One Lonely Night

Rating:
Summary: Mike Hammer, Misunderstood
Review: I should preface this review by owning that I'm not a fan of Mickey Spillane. I understand his importance to the genre, and when he's at what I think of at his best, then I can enjoy his novels. But he isn't really to my taste, so consider that a fair disclosure of bias.

_One Lonely Night_ tells the story of Hammer, returning angry and bitter from a trial where he is excoriated for "knocking off somebody who needed knocking off bad". Hammer is shaken and wonders if the judge's view of him is really true and accurate, whether he really is such a bad guy. While in the midst of this reverie, Hammer runs across a girl being chased by a bad man. He kills the bad man, but fails to save the girl as she jumps to her death rather than be part of whatever it was she was involved in. Naturally, Spillane gets involved, and as the plot expands to threaten his beautiful Vera, he gets very involved indeed.

The book seems like it's thumbing its nose at critics who accuse Hammer of being too violent. He has to be violent, it seems to say, the world is a dangerous place and violence and vigilence go hand-in-hand.

This book contains much of what I dislike most about Spillane's writing-- the simple black and white approach to good and evil, the obsession with the communist conspiracy, and stupid society dames who get messed up in the wrong element and don't deserve to live.

To be fair, many people find this one of Spillane's best works, but I really prefer the more crime-oriented Hammer books such as _Kiss Me, Deadly_.

Rating:
Summary: Dark night of the soul.
Review: Mickey Spillane's popularity in the 1950s was meteoric. This novel is a prime example of Spillane at his snarling best. The anti-Communist hysteria of post WWII America is the backdrop of this tale of lonely death and bloody vengeance. "One Lonely Night" is the archetype Mike Hammer story. All the classic elements are present, most particularly Velda, Hammer's delectable secretary. A young woman's dive off a New York bridge draws Hammer into mystery-adventure mayhem. A nest of Commie (the vernacular is everywhere) spies is hard at work on the streets of New York. Unrestrained by official red tape, and at loggerheads with the authorities, Hammer embarks on a typical one-man war against the Russian-based MVD (whatever that is). Spillane's prose is as rough as his fictional alter ego. What the writing lacks in literary style, it gains in attitude and action. Hammer's earthy first person narrative enhances the character. The underside of the big city comes alive. The body count is large. The sex is raw rather than erotic. The climactic scene in the warehouse, on the inevitable rainy night, is compelling. As Velda hangs naked by a rope from the ceiling, the guy with the scythe and the black cowl stalks at Hammer's side and the machine gun belches blue flame and thunder. The day of the guns prevails. Good reading for genre fans and those who enjoy Mickey Spillane's viewpoint. ;-)

Rating:
Summary: Dark night of the soul.
Review: Mickey Spillane's popularity in the 1950s was meteoric. This novel is a prime example of Spillane at his snarling best. The anti-Communist hysteria of post WWII America is the backdrop of this tale of lonely death and bloody vengeance. "One Lonely Night" is the archetype Mike Hammer story. All the classic elements are present, most particularly Velda, Hammer's delectable secretary. A young woman's dive off a New York bridge draws Hammer into mystery-adventure mayhem. A nest of Commie (the vernacular is everywhere) spies is hard at work on the streets of New York. Unrestrained by official red tape, and at loggerheads with the authorities, Hammer embarks on a typical one-man war against the Russian-based MVD (whatever that is). Spillane's prose is as rough as his fictional alter ego. What the writing lacks in literary style, it gains in attitude and action. Hammer's earthy first person narrative enhances the character. The underside of the big city comes alive. The body count is large. The sex is raw rather than erotic. The climactic scene in the warehouse, on the inevitable rainy night, is compelling. As Velda hangs naked by a rope from the ceiling, the guy with the scythe and the black cowl stalks at Hammer's side and the machine gun belches blue flame and thunder. The day of the guns prevails. Good reading for genre fans and those who enjoy Mickey Spillane's viewpoint. ;-)