Here's Mickey Spillane and Mike Hammer in their roughest and readiest--a double-strength shot of sex, violence, and action that is vintage Spillane...
read full description
reviews
Jan 25, 2012
Michael
rated it: 
I, The Jury is the first Mickey Spillane book I’ve read and, despite being a fan of the hardboiled detective genre, and enjoying this book, it will probably be the last.
All the elements for a good murder mystery are in place here. A murder starts things off and a cast of players is introduced and our hardboiled hero goes about solving the whodunit, taking us through a fast-paced story heavy on sex and violence. And make no mistake about it, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer is hardboiled More...
All the elements for a good murder mystery are in place here. A murder starts things off and a cast of players is introduced and our hardboiled hero goes about solving the whodunit, taking us through a fast-paced story heavy on sex and violence. And make no mistake about it, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer is hardboiled More...
0 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
Dec 04, 2011
Bob
rated it: 
Ok, first, I will admit to being a real Spillane fan. This is the guy who gave us Grafton, Parker and most of the rest of the tough detective novels. While it may seem a bit dated, Mike Hammer is still the epitome of the do-it-my-way-or-get-out-of-the-way detective. I would equate him to Louis L'Amour's characters, in terms of morality. These are guys who will do what is right, regardless. Read Spillane, and see how we got to where we are. By the way, the highlight of my Spillane collectio
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Apr 01, 2009
Jon
rated it: 
I've never read Spillane before, and this will probably be my first and last (life is too short)--but actually I was fairly surprised at how good it was. The action never stopped from page one to the end, and the book was awash in 1947ish sex and violence. Mike Hammer was definitely the father of Dirty Harry and granddad of Jack Bauer, and I can imagine his brand of pitiless justice being pretty fresh back in the day. Now it's a bit of a yawn. I was under the impression that this one was the one
More...
Sep 26, 2011
Kristy
rated it: 
So my husband had to read “I, the Jury” for a popular fiction course and recommended it to me because he thought I’d get a kick out of it. He was right! This was probably the most unintentionally hilarious book I’ve ever come across.
Until this point, my experience with novel detectives was mainly confined to Nancy Drew, Miss Marple and Mma Ramotswe. Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer is another type of sleuth altogether. Hammer is a 1940s-era hard-boiled macho man who shoots first and as More...
Until this point, my experience with novel detectives was mainly confined to Nancy Drew, Miss Marple and Mma Ramotswe. Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer is another type of sleuth altogether. Hammer is a 1940s-era hard-boiled macho man who shoots first and as More...
3 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
May 14, 2011
Matt
rated it:
I'd read a Mike Hammer mystery a couple years back when I was traveling somewhere. It was from the eighties or so, and when I hated it, I was told, well, of course he sucks now, but the old stuff was better. So when I knew I'd be flying without reading materials and saw this, from '47, and thinking I remembered my buddy Nate saying he liked this one, I was glad to grab it.
Well, it is better than the other one I read, which had a simultaneously tired and telegraphic prose style-- the wr More...
Well, it is better than the other one I read, which had a simultaneously tired and telegraphic prose style-- the wr More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 14, 2011
Riccarla
rated it:
Mickey Spillane is an acquired taste - you either love him or hate him. He tastes great or is less filling. He came along at the end of the noir era - Hammett, Chandler, and the other hard-boiled detective writers who came out of the war. They'd seen too much to write cozy mysteries with cerebral crime solvers. Their heroes had already seen the worst of humanity which made them hard, but gave them the heart to fight for the little guy.
In "I the Jury", Mike Hammer is immed More...
In "I the Jury", Mike Hammer is immed More...
Aug 15, 2010
Kater
rated it:
This is the first of the Mike Hammer books, and one of the founding fathers of noir/hardboiled Private Eye fiction. I figured if I wanted to write something mystery/noir, I should read the classics and let them infuse me. I'd also been warned that some of what I read in this book would feel trite and derivative, because so many people have emulated Spillane (and Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett) in modern mysteries that it's like watching the three stooges and wondering who ripped off wh
More...
3 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Dec 31, 2011
Scott
rated it:
If you want to read good pulp fiction, go back to the source. Mickey Spillane didn't invent the hard-boiled detective-noir genre, but he certainly played a big part in making it a uniquely fascinating and American one. Mike Hammer is the prototypical tough-guy private dick, and the world he inhabits is one where women are either dames or broads, guns are rods, and nobody is ever truly trustworthy. "I, the Jury" introduced the world to Mike Hammer. It's been filmed for the big screen at
More...
Oct 22, 2009
Rauf
rated it:
The first book in Spillane's Mike Hammer series. It began quickly with Hammer finding his old war buddy Jack dead. The killer shot Jack in the gut then taunted Jack to try to grab the gun used to shoot him. Jack crawled and crawled and bled and bled.
Hammer said Jack saved his life by sacrificing his arm. So this death needless to say incensed Hammer. Incensed, I says! He swore the killer would die exactly the way Jack died.
So as the pages turned I found out that Mike Hamm More...
Hammer said Jack saved his life by sacrificing his arm. So this death needless to say incensed Hammer. Incensed, I says! He swore the killer would die exactly the way Jack died.
So as the pages turned I found out that Mike Hamm More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 10, 2011
Harmonybites
rated it: 
Spillane has been compared to Chandler and Hammett, this novel is in print over 50 years after it was first published, and Ayn Rand is a fan. (Kiss of death that last I'm sure to many, but I like Rand's style and expected I'd be impressed.)
Reader, I hated this. Immensely. Couldn't even last to fifty pages.
The style reads like a parody of hard-boiled detective fiction a la Chandler and Hammett and featured black dialect that was cringe-worthy. However, it wasn't the style tha More...
Reader, I hated this. Immensely. Couldn't even last to fifty pages.
The style reads like a parody of hard-boiled detective fiction a la Chandler and Hammett and featured black dialect that was cringe-worthy. However, it wasn't the style tha More...
Nov 01, 2011
Brian
rated it:
* The first Mike Hammer book.
* I expected a hard boiled thriller, but instead got a hard boiled mystery. Like me, you probably won't have a hard time guessing who the killer is, but that's no great accomplishment at this point in time. As for the motive, good luck. Hammer explains it all at the end and maybe it even makes sense (I have my doubts), but that wasn't really the point, anyway. Hammer is the point, and just like his namesake, it's a blunt one.
* That's not a cri More...
* I expected a hard boiled thriller, but instead got a hard boiled mystery. Like me, you probably won't have a hard time guessing who the killer is, but that's no great accomplishment at this point in time. As for the motive, good luck. Hammer explains it all at the end and maybe it even makes sense (I have my doubts), but that wasn't really the point, anyway. Hammer is the point, and just like his namesake, it's a blunt one.
* That's not a cri More...
Jul 26, 2010
emily
rated it:
I just love the name Mike Hammer. Hilarity already!
Know who else loves Mike Hammer? Um, every woman in the book. Really. I think we see all of them but two naked, and we hear about all of their (but one's) breasts (and Mr. H. is just being gracious to the fiancee of his dead buddy. But trust me, if we had another 25 pages or so her breasts would also be alive and struggling against the binding fabric of her blouse too, really.)
I think I was expecting Raymond Chandler More...
Know who else loves Mike Hammer? Um, every woman in the book. Really. I think we see all of them but two naked, and we hear about all of their (but one's) breasts (and Mr. H. is just being gracious to the fiancee of his dead buddy. But trust me, if we had another 25 pages or so her breasts would also be alive and struggling against the binding fabric of her blouse too, really.)
I think I was expecting Raymond Chandler More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Nov 27, 2011
Tfitoby
rated it:
Mickey Spillane is such a pleasure to read.
This first Mike Hammer story has all the hallmarks of the hardboiled detective novel but with the added bonus of the protagonist being a complete and unashamed misogynist, unafraid of offending anyone. How can you not love this stuff?
The story was a bit obvious but isn't that the point? You jump on and ride like the wind through intrigue, fist fights, witty dialogue, sexual encounters and the inevitable denouement.
Having sa More...
This first Mike Hammer story has all the hallmarks of the hardboiled detective novel but with the added bonus of the protagonist being a complete and unashamed misogynist, unafraid of offending anyone. How can you not love this stuff?
The story was a bit obvious but isn't that the point? You jump on and ride like the wind through intrigue, fist fights, witty dialogue, sexual encounters and the inevitable denouement.
Having sa More...
Oct 22, 2011
Grant
rated it:
To my mind, Mickey Spillane & Raymond Chandler, are the 2 best authors of post WW2 detective stories. Both deliver hard hitting brutal stories, of mobsters,pimps, hookers and other assorted lowlifes.Mickey Spillane's 'Mike Hammer novels in particular appealed to me for that reason,and the fact in the TV series, Stacy Keach one of my favourite actors played the role, so in my mind, as I read I picture him.
In I,The Jury, the reader gets to see Hammer at his brutal best as he appoints himse More...
In I,The Jury, the reader gets to see Hammer at his brutal best as he appoints himse More...
Jan 19, 2012
Nathan
rated it:
Hardboiled private investigator in post-war New York hunts the murderer of his friend. In the same vein as Chandler and Hammett, but with a central character, Mike Hammer, that is less reliant on finesse and more happy to wave his gun around, sometimes and random civilians. But that's ok, since he's best friends with the police captain. Also more explicit sexual references than his contemporaries (but still very tame by today's standards). Although Spillane seems to sail fairly close to the wind
More...
Jan 21, 2012
Meghan
rated it:
stuff i thought about because of this book:
WW2's disruption of american society. this story, set in the early '50s, less than 10 years after the war, showed some of the lingering effects. ten years is a really short amount of time!
the book presents a contrast with the '50s vanilla stereotype. mike hammer interacts with ex-heroin addicts, prostitutes, gangsters strongly implied to be gay, and a nymphomaniac, but reserves his disgust for those who deserve it. (for example, he c More...
WW2's disruption of american society. this story, set in the early '50s, less than 10 years after the war, showed some of the lingering effects. ten years is a really short amount of time!
the book presents a contrast with the '50s vanilla stereotype. mike hammer interacts with ex-heroin addicts, prostitutes, gangsters strongly implied to be gay, and a nymphomaniac, but reserves his disgust for those who deserve it. (for example, he c More...
Feb 23, 2008
Angel
rated it:
The cover for my copy is different, but it is a Signet book published in 1947 from the looks of it, so close enough to the one depicted here in good reads. I got in the mood for some hard-boiled, so I am rereading it. We'll see how it stacks up.
* * * *
Once I got a chance to sit through it, I zipped through it. I enjoy this type of tale a lot. Mike Hammer pulls no punches. This is a great example of the hard boiled genre. For modern readers, I will warn that this is not a More...
* * * *
Once I got a chance to sit through it, I zipped through it. I enjoy this type of tale a lot. Mike Hammer pulls no punches. This is a great example of the hard boiled genre. For modern readers, I will warn that this is not a More...
Jan 20, 2012
Rob
rated it:
I must admit, as much as I love the detective genre from the '30s through the '50s, Mike Hammer is a bit more than I want in a book. The sex in it is just a bit much. This, the first of the series and the first I've read, is a very good mystery. The twists and turns left me not sure who done it, unusual for me. The writing is pretty smooth, but with some rocky spots that I encountered in the first book I read of Spillane's, The Death Dealers. Overall it is a thrill ride with good solid character
More...
Jul 23, 2010
Chris
rated it:
While by no means high brow literature, Spillane can sure spin a grippng Private Detective tale. Mike Hammer is the quintessential man's man. His flirtations with each skirt passing by is a throwback to days when women were not necessarily treated well by the men in their lives. Mike is tough and gritty and the story drags you over loose gravel and you get a little scraped up with Mike as the story goes along. The final sentence in the story is all you need to know about Mike Hammer.
Mar 08, 2011
Samantha
rated it:
Fairly predictable, but I liked it much more than I thought I would. It was exciting and action-packed. The language is pretty amusing (and offensive in some parts), but then it was written in the 40s. This is one of the first hard-boiled detective novels, dating back to 1947. A quick, enjoyable read that has had a huge influence on pop culture and crime fiction.
Aug 29, 2010
Deborah
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 29, 2011
Connie
rated it:
First in the Mike Hammer Series and it is about a friend of Mikes that was murdered. Several murders later Mike finds the person that was responsible and takes care of her. I knew who it was pretty quickly, but not the why part. It is very noir type and I can see how Stacy Keach played the Mike Hammer role well.
May 24, 2011
Trung
rated it:
Certainly not the kind of book you read for anything but benign entertainment. Mickey Spillane and Mike Hammer embody the Larry Stu tradition completely. Like any noir novel, there's a crime, a hard headed investigator, and a few women in there to give the reader a break from all the thinking. Not a horrible book, but not one that was incredibly noteworthy.
Aug 02, 2011
When his friend who lost his arm to save his life in the war dies a horrible death at the hands of a sadistic murderer, Mike Hammer vows to deal the killer the same hand, no matter who it is. The streets of New York City better watch out because nothing and nobody will get in Mike's way on his journey to revenge.
Mar 02, 2009
Greg
rated it:
One of the first noir pulps I read. Fun stuff, and a great cover (not the one in the picture). I don't remember anything about the plot, but the dialog and gritty cop stuff is as good as it gets, in its own cheesy way.
Jun 29, 2010
Tom
rated it:
The writing's not all that great, and the "solution" comes out of nowhere, but this is still a fun read. Still, if you care about good writing, stick with Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler.
Jun 14, 2010
Brett
rated it:
This is Spillane's first, and I was pleasantly surprised that it doesn't suffer from the mindless misogyny that is the hallmark of the genre he created (which is a terse variation of hard-boiled).
Still, the central message of the book appears to be 'bros before hos.'
Still, the central message of the book appears to be 'bros before hos.'
Jul 20, 2010
G.R.
rated it:
A masterclass in simple, gut-punch story-telling. Five stars alone for that closing line. Every novel should end in such a way. You never forget it once you've read it.
Jun 25, 2010
This is the first "grown-up" mystery I read when I was growing up. My grandpa gave me a copy of it when I was about 10 and I was hooked for good!!
Nov 29, 2010
Harold
rated it:
It's a fun read even it's a little over the top and there's never a dull moment. Mike is a hero in the universe created by Mickey Spillane but I think he'd of been arrested for assault and battery several times for the incidents described herein - even in 1947 when the book was published. Spillane sensed what would hit big with crime genre fans and gave it to them in plentiful abundance. Sex, violence, mayhem. One more thing - I'm all for viewing things in the context of their times, but I think
More...
