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The Deep
This is 19th printing of the Signet paperback edition.
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
16 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Mickey Spillane
316 books446 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 33 reviews
August 11, 2024
This is without question Spillane's ultimate masterpiece. It is well- written, appropriately paced, perfectly plotted, and tougher and more hardboiled than any other book out there. If you live and breathe hard-edged, hard-boiled stories, you will find yourself gasping for air as you turn these pages. It is that good.
It is a not-too-infrequent plot device in hardboiled literature for a man who has been away from town for many years to come back and find it controlled by thugs and syndicates. Generally, you then have a story of one man with a whole town arrayed against him. But, not here. Spillane turns the whole formula seemingly on its head and has a mean old hood come back and take over a criminal empire.
Deep is the meanest, toughest hood that ever lived and, after more than twenty years away, he's back in town. His childhood buddy has been running an empire and had the goods on everyone. Bennett's dead, but they promised way back when, all for one and one for all so the empire belongs to Deep if he has the balls to hold onto it. All he has to do is find out who killed his friend in two weeks. That is, if he can manage to keep breathing.
This is one hard-edged story with almost no let up. This is Spillane at his best and one of the reasons you have to include him in any list of the greats of the hardboiled era.
It is a not-too-infrequent plot device in hardboiled literature for a man who has been away from town for many years to come back and find it controlled by thugs and syndicates. Generally, you then have a story of one man with a whole town arrayed against him. But, not here. Spillane turns the whole formula seemingly on its head and has a mean old hood come back and take over a criminal empire.
Deep is the meanest, toughest hood that ever lived and, after more than twenty years away, he's back in town. His childhood buddy has been running an empire and had the goods on everyone. Bennett's dead, but they promised way back when, all for one and one for all so the empire belongs to Deep if he has the balls to hold onto it. All he has to do is find out who killed his friend in two weeks. That is, if he can manage to keep breathing.
This is one hard-edged story with almost no let up. This is Spillane at his best and one of the reasons you have to include him in any list of the greats of the hardboiled era.
February 26, 2015
Having read "I, the Jury" 1947, "My Gun is Quick" (1950), "The Big Kill" (1951), and "Kiss Me Deadly" (1952) some time ago, and quite enjoying them, I happily wanted to re-kindle my relationship with Mickey Spillane who was a tough guy in life and in his writing.
There were a couple of long gaps in Spillane's authorial career. The first followed his conversion to the Jehoavah's Witnesses in 1952. This led to a ten-year hiatus in the writing of novels and he was earning substantially from subsidiary rights over this period. He returned to writing in 1961 with "The Deep".
I had not read this book previously. As the book began I had some problems with the nature of the story itself as the characters were a bit cartoonish. That and the fact that the main character "The Deep" was constantly receiving death threats or being told by virtually every other character that they wanted to see him dead.
Spillane was once asked about his pulp writing, and Spillane stated that his guiding principle was that "violence will outsell sex every time", but combined they will outsell everything. Spillane flaunted his lack of authorial polish claiming (mischievously) never to introduce characters with mustaches or who drank cognac because he didn't know how to spell the words.
Spillane served in the US army air force during the second world war. He flew fighter missions and taught cadets how to fly. In interviews he claimed to have two bullet wounds and a civilian knife scar sustained working undercover with the FBI to break up a narcotics ring. In 1945 Spillane Married his first wife, of three, Mary Ann Pearce. There were two sons and two daughters. After leaving the military he worked in Barnum and Bailey's circus as a trampoline artist.
Scorned by many critics for his artless plots, his reliance on unlikely coincidence and a simplistic understanding of the law, He described himself as a “money writer,” saying that “I write when I need money.” Then continued “I have no fans,” he told the interviewer. “You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.”
In the end my opinion of this book was raised due to the overall enjoyment of the writing bringing us back to a world where all the dames are beautiful and one can be clobbered in the head multiple times without going to the hospital. The book is an excellent escapist read.
There were a couple of long gaps in Spillane's authorial career. The first followed his conversion to the Jehoavah's Witnesses in 1952. This led to a ten-year hiatus in the writing of novels and he was earning substantially from subsidiary rights over this period. He returned to writing in 1961 with "The Deep".
I had not read this book previously. As the book began I had some problems with the nature of the story itself as the characters were a bit cartoonish. That and the fact that the main character "The Deep" was constantly receiving death threats or being told by virtually every other character that they wanted to see him dead.
Spillane was once asked about his pulp writing, and Spillane stated that his guiding principle was that "violence will outsell sex every time", but combined they will outsell everything. Spillane flaunted his lack of authorial polish claiming (mischievously) never to introduce characters with mustaches or who drank cognac because he didn't know how to spell the words.
Spillane served in the US army air force during the second world war. He flew fighter missions and taught cadets how to fly. In interviews he claimed to have two bullet wounds and a civilian knife scar sustained working undercover with the FBI to break up a narcotics ring. In 1945 Spillane Married his first wife, of three, Mary Ann Pearce. There were two sons and two daughters. After leaving the military he worked in Barnum and Bailey's circus as a trampoline artist.
Scorned by many critics for his artless plots, his reliance on unlikely coincidence and a simplistic understanding of the law, He described himself as a “money writer,” saying that “I write when I need money.” Then continued “I have no fans,” he told the interviewer. “You know what I got? Customers. And customers are your friends.”
In the end my opinion of this book was raised due to the overall enjoyment of the writing bringing us back to a world where all the dames are beautiful and one can be clobbered in the head multiple times without going to the hospital. The book is an excellent escapist read.
March 22, 2018
Mickey Spillane once said "I don’t have fans. I have customers. I’m a writer. I give ’em what they wanna read.”. Such a remark to me sounds like a lack of love for the material, a simple cashing in on formulaic plots and predictable "fan service". A pattern I kinda see forming after reading a lot of Mike Hammer. It became overly formulaic for me: there's a case, Hammer drinks a lot and gets screwed, there's (objectifing and being violent to) beautiful girls, Hammer hates bad guys, there's fights, his police friend Pat helps him and there's a implausible twist ending.
But, wow, what a surprise!!! With The Deep Spillane manages to write a book that is more mysterious and even a little complex, compared to the Hammer books. There's definitely some trademarks still: being rude and violent to a woman, lots of anger and hatred, lots of fights. But luckily there's layers of nostalgia, background story and a very detailed sense of place and atmosphere that takes center stage. Also our hero Deep doesn't take his hatred and cynism so serious, like he is just having fun. A breathe of fresh air, if he is having more fun: so am I. Storywise it seems to make more sense too, just a straightforward revenge story. Well, that's what we are supposed to believe.........ofcourse there is a twist, but it all makes sense and isn't implausible at all. Can you believe that, a Spillane book that has logic????
In the end all the nostalgia and local atmosphere has a purpose and drives the story forward and it all wraps up nicely. Yes, this is pretty cool.
But, wow, what a surprise!!! With The Deep Spillane manages to write a book that is more mysterious and even a little complex, compared to the Hammer books. There's definitely some trademarks still: being rude and violent to a woman, lots of anger and hatred, lots of fights. But luckily there's layers of nostalgia, background story and a very detailed sense of place and atmosphere that takes center stage. Also our hero Deep doesn't take his hatred and cynism so serious, like he is just having fun. A breathe of fresh air, if he is having more fun: so am I. Storywise it seems to make more sense too, just a straightforward revenge story. Well, that's what we are supposed to believe.........ofcourse there is a twist, but it all makes sense and isn't implausible at all. Can you believe that, a Spillane book that has logic????
In the end all the nostalgia and local atmosphere has a purpose and drives the story forward and it all wraps up nicely. Yes, this is pretty cool.
September 2, 2024
I needed a fun and furious read to snap me out of a slump. I had some Dashiell Hammett in mind, or possibly some Ray Chandler, but I stumbled upon a review of The Deep, saw a copy at my library and decided to give it a read.
I’ve never read Mickey Spillane before, but I enjoyed this tough guy read. Spillane is known for having a “big twist”. I saw the twist early on, but it all added up so I didn’t mind.
I’ve never read Mickey Spillane before, but I enjoyed this tough guy read. Spillane is known for having a “big twist”. I saw the twist early on, but it all added up so I didn’t mind.
March 1, 2021
Probably one of the worst books I've ever read in memory. I guess Mucky Spillane got pushed around and smacked around in real life and exerts his "I'm deep and I'm so tough" fake tough wannabe writing. Unreadable from start to finish, weak storyline and I'm sure that I'll be avoiding his books hence forth.
January 2, 2022
I'm not a big fan of the Mike Hammer stories . when I started reading this I had to check the publication date. It felt like a hard boiled novel written 10 years or more prior to the 1961 publish date. Then I found out that Spillane had taken a hiatus from writing in 1952 and this was his first novel published when he resumed in 1961. But it read's more like a continuation of the more pulpish hard boiled writers in the 1940's and more Horace McCoy or Carroll John Daly than Raymond Chandler. While the characters were almost cartoonish they were more enjoyable than the sexist overly violent misanthrope we find in Mike Hammer. The surprise ending wasn't exactly telegraphed you began to feel that "Deep" wasn't exactly what he was being portrayed to be through the majority of the book.
May 7, 2012
I'm not a huge Mickey Spillane fan. He's got the tough guy thing down but his novels lack style and substance of other writers in the genre. Even as guilty pleasures they don't hold together as well as, say, Richard Stark's Parker novels.
The Deep is the mildly entertaining story of a man, (the titular Deep), who comes back to the mean streets of New York City to investigate the death of his friend, the head of a criminal syndicate. Deep is a typical Spillane tough guy and his method is to shake the hornet's nest as hard as he can.
If you read the Signet paperback edition of this book, avoid the back cover blurbs which spoil a key plot point.
The Deep is the mildly entertaining story of a man, (the titular Deep), who comes back to the mean streets of New York City to investigate the death of his friend, the head of a criminal syndicate. Deep is a typical Spillane tough guy and his method is to shake the hornet's nest as hard as he can.
If you read the Signet paperback edition of this book, avoid the back cover blurbs which spoil a key plot point.
June 18, 2013
I read this to immerse myself in noir while I was working on a story that has a noir flavor. I knew it would be dark, mysterious, and gritty, I was not disappointed. Although I was able to figure out the heroes big secret relatively early, I didn't catch on to the killer's identity right up to the reveal, which was fun. But the language was what I came for, and Spillane delivers with deliciously earthy descriptions of his dames, and nonchalant sneers of the punks who inhabit his neon-lit world. I will come back and re-read it, and doubtless read aloud to my partner the passages I read to him this time.
July 12, 2018
I read this book in 1961 when it was first published. Mickey Spillane was a favorite back then and I was a big Mike Hammer fan. But The Deep wasn't a Mike Hammer story, it was about a stand-alone character who was at once tough, fearless and mysterious. In 2018 the character was still tough, fearless and mysterious, and despite the fact that I remembered the surprise ending I still thoroughly enjoyed re-reading it. Much of it I had forgotten (56 years is a long time) and it was a pleasure to catch up. I do believe I may re-read some of the Mike Hammer books I once loved.
May 11, 2009
I had been aware of Spillane as an author of tough-guy American detectives, but I did not know he was such a great writer. His language was almost poetry in some descriptions of the gritty city streets and their denizens. And I loved how he kept one aspect secret until even the final word of the novel--so clever.
December 24, 2015
Best of the Best
Spillane, John D. McDonald. Those guys were the true Great writers of the Mystery genre, and this is the Best of the Best Book in my collection and I am 72 years old.
Spillane, John D. McDonald. Those guys were the true Great writers of the Mystery genre, and this is the Best of the Best Book in my collection and I am 72 years old.
July 24, 2012
I miss Spillane, but his oeuvre is fantastic.
May 13, 2015
In my opinion this is the best of Mickey Spillane's long list of Hard Boiled Books. Complete with a surprise ending it is extremely gritty and well done.
December 14, 2016
That was awesome. I suspected what the twist was, but I wasn't sure, and then when it came at the very end I was still blown away. Totally awesome. This is now my favorite Spillane novel.
Read
August 1, 2019Yes, I compulsively read everything by Spillane that I can get my hands on.... even though he pretty much represents everything I loathe in a person's attitude towards life, the universe and everything. Me, I am a bleeding heart liberal and even was a conscientious objector in Germany. Spillane? Not so much.
He does, however, embrace the kind of fast paced, hard boiled, pulp fiction writing ethos that I adore.
Saying that, his books do seem to fall into three categories: The Mike Hammers. The Tiger Manns (effectively if Mike Hammer was not a private eye but a spy.) And the others. Those others are usually revenge stories where a stranger comes into town to wreck havoc among a group of influential people. And usually those stories aren't all that great.
Unfortunately, The Deep belongs to the latter category. "The Deep" is the main character's nickname, a former hoodlum who returns back to New York after a 25 year break to take over the reign of a Mafia Empire left to him by a murdered buddy, a notorious Kingpin of Crime. There is somewhat of a twist at the end that is not necessarily important for the story (and that I saw coming a mile against the wind). The book is quite talky. Usually Spillane characters revel in violence both inflicted against and by them. This book, however, is relatively tame. Yes, there are killings and beatings but this must be the least blood thirsty of all his anti-heroes as he seems to only kill one single person.
An OK book but definitely nowhere near Spillane's best.
He does, however, embrace the kind of fast paced, hard boiled, pulp fiction writing ethos that I adore.
Saying that, his books do seem to fall into three categories: The Mike Hammers. The Tiger Manns (effectively if Mike Hammer was not a private eye but a spy.) And the others. Those others are usually revenge stories where a stranger comes into town to wreck havoc among a group of influential people. And usually those stories aren't all that great.
Unfortunately, The Deep belongs to the latter category. "The Deep" is the main character's nickname, a former hoodlum who returns back to New York after a 25 year break to take over the reign of a Mafia Empire left to him by a murdered buddy, a notorious Kingpin of Crime. There is somewhat of a twist at the end that is not necessarily important for the story (and that I saw coming a mile against the wind). The book is quite talky. Usually Spillane characters revel in violence both inflicted against and by them. This book, however, is relatively tame. Yes, there are killings and beatings but this must be the least blood thirsty of all his anti-heroes as he seems to only kill one single person.
An OK book but definitely nowhere near Spillane's best.
July 13, 2025
My increased focus this year on playing casino poker has been a detriment to my reading goals. I took this one along on vacation as a fun read and I was impressed with its execution. The plot: A former mobster that returns to his town of origin after a mob leader. his best friend is murdered. The plot is well executed, and it feels more like classic noir than his Mike Hammer stories that are a genre of their own. Our hero is an avenging angel like Hammer but the secrecy around his origins and return put it in a different column. Now I guessed some things early on and I rarely do this because I don’t read them as puzzles like other people might do. I’m more interested in the scenes. I think I wasn’t guessing but recognized reused plot lines on TV cop shows I watched with my dad in the 1970s and 1980s. That speaks to what a unique idea this was and I wonder if another author did this before him.
August 1, 2020
Dopo nove anni di silenzio Spillane torna a scrivere nel suo più congegnale genere, l'hard boiled. E sforna una storia magistralmente concepita, con personaggi perfettamente delineati, azione, suspance, brivido. La ricetta di base è sempre la stessa, ma le attese non vengono mai tradite. È un libro che ti tiene incollato fino all'ultima pagina: quasi impossibile sospenderne la lettura.
September 25, 2024
Silloin kun Spillane oikein keskittyi siihen, mitä oli tekemässä, mies oli parasta ikinä.
Niin paljon vauhtia, niin paljon väkivaltaa, niin paljon tunteita, mitä ymmärrän mitä vanhemmaksi tulen sekä loppu, joka oikeasti yllätti.
Parasta ikinä.
Niin paljon vauhtia, niin paljon väkivaltaa, niin paljon tunteita, mitä ymmärrän mitä vanhemmaksi tulen sekä loppu, joka oikeasti yllätti.
Parasta ikinä.
July 6, 2023
Superlative. This is a rocket-fueled thriller.
October 20, 2024
Good considering what it is: Hard-boiled crime from 1961. Fairly violent.
December 6, 2025
Terrific crime novel. I read a review by DAVE earlier today, purchased the book and dove in. It kept me reading to its conclusion. Dave’s review is spot on.
August 12, 2024
What can I say it's Mickey Spillane. I wish I could write noir prose as clean and crisp and effective as he did. Sweet twist at the end too
March 31, 2015
I'm not one who usually reads this kind of thing, but I got a case of books from my uncle and this one looked to be a quick easy read. It was, but it was also somewhat actually entertaining.
A gritty crime drama off the streets of New York City where hoods on "The Street" are waiting to be the next in line to run the show. When Bennett, the current boss, gets knocked off by a murderer, his good ol' pal Deep shows up from the underbrush and starts packing it in. He's gonna find this guy and then it's all over. Deep is a supposedly one of the most crooked hoods around, though he hasn't been seen in NY for 20+ years. All he does is smile at guys and show his gun and they practically pee their pants. It should be over the top, but it's amusing and some of it is very well done. I've never heard of Mickey Spillane before, but he knows how to talk tough and make it sound convincing. There's the obligatory lovely lady in a mink coat, there's shooting, there's death.
It's what you'd expect, but it has a couple twists that you might not see coming. I figured the murderer out about 3/4 of the way though the book, but Spillane still has something waiting for you at the end. A twist he saves until the very last word. 3.5.
A gritty crime drama off the streets of New York City where hoods on "The Street" are waiting to be the next in line to run the show. When Bennett, the current boss, gets knocked off by a murderer, his good ol' pal Deep shows up from the underbrush and starts packing it in. He's gonna find this guy and then it's all over. Deep is a supposedly one of the most crooked hoods around, though he hasn't been seen in NY for 20+ years. All he does is smile at guys and show his gun and they practically pee their pants. It should be over the top, but it's amusing and some of it is very well done. I've never heard of Mickey Spillane before, but he knows how to talk tough and make it sound convincing. There's the obligatory lovely lady in a mink coat, there's shooting, there's death.
It's what you'd expect, but it has a couple twists that you might not see coming. I figured the murderer out about 3/4 of the way though the book, but Spillane still has something waiting for you at the end. A twist he saves until the very last word. 3.5.
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August 15, 2020 Here I go again, reaching into the golden past of
great thrillers.
Modern readers may scoff at Mickey Spillane. They
may see him as out-dated, crude, sexist and prone to
over-write. I can agree with some of this.
But he writes lines that you never forget.
And he makes you turn that page.
He wrote his first book 'I, the Jury,' in six weeks.
After reading the first scene, putting it down
seemed impossible.
The same goes for 'the Deep.' It is a tightly-
written book that never lets go. An aging hood
returns to the tough Hell's Kitchen Manhattan
neighborhood. He muscles into the newer
gangs, falls in love with his highschool lover
and raises gangster hell. Everyone wonders
where he's been. At the end, we find out.
And that ending will wallop you.
*****Frank Hickey, retired detective and writer of
the Dancing Max Royster crime novels about the
world's only ballroom dancing detective.
great thrillers.
Modern readers may scoff at Mickey Spillane. They
may see him as out-dated, crude, sexist and prone to
over-write. I can agree with some of this.
But he writes lines that you never forget.
And he makes you turn that page.
He wrote his first book 'I, the Jury,' in six weeks.
After reading the first scene, putting it down
seemed impossible.
The same goes for 'the Deep.' It is a tightly-
written book that never lets go. An aging hood
returns to the tough Hell's Kitchen Manhattan
neighborhood. He muscles into the newer
gangs, falls in love with his highschool lover
and raises gangster hell. Everyone wonders
where he's been. At the end, we find out.
And that ending will wallop you.
*****Frank Hickey, retired detective and writer of
the Dancing Max Royster crime novels about the
world's only ballroom dancing detective.
July 24, 2014
Suomessa kohistaan Stubbin oikeistolaisuudesta vaikka kaveri on pelkkä himohölkkäävä hymynaamaspede. Mickey Spillanen asenteet ovat jossain hunni Attilasta oikealla, maailmassa jossa miehen voi tappaa siksi, koska päähenkilö haistoi hänen paha (=vasemmistoanarkisti, syyllinen tai ei-syytön tai tarpeeton). Tarina etenee kuin juna ja jos kirjoittajan sovinismin yms. pystyy työntämään syrjään, niin tarjolla on useimmiten kelpo hard boiled -viihdettä. Tällä kertaa kaksi ja hiukan päälle tähteä.
October 1, 2014
This should be part of any sociology/philosophy/race relations curriculum. It gives a picture of the underworld that amazes people today because they had no idea this is the same thing regardless of the perpetrators - also gives a glimpse at how cops views of people hasn't changed much either. Technology and the availability of it seems to be the only difference. I really enjoyed this and feel it was well worth my time.
February 4, 2017
Author Spillane introduces somewhat of a change of pace during the heyday of his Mickey Spillane thrillers.
Thriller - A gangster named Deep returns to his former New York neighborhood to establish himself as mob boss. He's been away for 25 years but finds that surprisingly little has changed. Returning to avenge the murder of his childhood partner in crime, Deep fights the mob, the cops, politicians, basically everyone in the city.
Thriller - A gangster named Deep returns to his former New York neighborhood to establish himself as mob boss. He's been away for 25 years but finds that surprisingly little has changed. Returning to avenge the murder of his childhood partner in crime, Deep fights the mob, the cops, politicians, basically everyone in the city.
March 10, 2015
A masterfully controlled piece of writing, perfectly paced, with a surprisingly strong but non-annoying moral core. A book you wish you could give people who claim Spillane was nothing but a ham-handed schlock merchant. And then there's my own emotional engagement with the book, to whit: YEEEEEE-HAAAA !!!!!
January 17, 2013
This is the sort of novel that every east coast tough guy send-up is modeled after. Tough talkin dames, toughs who know who's pullin the strings, and everybody else tryin to scramble to the top, with a surprise at the end. It's an easy and quick read; it's a short book that keeps the pages turning.
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