Long Wait

Rating:
Summary: WAITING FOR ANOTHER BY SPILLANE WAS ALWAYS TOO LONG
Review: After he had penned his first novel, I, The Jury, in only nine days, Spillane sat down at the typewriter to quickly turn out some six more Hammer novels.

This particular thriller featuring Mike Hammer sold 3 million copies in one week. Spillane had become a phenomenon.

Today Mickey Spillane is 85-years-old, and acclaimed around the globe for inventing the hard-hitting, hard-boiled protagonist who is a compelling mix of sex and sharp shooting. It's hard to believe this many years have gone by for the Brooklyn born Spillane. He's outlasted and out sold many of his contemporaries, and when last heard from was still hard at work.

Perhaps those of us who love to read don't take time to thank the writers who have given us so many hours of pleasure. I certainly fall into that category, so a big hats off to Mickey Spillane and gratitude for the wealth of reading pleasure he's given so many.

Rating:
Summary: WAITING FOR ANOTHER BY SPILLANE WAS ALWAYS TOO LONG
Review: After he had penned his first novel, I, The Jury, in only nine days, Spillane sat down at the typewriter to quickly turn out some six more Hammer novels.

This particular thriller featuring Mike Hammer sold 3 million copies in one week. Spillane had become a phenomenon.

Today Mickey Spillane is 85-years-old, and acclaimed around the globe for inventing the hard-hitting, hard-boiled protagonist who is a compelling mix of sex and sharp shooting. It's hard to believe this many years have gone by for the Brooklyn born Spillane. He's outlasted and out sold many of his contemporaries, and when last heard from was still hard at work.

Perhaps those of us who love to read don't take time to thank the writers who have given us so many hours of pleasure. I certainly fall into that category, so a big hats off to Mickey Spillane and gratitude for the wealth of reading pleasure he's given so many.

Rating:
Summary: Another maniacal offering from Mickey Spillane
Review: The Long Wait is not a part of Mickey Spillane's classic and infamous Mike Hammer series. Instead, its the story of an amnesiac who invades a corrupt small town in order to avenge the death of a friend. Unsure of who he even is, our "hero" finds himself trapped in a brutal world of violent criminals, evil rich men, and sexy femme fatales -- in short, every classic element of pulp fiction is included in this often ludicrous yet strangely intriguing book. Obviously, anyone who begins a Spillane novel looking for a cohesive, logical plot is already starting off on the wrong foot. However, the plot of the Long Wait defies any and all logic even by Spillane's standards. However, Spillane so credibly creates this absurd world of his that only the most analytical of readers couldn't be swept up into it. Make no mistake about it, this is not a book written for "our time." The violence is brutal, the portrayal of women is defiantly sexist, and we never forget that our hero is really a bit of a jerk. And, though it might not be fashionable to admit, there's a great release to reading Spillane's delightfully amoral prose. He might not be describing a life we'd ever chose to live but that doesn't mean his world isn't occasionally fun to visit.

Even amongst afficianados of pulp fiction, Mickey Spillane doesn't ever quite seem to get all the credit that's due to him. Maybe its because, unlike Raymond Chandler, academia has never embraced him. Unlike Dashiell Hammett, Spillane has never had any pretensions beyond being a pulp writer. Along with a healthy dose of unfashionable right-wing politics, most of Spillane's books carry an undercurrent of casual sadism. Whereas most pulp heroes did what they had to do in order to survive in a newly cynical, postwar world, Spillane's heroes always seemed to be violent for the sake of being violent. Spillane once bragged that he wrote most of his books in two days and never wasted any time with second drafts. Certainly, the fractured, make-it-up-as-you-go-along-feel to the Long Wait would seem to validate that point. But for what Spillane sacrifices in craft, he makes up for in just sheer force. This book is a crazed, maniacal trip into the imagination of a very entertaining madman. This is a book with absolutely no socially redeeming value and in the end, we're all the better for it.

Rating:
Summary: Another maniacal offering from Mickey Spillane
Review: The Long Wait is not a part of Mickey Spillane's classic and infamous Mike Hammer series. Instead, its the story of an amnesiac who invades a corrupt small town in order to avenge the death of a friend. Unsure of who he even is, our "hero" finds himself trapped in a brutal world of violent criminals, evil rich men, and sexy femme fatales -- in short, every classic element of pulp fiction is included in this often ludicrous yet strangely intriguing book. Obviously, anyone who begins a Spillane novel looking for a cohesive, logical plot is already starting off on the wrong foot. However, the plot of the Long Wait defies any and all logic even by Spillane's standards. However, Spillane so credibly creates this absurd world of his that only the most analytical of readers couldn't be swept up into it. Make no mistake about it, this is not a book written for "our time." The violence is brutal, the portrayal of women is defiantly sexist, and we never forget that our hero is really a bit of a jerk. And, though it might not be fashionable to admit, there's a great release to reading Spillane's delightfully amoral prose. He might not be describing a life we'd ever chose to live but that doesn't mean his world isn't occasionally fun to visit.

Even amongst afficianados of pulp fiction, Mickey Spillane doesn't ever quite seem to get all the credit that's due to him. Maybe its because, unlike Raymond Chandler, academia has never embraced him. Unlike Dashiell Hammett, Spillane has never had any pretensions beyond being a pulp writer. Along with a healthy dose of unfashionable right-wing politics, most of Spillane's books carry an undercurrent of casual sadism. Whereas most pulp heroes did what they had to do in order to survive in a newly cynical, postwar world, Spillane's heroes always seemed to be violent for the sake of being violent. Spillane once bragged that he wrote most of his books in two days and never wasted any time with second drafts. Certainly, the fractured, make-it-up-as-you-go-along-feel to the Long Wait would seem to validate that point. But for what Spillane sacrifices in craft, he makes up for in just sheer force. This book is a crazed, maniacal trip into the imagination of a very entertaining madman. This is a book with absolutely no socially redeeming value and in the end, we're all the better for it.