out of a gunshot-induced coma, then tracks down a friend's murderer and billions in mob loot. For the first time, he also confesses his love for Velda but, because of doctor's orders, cannot consummate the relationship.
Late in life, he received a career achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America and was named a grand master by the Mystery Writers of America.
In his private life, he neither smoked nor drank and was a house-to-house missionary for the Jehovah's Witnesses. He expressed at times great disdain for what he saw as corrosive forces in American life, from antiwar protesters to the United Nations.
His marriages to Mary Ann Pearce and Sherri Malinou ended in divorce. His second wife, a model, posed nude for the dust jacket of his 1972 novel "The Erection Set."
Survivors include his third wife, Jane Rodgers Johnson, a former beauty queen 30 years his junior; and four children from the first marriage.
He also carried on a long epistolary flirtation with Ayn Rand, an admirer of his writing.
His writing style was characterized by short words, lightning transitions, gruff sex and violent endings. It was once tallied that he offed 58 people in six novels.
Starting with "I, the Jury," in 1947, Mr. Spillane sold hundreds of millions of books during his lifetime and garnered consistently scathing reviews. Even his father, a Brooklyn bartender, called them "crud."
Mr. Spillane was a struggling comic book publisher when he wrote "I, the Jury." He initially envisioned it as a comic book called "Mike Danger," and when that did not go over, he took a week to reconfigure it as a novel.
Even the editor in chief of E.P. Dutton and Co., Mr. Spillane's publisher, was skeptical of the book's literary merit but conceded it would probably be a smash with postwar readers looking for ready action. He was right. The book, in which Hammer pursues a murderous narcotics ring led by a curvaceous female psychiatrist, went on to sell more than 1 million copies.
Mr. Spillane spun out six novels in the next five years, among them "My Gun Is Quick," "The Big Kill," "One Lonely Night" and "Kiss Me, Deadly." Most concerned Hammer, his faithful sidekick, Velda, and the police homicide captain Pat Chambers, who acknowledges that Hammer's style of vigilante justice is often better suited than the law to dispatching criminals.
Mr. Spillane's success rankled other critics, who sometimes became very personal in their reviews. Malcolm Cowley called Mr. Spillane "a homicidal paranoiac," going on to note what he called his misogyny and vigilante tendencies.
His books were translated into many languages, and he proved so popular as a writer that he was able to transfer his thick-necked, barrel-chested personality across many media. With the charisma of a redwood, he played Hammer in "The Girl Hunters," a 1963 film adaptation of his novel.
Spillane also scripted several television shows and films and played a detective in the 1954 suspense film "Ring of Fear," set at a Clyde Beatty circus. He rewrote much of the film, too, refusing payment. In gratitude, the producer, John Wayne, surprised him one morning with a white Jaguar sportster wrapped in a red ribbon. The card read, "Thanks, Duke."
Done initially on a dare from his publisher, Mr. Spillane wrote a children's book, "The Day the Sea Rolled Back" (1979), about two boys who find a shipwreck loaded with treasure. This won a Junior Literary Guild award.
He also wrote another children's novel, "The Ship That Never Was," and then wrote his first Mike Hammer mystery in 20 years with "The Killing Man" (1989). "Black Alley" followed in 1996. In the last, a rapidly aging Hammer comes out of a gunshot-induced coma, then tracks down a friend's murderer and billions in mob loot. For the first time, he also confesses his love for Velda but, because of doctor's orders, cannot consummate the relationship.
Late in life, he received a career achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America and was named a grand master by the Mystery Writers of America.
In his private life, he neither smoked nor drank and was a house-to-house missionary for the Jehovah's Witnesses. He expressed at times great disdain for what he saw as corrosive forces in American life, from antiwar protesters to the United Nations.
His marriages to Mary Ann Pearce and Sherri Malinou ended in divorce. His second wife, a model, posed nude for the dust jacket of his 1972 novel "The Erection Set."
Survivors include his third wife, Jane Rodgers Johnson, a former beauty queen 30 years his junior; and four children from the first marriage.
He also carried on a long epistolary flirtation with Ayn Rand, an admirer of his writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 133 reviews
April 29, 2022
Mikey Spillane's Mike Hammer #6. These are my easy to read guilty pleasure reads between other books, and this one was as good any any of the previous books in this series. This one was first published in 1952 (or '53, depending if you believe GR or my edition), and is early 'Private Dick takes on the Mafia'.
Mike Hammer has to swerve to avoid a blonde in a trench coat (only a trench coat, as it turns out) who leaps in front of his car on a deserted road. He is surprised at a police checkpoint that they are looking for a woman who escaped from an asylum and was thought to be hitchhiking, but as he took a dislike to the cop, he lied and said she was his wife. Within a few miles his car was run off the road, she was tortured and killed, he was left for dead. They were both put back into his car which was pushed off a cliff... except that he wasn't dead, and he escaped.
Obviously, Mike Hammer is not happy about it...
The cops are not happy because he lied, and she died. The feds are not happy, and revoke his license to carry a revolver, because Hammer starts sniffing, and finds mafia. The mafia are obviously not happy. A lot of not happy.
An so Mike, accompanied by a series of attractive broads, sets about to piece together the jigsaw and sort out who did what to who and why.
This is a particularly violent story compared to the earlier books in the series, with Hammer responsible for a high body count, especially considering he isn't carrying a gun - I guess to do with the fact the cops, feds and Hammer all hate the mafia and their stoolies.
Solid 3 stars for me.
Mike Hammer has to swerve to avoid a blonde in a trench coat (only a trench coat, as it turns out) who leaps in front of his car on a deserted road. He is surprised at a police checkpoint that they are looking for a woman who escaped from an asylum and was thought to be hitchhiking, but as he took a dislike to the cop, he lied and said she was his wife. Within a few miles his car was run off the road, she was tortured and killed, he was left for dead. They were both put back into his car which was pushed off a cliff... except that he wasn't dead, and he escaped.
Obviously, Mike Hammer is not happy about it...
The cops are not happy because he lied, and she died. The feds are not happy, and revoke his license to carry a revolver, because Hammer starts sniffing, and finds mafia. The mafia are obviously not happy. A lot of not happy.
An so Mike, accompanied by a series of attractive broads, sets about to piece together the jigsaw and sort out who did what to who and why.
This is a particularly violent story compared to the earlier books in the series, with Hammer responsible for a high body count, especially considering he isn't carrying a gun - I guess to do with the fact the cops, feds and Hammer all hate the mafia and their stoolies.
Solid 3 stars for me.
June 2, 2023
Mickey Spillane is one of the best-selling mystery writers of the twentieth century and rightfully so. He is most famous for his character Mike Hammer, the toughest private eye that ever walked these streets. Kiss Me, Deadly is his seventh novel overall and his sixth Mike Hammer novel. It was first published in 1952 and, at that time, it was shocking for its violence.
You can feel Hammer’s hatred for the many-tentacled creature that the mob is and his determination to chop off the heads of this hydra. One of the best things about this book is the quick action and violence Hammer takes against all that oppose him. Even unarmed, he is a force to be reckoned with.
Although Spillane’s work was not loved by literary critics, it is a truly great read for those who have a fondness for crime fiction. Unlike many other private eyes in the fifties, Hammer did not try to get cute
with clever traps or clever anecdotes. Rather, he is a gruff, old-fashioned bear of a man who does what he thinks is right no matter the consequences.
Highly recommended work.
You can feel Hammer’s hatred for the many-tentacled creature that the mob is and his determination to chop off the heads of this hydra. One of the best things about this book is the quick action and violence Hammer takes against all that oppose him. Even unarmed, he is a force to be reckoned with.
Although Spillane’s work was not loved by literary critics, it is a truly great read for those who have a fondness for crime fiction. Unlike many other private eyes in the fifties, Hammer did not try to get cute
with clever traps or clever anecdotes. Rather, he is a gruff, old-fashioned bear of a man who does what he thinks is right no matter the consequences.
Highly recommended work.
March 25, 2018
Mickey Spillane is one of the best-selling mystery writers of the twentieth century and rightfully so. He is most famous for his
character Mike Hammer, the toughest private eye that ever walked these streets. Kiss Me, Deadly is his seventh novel overall and his sixth Mike Hammer novel. It was first published in 1952 and, at that time, it was shocking for its violence.
You can feel Hammer's hatred for the many-tentacled creature that the mob is and his determination to chop off the heads of this hydra. One of the best things about this book is the quick action and violence Hammer takes against all that oppose him. Even unarmed, he is a
force to be reckoned with.
Although Spillane's work was not loved by literary critics, it is a truly great read for those who have a fondness for crime fiction. Unlike many other private eyes in the fifties, Hammer did not try to get cute
with clever traps or clever anecdotes. Rather, he is a gruff, old-fashioned bear of a man who does what he thinks is right no matter the consequences.
Highly recommended work.
character Mike Hammer, the toughest private eye that ever walked these streets. Kiss Me, Deadly is his seventh novel overall and his sixth Mike Hammer novel. It was first published in 1952 and, at that time, it was shocking for its violence.
You can feel Hammer's hatred for the many-tentacled creature that the mob is and his determination to chop off the heads of this hydra. One of the best things about this book is the quick action and violence Hammer takes against all that oppose him. Even unarmed, he is a
force to be reckoned with.
Although Spillane's work was not loved by literary critics, it is a truly great read for those who have a fondness for crime fiction. Unlike many other private eyes in the fifties, Hammer did not try to get cute
with clever traps or clever anecdotes. Rather, he is a gruff, old-fashioned bear of a man who does what he thinks is right no matter the consequences.
Highly recommended work.
January 24, 2023
Hammer goes all Mac Bolan and wages a war on the mafia.
December 16, 2022
Spillane writes about hatred and violence with such fervor that I don't want to niggle about the nutty plot twists. A bunch of greaseballs put Hammer in the hospital and wrecked his heap. Now he is going to smash their fat faces and splash their guts around the room, and so on and so forth.
My only two complaints are:
1. Reading this book made me badly want to pick up a fresh deck of Luckies.
2. I wish Hammer would stop slobbering over all the dames he meets. It's repulsive.
My only two complaints are:
1. Reading this book made me badly want to pick up a fresh deck of Luckies.
2. I wish Hammer would stop slobbering over all the dames he meets. It's repulsive.
December 12, 2018
Credit for being an early Mafia story is due, but the style of the denouement is a bit reductive from a few of the earlier novels.
July 1, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 134 (of 250)
"It's a funny world. Pure innocence as such doesn't enter in as much nowadays," Velda warns Hammer. And that's from 1952 and so true today: everything anyone does is out on the internet forever, only to be published and republished over and over, in some cases with no date, making it seem as if someone's transgression (for which they may have served their time) just happened. There is no getting past last year's hug, last decade's slip of the tongue, etc.
HOOK - 3 stars: >>>All I saw was the dame standing there in the glard of the headlings waving her arms like a huge puppet and the curse I spit out filled the car and my own ears...I wrenched the wheel over...the brakes bit in...Somehow I had managed a sweeping curve around the babe..." Hammer thinks. <<< These are lines from the first 2 paragraphs.
The girl gets in the car and she's naked, other than a fur coat (natch) and she's escaped from a sanitarium. But of course that doesn't bother Hammer in the least. Good start, even though it's typical, of Spillane.
PACE - 4: Spillane seldom lets things slow down in any of his novels I've read.
PLOT - 3: After Hammer picks up the lady, they arrive at a road block and Hammer says the lady is his wife. They are waved through but soon rear-ended, the car going off the side of a clif. Hammer is thrown from the car, but the car hits the ground in flames. Hammer spends 6 days in a hospital and the Feds want to know why Berga Torn, taxi-dancer and night club entertainer, was in the car with him, and why he lied to the road-block cops. Berga was to testify against the mafia and had carefully planned her escape.
CAST: 3: Policeman Pat, Hammer's friend, about the mafia: "You know how they raise that capital? They squeeze it out of the little guy. It's an extra tax he has to pay." [Sound familiar to 2019 politics?] "Then they put the bit on the guys who are afraid to talk or who can't talk." They have a "political cover so heavy you can't bust through it with a sledge hammer." [Again, does this sound like headlines of news stories in 2019 America?] In all of the crime novels I've read so far (200+ from Mid-Century North America, this is oddly the first I've come across that uses the word 'mafia'...and probably for good reason. By this time, Spillane's street cred was so well-regarded (by crime story lovers, certainly not by critics) that perhaps Spillane thought it was time to just get that term out there, cause many authors had been obviously writing about the mafia, but using other terms such as 'mob' and 'gangsters'. Berga Torn, ready to testify against a few people, was associated with big-name Evello, and the feds are going for Evello, but just can't get too him. Meanwhile they do get to Congressman Geyfey and Bill Mist and Nick Raymond (who dies-in the nick of time- in an auto accident..or was he pushed into an oncoming car?) Hammer's stoolie, Moussie, says mafia guys Charlie Max and Sugar Smallhouse are out looking for Hammer. And, there is Velma, the woman Hammer is more and more attracted to. In a previous Hammer work, Hammers Private Eye license is taken away, so he has Velma work a job. Here, both Hammer and Velma have their creditials taken away, but that still doesn't stop them. Good cast, but no one really rises up from the mire other than Hammer and Velma, ongoing characters.
ATMOSPHERE - 3: We've known all along authors have been writing about the mafia, so that's really not news. The atmosphere of violence is here in full force, and for me it's turning toward torture-porn, an element I don't like at all. After 7 Hammer/Spillane novels, I can say the menace, the beatings are all here again. Oh, and here, Hammer escapes from a bed using the mattress and the springs under the mattress. This is the first time, I think, Spillane uses this scene. Hammett had used it already in the 30s, Chandler in the 40s, so it was Spillane's turn, and this third time felt done and done, so I gotta take away a star and give the Atmosphere element 2 stars. Then again, Spillane does go all out after the Mafia, gotta give him credit for that, so we're back to 3 stars. This 6th Hammer ends the second trilogy: both book 3 and book 6, in a sense, use a questionable/missing lady in the final scenes.
SUMMARY: 3.2 . This isn't Spillane/Hammer's weakest, imo (that goes to "Vengence is Mine", the third in the series) but still it's good, it's Hammer, and he's pretty much impossible to ignore in the crime genre. I've read books in this series after this sixth one, and the best one is....well, it's read but not yet reviewed: I'm saving it for a countdown of the best of these crime novels. You can't go wrong with Spillane. Even at his weakest, he's wild and whacky and wonderful in his own way. And there is a very good reason...but more on that later.
BOOK 134 (of 250)
"It's a funny world. Pure innocence as such doesn't enter in as much nowadays," Velda warns Hammer. And that's from 1952 and so true today: everything anyone does is out on the internet forever, only to be published and republished over and over, in some cases with no date, making it seem as if someone's transgression (for which they may have served their time) just happened. There is no getting past last year's hug, last decade's slip of the tongue, etc.
HOOK - 3 stars: >>>All I saw was the dame standing there in the glard of the headlings waving her arms like a huge puppet and the curse I spit out filled the car and my own ears...I wrenched the wheel over...the brakes bit in...Somehow I had managed a sweeping curve around the babe..." Hammer thinks. <<< These are lines from the first 2 paragraphs.
The girl gets in the car and she's naked, other than a fur coat (natch) and she's escaped from a sanitarium. But of course that doesn't bother Hammer in the least. Good start, even though it's typical, of Spillane.
PACE - 4: Spillane seldom lets things slow down in any of his novels I've read.
PLOT - 3: After Hammer picks up the lady, they arrive at a road block and Hammer says the lady is his wife. They are waved through but soon rear-ended, the car going off the side of a clif. Hammer is thrown from the car, but the car hits the ground in flames. Hammer spends 6 days in a hospital and the Feds want to know why Berga Torn, taxi-dancer and night club entertainer, was in the car with him, and why he lied to the road-block cops. Berga was to testify against the mafia and had carefully planned her escape.
CAST: 3: Policeman Pat, Hammer's friend, about the mafia: "You know how they raise that capital? They squeeze it out of the little guy. It's an extra tax he has to pay." [Sound familiar to 2019 politics?] "Then they put the bit on the guys who are afraid to talk or who can't talk." They have a "political cover so heavy you can't bust through it with a sledge hammer." [Again, does this sound like headlines of news stories in 2019 America?] In all of the crime novels I've read so far (200+ from Mid-Century North America, this is oddly the first I've come across that uses the word 'mafia'...and probably for good reason. By this time, Spillane's street cred was so well-regarded (by crime story lovers, certainly not by critics) that perhaps Spillane thought it was time to just get that term out there, cause many authors had been obviously writing about the mafia, but using other terms such as 'mob' and 'gangsters'. Berga Torn, ready to testify against a few people, was associated with big-name Evello, and the feds are going for Evello, but just can't get too him. Meanwhile they do get to Congressman Geyfey and Bill Mist and Nick Raymond (who dies-in the nick of time- in an auto accident..or was he pushed into an oncoming car?) Hammer's stoolie, Moussie, says mafia guys Charlie Max and Sugar Smallhouse are out looking for Hammer. And, there is Velma, the woman Hammer is more and more attracted to. In a previous Hammer work, Hammers Private Eye license is taken away, so he has Velma work a job. Here, both Hammer and Velma have their creditials taken away, but that still doesn't stop them. Good cast, but no one really rises up from the mire other than Hammer and Velma, ongoing characters.
ATMOSPHERE - 3: We've known all along authors have been writing about the mafia, so that's really not news. The atmosphere of violence is here in full force, and for me it's turning toward torture-porn, an element I don't like at all. After 7 Hammer/Spillane novels, I can say the menace, the beatings are all here again. Oh, and here, Hammer escapes from a bed using the mattress and the springs under the mattress. This is the first time, I think, Spillane uses this scene. Hammett had used it already in the 30s, Chandler in the 40s, so it was Spillane's turn, and this third time felt done and done, so I gotta take away a star and give the Atmosphere element 2 stars. Then again, Spillane does go all out after the Mafia, gotta give him credit for that, so we're back to 3 stars. This 6th Hammer ends the second trilogy: both book 3 and book 6, in a sense, use a questionable/missing lady in the final scenes.
SUMMARY: 3.2 . This isn't Spillane/Hammer's weakest, imo (that goes to "Vengence is Mine", the third in the series) but still it's good, it's Hammer, and he's pretty much impossible to ignore in the crime genre. I've read books in this series after this sixth one, and the best one is....well, it's read but not yet reviewed: I'm saving it for a countdown of the best of these crime novels. You can't go wrong with Spillane. Even at his weakest, he's wild and whacky and wonderful in his own way. And there is a very good reason...but more on that later.
August 8, 2017
One night, a blonde bounced out before PI Mike Hammer's auto. She's so frightened he doesn't have much decision yet to give her a ride. At a police barricade, he finds she's on the keep running from a sanatorium, however he passes her off as his significant other. Other individuals other than the police are after the blonde, and these individuals play unpleasant. Genuine harsh.
The blonde ends up being the star witness against some big deal mobsters. Mike has bumbled into something impossibly enormous, yet the Feds don't need him included - and take his PI permit and weapon.
For Mike, it's an opportunity to strike a blow against underhanded on a terrific scale. He finds that something speaking to a lot of cash, and a great deal of energy, has disappeared, and that a few people will go to any lengths to get it back . . .
The blonde ends up being the star witness against some big deal mobsters. Mike has bumbled into something impossibly enormous, yet the Feds don't need him included - and take his PI permit and weapon.
For Mike, it's an opportunity to strike a blow against underhanded on a terrific scale. He finds that something speaking to a lot of cash, and a great deal of energy, has disappeared, and that a few people will go to any lengths to get it back . . .
August 23, 2017
Mike Hammer runs into trouble when a sanatorium escapee throws herself into harm’s way in the middle of a road. Narrowly avoiding a collision which surely would've left the escapee a blood red smear on the road, Hammer gathers his bearings only to be confronted with the beautiful and curvaceous blond Viking of a woman begging for his help.
Hammer, not one to shy away from a dame in distress, invites her into his car and they set off, only to run into some hardened thugs with a hard-on for murder. Fast forward and Mike’s in the hospital with Velda, secretary and budding PI in her own right, at his side with the crazy dame long dead; so begins a one man war on the mafia.
Kiss Me, Deadly (published in 1952) is a violent book even by today’s more accepting standards in crime fiction. What is said on the page is just as brutal as the implied, particularly regarding the opening stanza when Hammer is left for dead and his recently distressed damsel deceased. Whilst the one man war machine is hard to stomach at times, I mean, Hammer isn't super human but he’s damn near indestructible here, it is an entertaining ride which shines a spotlight on Hammer's inner and outer hatred for the underworld; something which is exemplified more-so when Velda becomes involved.
On the surface, Kiss Me Deadly, is a murder mystery that feels like it tries to do too much; there’s government corruption, murder, drug smuggling, mafia ties, and hired assassins. Had this been a straight mafia murder cover-up, I think the book would've flowed better and bumped up the star rating.
The plot structure is linear so there’s nothing too complex about the book but the various suspects are hard to follow with a number of characters popping up here and there, murdered one at a time until the deadly process of elimination reveals the killer. Hammer reads almost too smart and the braggadocio and chauvinistic ways are cringe worthy but you know you’re bound to get that with these books.
Spillane didn't write high end literature, he wrote tough guy books set in the black of night about beautiful women in ugly situations accompanied by a protagonist with a penchant for murder and revenge without remorse; this pretty much sums up Kiss Me, Deadly.
My rating: 3/5 stars, reads perfectly well as a standalone Hammer book as well as a continuation of the series (this is the sixth installment in the still running Mike Hammer series).
Hammer, not one to shy away from a dame in distress, invites her into his car and they set off, only to run into some hardened thugs with a hard-on for murder. Fast forward and Mike’s in the hospital with Velda, secretary and budding PI in her own right, at his side with the crazy dame long dead; so begins a one man war on the mafia.
Kiss Me, Deadly (published in 1952) is a violent book even by today’s more accepting standards in crime fiction. What is said on the page is just as brutal as the implied, particularly regarding the opening stanza when Hammer is left for dead and his recently distressed damsel deceased. Whilst the one man war machine is hard to stomach at times, I mean, Hammer isn't super human but he’s damn near indestructible here, it is an entertaining ride which shines a spotlight on Hammer's inner and outer hatred for the underworld; something which is exemplified more-so when Velda becomes involved.
On the surface, Kiss Me Deadly, is a murder mystery that feels like it tries to do too much; there’s government corruption, murder, drug smuggling, mafia ties, and hired assassins. Had this been a straight mafia murder cover-up, I think the book would've flowed better and bumped up the star rating.
The plot structure is linear so there’s nothing too complex about the book but the various suspects are hard to follow with a number of characters popping up here and there, murdered one at a time until the deadly process of elimination reveals the killer. Hammer reads almost too smart and the braggadocio and chauvinistic ways are cringe worthy but you know you’re bound to get that with these books.
Spillane didn't write high end literature, he wrote tough guy books set in the black of night about beautiful women in ugly situations accompanied by a protagonist with a penchant for murder and revenge without remorse; this pretty much sums up Kiss Me, Deadly.
My rating: 3/5 stars, reads perfectly well as a standalone Hammer book as well as a continuation of the series (this is the sixth installment in the still running Mike Hammer series).
February 24, 2015
The more I read Mike Hammer the more of a parody of itself it seems to be. The books are so relentlessly tough and hard boiled, with a brutally humourless hero who relishes his role as the angel of vengeance, that it becomes hard to take them seriously. Except I don’t know if Spillane is really in on the joke.
This time it’s Mike against the Mafia, an organisation with tentacles everywhere but which can still be broken by one man. He makes his traditional threat, kills a great many scumbags and every dame he meets is more luscious than the last (the NYC of Mike Hammer appears to have supermodels on every block). It would not win any prizes for literature – and I’m sure Raymond Chandler never lost a wink of sleep – but it does all the things a Mike Hammer novel is supposed to.
This time it’s Mike against the Mafia, an organisation with tentacles everywhere but which can still be broken by one man. He makes his traditional threat, kills a great many scumbags and every dame he meets is more luscious than the last (the NYC of Mike Hammer appears to have supermodels on every block). It would not win any prizes for literature – and I’m sure Raymond Chandler never lost a wink of sleep – but it does all the things a Mike Hammer novel is supposed to.
January 17, 2023
KISS ME DEADLY is the sixth Mike Hammer book and lacking some of the issues that plagued previous books. However, it does fall into the rather obvious trap that one of the women that Mike Hammer is sleeping with is the big bad. This isn't so much of a spoiler as there's several women in this novel and also it's become something of an unused crutch for Mickey Spillane. Still, I rather enjoy Mike's first foray against the mafia. Here, they're portrayed as an incredibly deadly force and something even our protagonist hesitates to deal with. His prose continues to leap off the page and deserves credit for helping cement the detective novel in the public eye.
February 21, 2021
Hard-boiled crime writing at its best.
February 28, 2025
As a stand alone book this was totally fine because I didn't need to know anything about Mike Hammer or his past. Mike Hammer is Conan the Barbarian with a sense of righteousness. He is the unstoppable rage filled killer of bad men and object of immediate lust and desire for every single beautiful woman he meets. Good thing 90% of men are bad and 90% of women are beautiful in Mike Hammers world.
As a private eye novel it works conventionally well with Hammer following leads, gleaning info from the damsels he encounters along the way and corroborating with the police when convenient. Spurts of gory violence swell up and burst on the page like popped blood blisters, while sensual crimson stained mouths fill Mike Hammer with an indescribable ancient hunger. Frankly, it's all a bit much. And he never stops using the word gimmick. EVERYTHING IS A GIMMICK. And the ending made me feel like I was missing something but I don't feel I was. Unless of course there is some thread in an earlier entry I don't have because lucky number 6 of the series is where I arbitrarily decided to start.
I'm flabbergasted. But I will read the first novel in the series and maybe a few more and update the score on this but until then I don't know exactly how I stand.
As a private eye novel it works conventionally well with Hammer following leads, gleaning info from the damsels he encounters along the way and corroborating with the police when convenient. Spurts of gory violence swell up and burst on the page like popped blood blisters, while sensual crimson stained mouths fill Mike Hammer with an indescribable ancient hunger. Frankly, it's all a bit much. And he never stops using the word gimmick. EVERYTHING IS A GIMMICK. And the ending made me feel like I was missing something but I don't feel I was. Unless of course there is some thread in an earlier entry I don't have because lucky number 6 of the series is where I arbitrarily decided to start.
I'm flabbergasted. But I will read the first novel in the series and maybe a few more and update the score on this but until then I don't know exactly how I stand.
December 29, 2009
I believe this is my first Mike Hammer book. I loved it! Mickey Spillane wrote great noir, pulp.
While driving down a mountain road, Mike Hammer almost runs over a beautiful blond standing in the road. He gives her a ride only to find she is a woman pursued. After she is killed, Mike sets out to solver her murder.
There were many twists and turns as Mike Hammer pursues the killers.
Here are some great quotes from the book that I particularly loved:
p113 “I sat down, started to light a cigarette and stopped in the middle of it when the nurse walked in.
Some women are just pretty. Some are just beautiful. Some are just gorgeous. Some are like her. For a minute you think somebody slammed one in your belly then your breath comes back with a rush and you hope she doesn’t move out of the light that makes a translucent screen out of the white nylon uniform.
But she does and she says hello and you fell all gone all over.”
p130 “Her mouth was too close and too hungry looking. It wasn’t trying to be that way. It just was, like a steak being grilled over an open fire when you’re starved.”
Gotta love it!
While driving down a mountain road, Mike Hammer almost runs over a beautiful blond standing in the road. He gives her a ride only to find she is a woman pursued. After she is killed, Mike sets out to solver her murder.
There were many twists and turns as Mike Hammer pursues the killers.
Here are some great quotes from the book that I particularly loved:
p113 “I sat down, started to light a cigarette and stopped in the middle of it when the nurse walked in.
Some women are just pretty. Some are just beautiful. Some are just gorgeous. Some are like her. For a minute you think somebody slammed one in your belly then your breath comes back with a rush and you hope she doesn’t move out of the light that makes a translucent screen out of the white nylon uniform.
But she does and she says hello and you fell all gone all over.”
p130 “Her mouth was too close and too hungry looking. It wasn’t trying to be that way. It just was, like a steak being grilled over an open fire when you’re starved.”
Gotta love it!
June 19, 2023
If you think THE PUNISHER was an original idea, then you're obviously not familiar with Don Pendleton's EXECUTIONER series (and its countless imitators in the 1970s). And if you think THE EXECUTIONER came out of thin air, wait until you read Mickey Spillane's KISS ME, DEADLY that has Mike Hammer take on the entire Mafia in his own inimitable way.
Chockfull of the usual twisted violence and kinky foreplay (Hammer seems to hardly ever manage to consume a relationship), this book also features a female character called..... Michael. (And if you think STAR TREK went there first.... you know the drill). Usually having a female with a male name would spell utter disaster for that lady in a Spillane book but in this case this seems to have been part of a joke that somehow failed to kick off.
Either way, if you like Spillane, you'll love this novel. If you don't then this won't make you change your mind.
Chockfull of the usual twisted violence and kinky foreplay (Hammer seems to hardly ever manage to consume a relationship), this book also features a female character called..... Michael. (And if you think STAR TREK went there first.... you know the drill). Usually having a female with a male name would spell utter disaster for that lady in a Spillane book but in this case this seems to have been part of a joke that somehow failed to kick off.
Either way, if you like Spillane, you'll love this novel. If you don't then this won't make you change your mind.
August 4, 2008
One of the few instances where the film version is actually better than the book - the film is 5 stars all the way...the book, a solid 4. Track 'em both down...
February 5, 2020
Great writing - spoiled by a ludicrous denouement.
February 17, 2024
Mickey Spillane’s 6th novel featuring private eye Mike Hammer, Kiss Me Deadly, delivers a tough punch just like the last 5 books.
In this episode, Mike Hammer finds himself cruising down the highway between Albany and Manhattan when an escapee from the loony bin leaps in front of his coupe wearing only an overcoat. He picks her up. Shenanigans ensue. They get rolled by the mafia, literally rolled off a cliff, and Hammer gets framed for the lady’s murder. Turns out the lady he picked up was the moll of a that guy bilked the mafia out of $2 million bucks worth of merchandise. And now the mafia thinks Hammer knows where it is. He’s got to get the goods and kill the bad guys before they kill him. And this time he’s without his trusty .45 as the FBI pulls his license. So it’s two-fisted action for Hammer. But the results are never truly in doubt. If there’s one thing Hammer doesn’t lack, it’s self-confidence.
This is classic Spillane, rough and tough and as hard-boiled as you could wish. And, as is so often the case in the Mike Hammer stories, it’s Hammer’s "never-give-up-against-all-odds" side that drives him on. He just keeps punching his way through everything that stands in his way. It’s Hammer’s rowdy and relentless side that drives him even when he’s not being able to pull the trigger of his .45 that's been taken out of play by the Feds. Hammer is ruthless but he has a highly developed sense of right and wrong.
He also has a tendency to take cases personally. Mostly he’s happy for the criminal justice system to take its course but there are times when he’d much prefer to be judge, jury and executioner. And in this case he really wants to pull the trigger on the guy that killed that kid’s father.
Kiss Me Deadly, written in the ‘hard-boiled’ style , critics regard this book as one of the good novels in the series. It has a simplicity and punchiness, brought about by very short sentences. The story is also written entirely in first person, keeping the reader right alongside Hammer, all the way. Hammer is an unthinking thug, even a psychopath. He lacks wit, charm or any real humanity, moving through the novel and towards its conclusion, by intimidating, beating and killing anyone who stands in his way. And then, there is Hammer’s relationship with women. Somehow, despite his total lack of charm, Hammer appears irresistible to them: waitresses wink at him; his secretary, Velda, is patiently in love with him.
This instalment of the series is grittier, seedier and completely overflowing with the typical brutality that can only exude from a Mike Hammer story. As a vigilante private investigator, Hammer’s attitude towards criminals is defined when he says, "They crack down on society and I crack down on them. I shoot them like the mad dogs they are and society drags me to court to explain the whys and wherefores of the extermination." Unlike any other protagonist Mike Hammer displays a vicious rage against any violent crime. He loves brutal violence. He is a ladies’ man. He chooses to take the law into his own hands. However, he does respect the police, especially his best friend, Captain Pat Chambers of the NYPD Homicide Department. Hammer is very patriotic and an anti-communist. It’s interesting to note that anti-communism was a very big thing during 1947 to capture the mass sentiment in the USA.
“Kiss Me Deadly” has delicious dollops of action, intelligence and sex being dished out to the reader at any given point of time. It’s a thrilling fast paced read with many poignant character moments. The 1920s-1950s produced many detective novels. But none of these detectives had Mike Hammer's unforgiving attitude. This novel is a tale of the times, and some parts overtly chauvinistic.
I am so glad to have started the Mike Hammer series. It’s not easy to come by this series and, thankfully, I managed to get hold of the entire collection. This is going to be one hell of a ride through “Hammer Time” in 40’s American crime literature
In this episode, Mike Hammer finds himself cruising down the highway between Albany and Manhattan when an escapee from the loony bin leaps in front of his coupe wearing only an overcoat. He picks her up. Shenanigans ensue. They get rolled by the mafia, literally rolled off a cliff, and Hammer gets framed for the lady’s murder. Turns out the lady he picked up was the moll of a that guy bilked the mafia out of $2 million bucks worth of merchandise. And now the mafia thinks Hammer knows where it is. He’s got to get the goods and kill the bad guys before they kill him. And this time he’s without his trusty .45 as the FBI pulls his license. So it’s two-fisted action for Hammer. But the results are never truly in doubt. If there’s one thing Hammer doesn’t lack, it’s self-confidence.
This is classic Spillane, rough and tough and as hard-boiled as you could wish. And, as is so often the case in the Mike Hammer stories, it’s Hammer’s "never-give-up-against-all-odds" side that drives him on. He just keeps punching his way through everything that stands in his way. It’s Hammer’s rowdy and relentless side that drives him even when he’s not being able to pull the trigger of his .45 that's been taken out of play by the Feds. Hammer is ruthless but he has a highly developed sense of right and wrong.
He also has a tendency to take cases personally. Mostly he’s happy for the criminal justice system to take its course but there are times when he’d much prefer to be judge, jury and executioner. And in this case he really wants to pull the trigger on the guy that killed that kid’s father.
Kiss Me Deadly, written in the ‘hard-boiled’ style , critics regard this book as one of the good novels in the series. It has a simplicity and punchiness, brought about by very short sentences. The story is also written entirely in first person, keeping the reader right alongside Hammer, all the way. Hammer is an unthinking thug, even a psychopath. He lacks wit, charm or any real humanity, moving through the novel and towards its conclusion, by intimidating, beating and killing anyone who stands in his way. And then, there is Hammer’s relationship with women. Somehow, despite his total lack of charm, Hammer appears irresistible to them: waitresses wink at him; his secretary, Velda, is patiently in love with him.
This instalment of the series is grittier, seedier and completely overflowing with the typical brutality that can only exude from a Mike Hammer story. As a vigilante private investigator, Hammer’s attitude towards criminals is defined when he says, "They crack down on society and I crack down on them. I shoot them like the mad dogs they are and society drags me to court to explain the whys and wherefores of the extermination." Unlike any other protagonist Mike Hammer displays a vicious rage against any violent crime. He loves brutal violence. He is a ladies’ man. He chooses to take the law into his own hands. However, he does respect the police, especially his best friend, Captain Pat Chambers of the NYPD Homicide Department. Hammer is very patriotic and an anti-communist. It’s interesting to note that anti-communism was a very big thing during 1947 to capture the mass sentiment in the USA.
“Kiss Me Deadly” has delicious dollops of action, intelligence and sex being dished out to the reader at any given point of time. It’s a thrilling fast paced read with many poignant character moments. The 1920s-1950s produced many detective novels. But none of these detectives had Mike Hammer's unforgiving attitude. This novel is a tale of the times, and some parts overtly chauvinistic.
I am so glad to have started the Mike Hammer series. It’s not easy to come by this series and, thankfully, I managed to get hold of the entire collection. This is going to be one hell of a ride through “Hammer Time” in 40’s American crime literature
September 3, 2022
4 STARS
June 18, 2017
Bottom Line First:
Kiss me Deadly did not work for me. Too many pages of Mike Hammer interior dialogue about how much smarter, deadlier and uncontrolled he is. Then, at least three times he walks into traps because he was not paying attention. There is a lot of killing, most of it by the unarmed hero. (Early on his detective license and gun permit are revoked.) Every death is more or less justified, but many are not necessary. Our hero seems tired and admits to being old, this will be one of the last Mike Hammers Spillane will write. Mostly it made me tired. I found myself dragging through the last 50 pages and feeling had by the ending.
The copy I have was a gift from a friend. The reprint of the original cover had me at first sight- Classic old time pulp fiction. We begin with a fast series of events, Mike Hammer picking up a "dame" who is of course naked under her "fitted" trench coat. Fast cars, bluff your way past the police road block , fall into the arms of the bad guys , coat lady gets killed and the poorly faked evidence points to Hammer as the killer.
And that takes us to about page 20. Mike, against all kinds of advice will take on the Mafia, and do so without a fire arm or much in the way of clues. He is armed by superior morals and willingness to ignore them and a better brain and not being one of the stooges in government. At this will take another 100 or so pages.
Kiss Me Deadly is a short book made too long by all of the self-righteous monologue. Most of the villains are bad by reputation rather than by anything on the page and all attractive females fall in love with Mike. The plot twists are more confusing than confounding. Pulp is allowed to be formulaic, but the formula never comes together to make an edge of your seat read.
Kiss me Deadly did not work for me. Too many pages of Mike Hammer interior dialogue about how much smarter, deadlier and uncontrolled he is. Then, at least three times he walks into traps because he was not paying attention. There is a lot of killing, most of it by the unarmed hero. (Early on his detective license and gun permit are revoked.) Every death is more or less justified, but many are not necessary. Our hero seems tired and admits to being old, this will be one of the last Mike Hammers Spillane will write. Mostly it made me tired. I found myself dragging through the last 50 pages and feeling had by the ending.
The copy I have was a gift from a friend. The reprint of the original cover had me at first sight- Classic old time pulp fiction. We begin with a fast series of events, Mike Hammer picking up a "dame" who is of course naked under her "fitted" trench coat. Fast cars, bluff your way past the police road block , fall into the arms of the bad guys , coat lady gets killed and the poorly faked evidence points to Hammer as the killer.
And that takes us to about page 20. Mike, against all kinds of advice will take on the Mafia, and do so without a fire arm or much in the way of clues. He is armed by superior morals and willingness to ignore them and a better brain and not being one of the stooges in government. At this will take another 100 or so pages.
Kiss Me Deadly is a short book made too long by all of the self-righteous monologue. Most of the villains are bad by reputation rather than by anything on the page and all attractive females fall in love with Mike. The plot twists are more confusing than confounding. Pulp is allowed to be formulaic, but the formula never comes together to make an edge of your seat read.
July 9, 2012
Mike Hammer is one tough dude! No wonder many of today's mystery writers refer to him and Mickey Spillane's books.
Hammer has his license and with that, his gun pulled early on so he does all his work by hand, fighting his way through a maze of corruption, the Mafia. Published in 1953 and not knowing much history of the Mafia, not sure when it 'took hold' in America. With that said, if it was established when Spillane wrote this book, was wondering if he felt threatened in any way?
Kiss Me, Deadly was complicated though. Found myself re-reading some paragraphs to make sure I got the clues or the references which were important.
Around 1953 when this was published, it was the beginning of the end of noir but this definately has all the elementsof noir. My favorite passages were about how Mike closes his mouth, pulls his lips back thin and shows his teeth. He did that quite often in the book and each time I found myself doing the same thing. I meant to mark a section where he described it but sorry, forgot to.
The ending was terrific...surprising and terrific. Some lose ends but doesn't bother me. Heh, it's Mike Hammer.
Hammer is great so no wonder a TV series was made from these books. And Mickey Spillane was quite a character in his own right, living on the coast of South Carolina and knocking on doors trying to convert people to LDS. Am I the only one who sees some kind of contradiction here?
Hammer has his license and with that, his gun pulled early on so he does all his work by hand, fighting his way through a maze of corruption, the Mafia. Published in 1953 and not knowing much history of the Mafia, not sure when it 'took hold' in America. With that said, if it was established when Spillane wrote this book, was wondering if he felt threatened in any way?
Kiss Me, Deadly was complicated though. Found myself re-reading some paragraphs to make sure I got the clues or the references which were important.
Around 1953 when this was published, it was the beginning of the end of noir but this definately has all the elementsof noir. My favorite passages were about how Mike closes his mouth, pulls his lips back thin and shows his teeth. He did that quite often in the book and each time I found myself doing the same thing. I meant to mark a section where he described it but sorry, forgot to.
The ending was terrific...surprising and terrific. Some lose ends but doesn't bother me. Heh, it's Mike Hammer.
Hammer is great so no wonder a TV series was made from these books. And Mickey Spillane was quite a character in his own right, living on the coast of South Carolina and knocking on doors trying to convert people to LDS. Am I the only one who sees some kind of contradiction here?
December 29, 2024
I guess you know what you are going to get from a Mike Hammer PI novel. Not so much because it is formulaic as being just filled with violence, threat and thrilling action. With several beautiful female characters and an ever increasing body count.
If it works, why change it?
Well there are differences here; Hammer’s trusty .45 is taken off him. He is involved in something bigger than his mate Pat can help him with officially but since they tried to kill him once he isn’t going to rest until he settles the score.
Yet the odds are against him as he is going head to head with the Mafia. Not the later Film and TV version of family orientated organised crime but a more evil, tentacle infiltrating, gang violent and little concern for “collateral” damage.
I still struggle with the attitude towards women reflected in our protagonist but these are thrilling adventure stories of a time when New York echoes the gun-totting Wild West.
Don’t be mislead; there is a mystery, almost a whodunit running through the story and many interesting moments.
If it works, why change it?
Well there are differences here; Hammer’s trusty .45 is taken off him. He is involved in something bigger than his mate Pat can help him with officially but since they tried to kill him once he isn’t going to rest until he settles the score.
Yet the odds are against him as he is going head to head with the Mafia. Not the later Film and TV version of family orientated organised crime but a more evil, tentacle infiltrating, gang violent and little concern for “collateral” damage.
I still struggle with the attitude towards women reflected in our protagonist but these are thrilling adventure stories of a time when New York echoes the gun-totting Wild West.
Don’t be mislead; there is a mystery, almost a whodunit running through the story and many interesting moments.
July 22, 2016
Is Spillane a worthy confrère of the likes of Chandler, Hammett and Macdonald? My answer is unequivocally yes, despite the charges of gratuitous violence and sexual titillation. Those are aspects of Mike Hammer's character -- faults perhaps, but isn't that what noir is all about, the heroic transcending moral weakness in the protagonist? The plot of Kiss Me, Deadly superbly orchestrates this transcendence, as Hammer stays one step ahead of the Mafia in solving the central mystery. And yes, this is a mystery, with a fair amount of ratiocination. Not Hercule Poirot, certainly -- but if Poirot had to put up with what Mike Hammer does . . .
December 16, 2011
The pathetic "noirs" of Stieg Larsson make me recall
Mickey Spillane. As Capote once said, "There are writers and
there are typists." Larsson is strictly a typist. His
mishmasshery of s & m make Spillane read like Proust.
For off-the-wall thrills, you can't beat the film
version of this novel (Robt Aldrich, 1955), which has been
called "the most perfectly realized film noir ever made."
LA is a city in which every road leads to No Exit. What's
coming? A nuclear apocalypse. Sophistication and worldiness
enlarge the cold and callous manners.
Mickey Spillane. As Capote once said, "There are writers and
there are typists." Larsson is strictly a typist. His
mishmasshery of s & m make Spillane read like Proust.
For off-the-wall thrills, you can't beat the film
version of this novel (Robt Aldrich, 1955), which has been
called "the most perfectly realized film noir ever made."
LA is a city in which every road leads to No Exit. What's
coming? A nuclear apocalypse. Sophistication and worldiness
enlarge the cold and callous manners.
June 18, 2017
This book is acid. It will strip the skin off of your hide, melt it down, and send it to Peoria in a pickle barrel. Mike Hammer at his worst is Spillane at his best. While it moves, it corrodes. Hammer takes a beating like you cannot believe, but still wins out. Fights against gunmen like you cannot believe, but he still wins out.
It's completely unbelievable, to be honest.
But Spillane won out. I love this book. It's amazing.
No one writes like Spillane. Buy a ticket and go for a ride.
It's completely unbelievable, to be honest.
But Spillane won out. I love this book. It's amazing.
No one writes like Spillane. Buy a ticket and go for a ride.
February 24, 2016
Mike Hammer, at it again in his own inimitable style. Classic noir/pulp fiction by one of the best at it.
November 30, 2022
Caveman poetry.
August 9, 2025
"I sat there for a while, staring at the multicolored reflections of the city that made my window a living, moving kaleidoscope. The voice of the monster outside the glass was a constant drone, but when you listened long enough it became a flat, sarcastic sneer that pushed ten million people into bigger and bigger troubles, and then the sneer was heard for what it was, a derisive laugh that thought blood running from an open wound was funny, and death was the biggest joke of all."
New York Private Eye Mike Hammer is driving back from Jersey one dark night and almost runs over a beautiful hitchhiking lady who bums a ride from him. She's an escaped asylum convict and the state cops, the Feds, and some mafia brutes are after her. Then, after he is driven off the road and beat up, and she is killed in that night's pursuit, he sets his sights on figuring out what her deal was and who he needs to exact justice on.
"Kiss Me, Deadly" (1952) pushes the Hammer series of noir street vengeance adventures into an arena that I found had similar tones to the upcoming Parker novels by Richard Stark where Parker went up against an outfit of mobbed up organized crime guys. Hammer takes pleasure in making these bad guys who consider themselves above the law nervous about his well-advertised mission of vengeance and death. While Parker is just interested in getting the money owed him, Hammer is only interested in exacting vengeance.
Verdict: This book's whole point is the seedy atmosphere, comic bookish gun battles, fistfights, and car chases, and an ugly heroic street monster setting things right by any means necessary. A wickedly fun street vengeance mystery and crime tale.
Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
New York Private Eye Mike Hammer is driving back from Jersey one dark night and almost runs over a beautiful hitchhiking lady who bums a ride from him. She's an escaped asylum convict and the state cops, the Feds, and some mafia brutes are after her. Then, after he is driven off the road and beat up, and she is killed in that night's pursuit, he sets his sights on figuring out what her deal was and who he needs to exact justice on.
"Kiss Me, Deadly" (1952) pushes the Hammer series of noir street vengeance adventures into an arena that I found had similar tones to the upcoming Parker novels by Richard Stark where Parker went up against an outfit of mobbed up organized crime guys. Hammer takes pleasure in making these bad guys who consider themselves above the law nervous about his well-advertised mission of vengeance and death. While Parker is just interested in getting the money owed him, Hammer is only interested in exacting vengeance.
Verdict: This book's whole point is the seedy atmosphere, comic bookish gun battles, fistfights, and car chases, and an ugly heroic street monster setting things right by any means necessary. A wickedly fun street vengeance mystery and crime tale.
Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
May 5, 2020
“Once when I was a kid I saw a dogcatcher about to net a dog. I kicked him in the shins, grabbed the pup and ran. The damn mutt bit me and got away, but I was still glad I did it.”
I don't really know how to rate this. Parts of it are so blunt and stupid, it almost reaches parody. I'm pretty sure the author has a thing for mouths, eventually hearing the character constantly talk about luscious mouths became almost funny. However, there is something oddly satisfying about the practically invincible main character going around, smacking everyone and being invincible. The ending is great too.
This is one of those cases where I think the 1955 movie is much better as it takes the bluntness of this and the basic set up but turns it into something weird and very unique.
I don't really know how to rate this. Parts of it are so blunt and stupid, it almost reaches parody. I'm pretty sure the author has a thing for mouths, eventually hearing the character constantly talk about luscious mouths became almost funny. However, there is something oddly satisfying about the practically invincible main character going around, smacking everyone and being invincible. The ending is great too.
This is one of those cases where I think the 1955 movie is much better as it takes the bluntness of this and the basic set up but turns it into something weird and very unique.
March 29, 2024
I got intrigued to read Kiss Me, Deadly after reading a few articles on the movie. Of the 3 Hammer novels I've read this is my favorite. I like the characters and the story a lot. Hammer is his usual brutish self but the many females he runs into manage to give him an almost "Bondish" appeal. I was reading this from a tattered paperback that was falling apart as I read it so I ended up listening to the audiobook for most of it. I'll continue to read more Hammer, especially if they are as good as Kiss Me, Deadly.
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