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Mike Hammer #24
Killing Town
Mike Hammer steals a ride on a train upstate to Killington. But he is welcomed by a nasty surprise: he is accused by police of raping and murdering a young woman near the freight yards. Roughed up by the cops and facing a murder charge, Hammer's future looks bleak. Only a beautiful blonde, Melba Charles--daughter of powerful Senator Charles--might possibly save him... if he pays the price.
But why would Melba help save a man she has never met? And, more to the point, where is the real murderer?
From a brittle, brown manuscript, the first Mike Hammer novel--begun by Mickey Spillane in the mid-forties and completed seventy years later by Max Allan Collins--is a gift to mystery fans on the occasion of the noir master's 100th birthday.
But why would Melba help save a man she has never met? And, more to the point, where is the real murderer?
From a brittle, brown manuscript, the first Mike Hammer novel--begun by Mickey Spillane in the mid-forties and completed seventy years later by Max Allan Collins--is a gift to mystery fans on the occasion of the noir master's 100th birthday.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 17, 2018
39 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Mickey Spillane
318 books450 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 35 reviews
April 28, 2018
A Young Mike Hammer
Killing Town is the latest in a line of Mile Hammer novels that Collins completed from Spillane’s unfinished manuscripts and notes. It is chronologically the first Hammer novel featuring a young Hammer fresh out of the Army and his brief stay on the NYPD. Pat Chambers is still a young officer living with his parents. It is a terrific pulpy novel that barrels down the highway at maximum speed. It is filled with all the sex and violence that became a trademark of Spillane’s early on. It also echoes a number of themes found in early pulp novels like the stranger on his own in a corrupt town with every hand turned against him and provocative siren who is out to manipulate. Even among the newer batch of Hammer novels, this one is a gem.
Killing Town is the latest in a line of Mile Hammer novels that Collins completed from Spillane’s unfinished manuscripts and notes. It is chronologically the first Hammer novel featuring a young Hammer fresh out of the Army and his brief stay on the NYPD. Pat Chambers is still a young officer living with his parents. It is a terrific pulpy novel that barrels down the highway at maximum speed. It is filled with all the sex and violence that became a trademark of Spillane’s early on. It also echoes a number of themes found in early pulp novels like the stranger on his own in a corrupt town with every hand turned against him and provocative siren who is out to manipulate. Even among the newer batch of Hammer novels, this one is a gem.
October 23, 2020
The lost first Mike Hammer novel has Mike ride the rails into a small factory town in Rhode Island to give 30 G's to the wife of a war buddy. He sees an inadvertent peep show, then gets arrested almost as soon as he hits town. Beaten up by the cops, he is being framed for a rape/murder, when the beautiful daughter of the town bigwig gives him an alibi, and blackmails him into marrying her.
Good stuff, but lacks the power of I, The Jury.
Good stuff, but lacks the power of I, The Jury.
July 27, 2023
This book is a bit of a contradiction. The latest Mike Hammer story, started by Spillane and never finished until Allan Collins picked it up, its also chronologically the first Hammer story, set even before the first Hammer book ever published (I, the Jury).
This is a young Hammer, not quite as tough and experienced, not long after the war and his short stint as a cop. He's just set up his shop as an investigator and doesn't even have Velma around. He has a job: get into a small town unnoticed and unfollowed and deliver something. But things go very wrong and soon, Hammer is in jail accused of rape and murder.
As in many early noir books, the small town cops are mostly corrupt and brutal (it was a common conceit in these detective books that big town cops were mostly professional and small town ones were complete trash). Hammer has to clear his name and finish his job, but now he's been in the newspapers and how can he keep the delivery secret?
Overall the book reads well. Collins does such a good job with Spillane's style and approach that having read two of his completed Hammer books, I cannot tell where one leaves off and the other begins. Several attempts by other authors in the past such as Robert Parker's awful attempt with Poodle Springs did not work with a Chandler story, and its nice to see such a successful pairing.
The book is, as usual with Hammer stories, not for the faint hearted or easily snowflaked. This is the late 40s, and attitudes were different then. Plus, its deliberately written to be brutally violent and sexually charged, while having a certain level of subtlety, sophistication, and intelligence behind all the lurid and shocking scenes.
Its nice to see Hammer a bit more raw and unskilled, and outside his usual realm of comfort, and this was a great addition to the canon.
This is a young Hammer, not quite as tough and experienced, not long after the war and his short stint as a cop. He's just set up his shop as an investigator and doesn't even have Velma around. He has a job: get into a small town unnoticed and unfollowed and deliver something. But things go very wrong and soon, Hammer is in jail accused of rape and murder.
As in many early noir books, the small town cops are mostly corrupt and brutal (it was a common conceit in these detective books that big town cops were mostly professional and small town ones were complete trash). Hammer has to clear his name and finish his job, but now he's been in the newspapers and how can he keep the delivery secret?
Overall the book reads well. Collins does such a good job with Spillane's style and approach that having read two of his completed Hammer books, I cannot tell where one leaves off and the other begins. Several attempts by other authors in the past such as Robert Parker's awful attempt with Poodle Springs did not work with a Chandler story, and its nice to see such a successful pairing.
The book is, as usual with Hammer stories, not for the faint hearted or easily snowflaked. This is the late 40s, and attitudes were different then. Plus, its deliberately written to be brutally violent and sexually charged, while having a certain level of subtlety, sophistication, and intelligence behind all the lurid and shocking scenes.
Its nice to see Hammer a bit more raw and unskilled, and outside his usual realm of comfort, and this was a great addition to the canon.
April 22, 2018
Our pal, Mike Hammer, is back and in top form. Killing Town is the unfinished(?) first Mike Hammer novel and Max Allan Collins is in top form adding the finishing touches that Mickey Spillane planned and discussed with Max before his (Mickey's) untimely demise.
The novel reads like a fast-paced version of Red Harvest with the smooth finish of The Killer Inside Me. Killington is Poisonville with meaner and more corrupt cops and a vicious lady killer. The action takes place within a couple of years of Mike's return to the U. S. after WWII (circa 1946). Crooked cops, corrupt politicians, and the mob with Mike in the middle.
This is a great way to kill time with a fun read. The action and one-liners come fast and furious. This is definitely a men's action/adventure story not meant for consumption by the latte drinking millennial snowflakes. Finally, a great story fans can really enjoy. Thanks Mickey and Max you've made my day. So grab a cold beer and a copy of this book. Sit back and enjoy life.
After reviewing MAC's notes in the recent "Lost Mike Hammer" novels, I'm guessing the reading order is as follows:
1.) The Killing Town (1946)
2.) I, the Jury (1947)
3.) Lady, Go Die (1948-49)
4.) My Gun is Quick (1950)
5.) Vengeance is Mine (1950)
6.) One Lonely Night (1951)
7.) The Big Kill (1951)
8.) Kiss Me, Deadly (1952)
9.) Kill Me, Darling (Chronologically follows KMD)
10.) The Girl Hunters (1962)
11.) The Snake (1964)
12.) Complex 90 (Chronologically follows TS)
13.) The Will to Kill (1965) (?)
14.) The Big Bang (Mid 1960s) (?)
15.) The Twisted Thing (1966)
16.) Murder Never Knocks (1966 or 1967) (?)
17.) The Body Lovers (1967)
18.) Survival... Zero (1970)
19.) Kiss Her Goodbye (Mid to Late 1970's or Early 1980's)
20.) The Killing Man (1989)
21.) King of the Weeds (Chronologically follows TKM)
22.) Black Alley (1996)
23.) The Goliath Bone (2008)
(Rough Time Frame of Story in the Hammer-verse)
(?) = Chronology questioned by MAC. The book may go above or below the book listed. ie. Murder Never Knocks may have occurred before or after The Body Lovers.
The novel reads like a fast-paced version of Red Harvest with the smooth finish of The Killer Inside Me. Killington is Poisonville with meaner and more corrupt cops and a vicious lady killer. The action takes place within a couple of years of Mike's return to the U. S. after WWII (circa 1946). Crooked cops, corrupt politicians, and the mob with Mike in the middle.
This is a great way to kill time with a fun read. The action and one-liners come fast and furious. This is definitely a men's action/adventure story not meant for consumption by the latte drinking millennial snowflakes. Finally, a great story fans can really enjoy. Thanks Mickey and Max you've made my day. So grab a cold beer and a copy of this book. Sit back and enjoy life.
After reviewing MAC's notes in the recent "Lost Mike Hammer" novels, I'm guessing the reading order is as follows:
1.) The Killing Town (1946)
2.) I, the Jury (1947)
3.) Lady, Go Die (1948-49)
4.) My Gun is Quick (1950)
5.) Vengeance is Mine (1950)
6.) One Lonely Night (1951)
7.) The Big Kill (1951)
8.) Kiss Me, Deadly (1952)
9.) Kill Me, Darling (Chronologically follows KMD)
10.) The Girl Hunters (1962)
11.) The Snake (1964)
12.) Complex 90 (Chronologically follows TS)
13.) The Will to Kill (1965) (?)
14.) The Big Bang (Mid 1960s) (?)
15.) The Twisted Thing (1966)
16.) Murder Never Knocks (1966 or 1967) (?)
17.) The Body Lovers (1967)
18.) Survival... Zero (1970)
19.) Kiss Her Goodbye (Mid to Late 1970's or Early 1980's)
20.) The Killing Man (1989)
21.) King of the Weeds (Chronologically follows TKM)
22.) Black Alley (1996)
23.) The Goliath Bone (2008)
(Rough Time Frame of Story in the Hammer-verse)
(?) = Chronology questioned by MAC. The book may go above or below the book listed. ie. Murder Never Knocks may have occurred before or after The Body Lovers.
May 23, 2018
KILLING TOWN is the tenth Mike Hammer novel started by Mickey Spillane and completed by Max Allan Collins. In Collins’ Introduction, “Meet Mike Hammer”, Killing Town’s genesis is explained. It’s an early, perhaps the earliest, Mike Hammer story Spillane started—the incomplete manuscript clocked in at 30 typed and single-spaced pages. The story takes place before I, The Jury, making it the first Mike Hammer novel, and a few elements we take for granted when reading a Hammer story are missing. Velda is nowhere in the tale, Manhattan is in Hammer’s rearview mirror, and Pat Chambers is nothing more than a voice on the telephone.
When Hammer arrives in Killington, Rhode Island, undercover and riding the rails as a hobo, he’s greeted with a strip tease and a murder rap. The frame is for the rape and murder of a young woman. The local constabulary, as foul smelling as the city’s fish cannery, is pushing Hammer to the electric chair before he’s even seen a judge. But when an alluring blonde, and the daughter of the fish cannery king, springs him with a false alibi and a marriage proposal he’s left wondering what happened and why.
KILLING TOWN opens, in solid Spillane style, with a flash and a bang and barely wavers from beginning to end. Its trajectory fast and straight as a bullet, rifling Hammer from jailbird and murderer to knight-errant, friend and protector. The mystery is nicely controlled and the reader is as confused about what’s happening, and more importantly why it’s happening, as Hammer. The foul and corrupt setting is as beautifully hardboiled as the prose is stark and lively. An excellent addition to the Hammer canon, and my favorite, of those I’ve read, completed posthumously by Max Allan Collins.
When Hammer arrives in Killington, Rhode Island, undercover and riding the rails as a hobo, he’s greeted with a strip tease and a murder rap. The frame is for the rape and murder of a young woman. The local constabulary, as foul smelling as the city’s fish cannery, is pushing Hammer to the electric chair before he’s even seen a judge. But when an alluring blonde, and the daughter of the fish cannery king, springs him with a false alibi and a marriage proposal he’s left wondering what happened and why.
KILLING TOWN opens, in solid Spillane style, with a flash and a bang and barely wavers from beginning to end. Its trajectory fast and straight as a bullet, rifling Hammer from jailbird and murderer to knight-errant, friend and protector. The mystery is nicely controlled and the reader is as confused about what’s happening, and more importantly why it’s happening, as Hammer. The foul and corrupt setting is as beautifully hardboiled as the prose is stark and lively. An excellent addition to the Hammer canon, and my favorite, of those I’ve read, completed posthumously by Max Allan Collins.
June 16, 2019
Great noir writing,
hot dames, hot cars, tense fight scenes; all the right stuff!
hot dames, hot cars, tense fight scenes; all the right stuff!
February 26, 2019
This was an interesting book. It was a typical gritty Spillane novel and Collins kept right to Spillane's style. Plenty of twists and turns.
September 4, 2019
Originally published online at BORG.com.
Author Max Allan Collins has so far completed ten novels featuring detective Mike Hammer, novels that were started by Mickey Spillane but never finished. That tenth novel is Killing Town, and not only is it one of many from the stack of unfinished Hammer novels Spillane left behind upon his death in 2006, Collins put it aside to release this year in celebration of the 100th centenary of Spillane’s birth. For fans of Mike Hammer, it’s an even bigger celebration, as Killing Town is Spillane’s very first Mike Hammer story, set in the character’s first days of opening his own detective agency. Most of the world knows I, the Jury as the first work to feature private investigator Mike Hammer and the debut novel of the celebrated crime fiction writer. But in Spillane’s later years, according to Collins, on one of his many visits to Spillane’s house, Spillane handed him a copy of Killing Town and Collins read it while sitting across from him, having no idea one day it would be he who would complete it and release it to the world. Collins asked, “Is this what I think it is?” Spillane nodded and smiled.
Written around 1945 and now available for the first time ever as part of Titan Books’ series of noir novels, Killing Town is as defining of noir crime pulp novels as anything you’re likely to have ever read, by Spillane or anyone else. It has the hardboiled, put-upon, would-be shlub detective trying to get himself out of big trouble with the mob, it has a mysterious femme fatale (more than one actually), it has the smoke-filled diner (with pie), the smoke-filled bar (lots of booze), the police station stacked with crooked cops, and it takes place in a crappy little town nobody could possibly want to visit, let alone read about. It has loads of crime, a few fist fights, a con or two, some ugly people and some pretty people, some poor people and some rich people. And it has a murder (or two or three). That’s really all you need to know.
A little more? Okay. When we first meet Mike Hammer (and as Spillane first puts Hammer’s origin story into type) he’s sneaking into the little burgh called Killington hanging underneath a train with $30,000 in his pocket and a job to carry out. From his first steps into the town he should have known nothing was going to drop in his favor. You might not think his position could be any worse when only a few hours after his arrival the police arrest him and charge him with the rape and murder of a local secretary of the owner of the big local mill. But it does get worse, as Spillane drives Hammer deeper and deeper into despair to the point that the reader is going to ask: “How can you possibly get out of this one, Mike?”
This “killing town” of Killington is going to be the death of Hammer, unless he can carve out his own power play in the town, and maybe deliver some payback while he’s trying to figure out who was behind his lock-up, and what is motivating this beautiful, wealthy woman who walked into his life. And hopefully finish the job that landed him in this town in the first place.
If you’re not a reader familiar with noir crime novels, take heed to a note in Collins’ introduction. These stories are from another era. As Collins puts it, “You are cautioned to keep in mind that this is a story begun and conceived over seventy years ago by a writer who was about to rock the conventions of popular culture with a new level of violence and sexual content. You are advised to drop all notions of political correctness in the basket at the door of the Mickey Spillane Theater.” If you love crime fiction like Ed McBain’s Cut Me In, Roger Zelazny’s The Dead Man’s Brother, Erle Stanley Gardner’s Turn on the Heat, Lawrence Block’s Sinner Man, Gore Vidal’s Thieves Fall Out, Michael Crichton’s Scratch One, Donald E. Westlake’s Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner, James M. Cain’s The Cocktail Waitress, Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch, or Stephen King’s Joyland, then Killing Town is for you. Like Chinatown, Laura, The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, or The Big Sleep, Killing Town is one of those rich, dark stories that probably has already been made into a noir thriller and is on a list of the best film noir of decades past in some parallel dimension. If only Spillane had finished it 70 years ago in this dimension. But then we wouldn’t have this new Mike Hammer novel to savor right now.
As a reader I am always left wondering who wrote what in a novel when it’s created by an author of the past and another author editing or completing the story. It’s a little like reading a decision in a Supreme Court case–you’re never sure how much was written by the judge and how much was written by the law clerk. But it probably doesn’t matter. With ten of these joint Hammer projects completed, Collins has proven he knows how to create a seamless end result.
In case you missed it–Spillane fans should check out my review of the other Mickey Spillane centenary release, his final completed novel published earlier this year for the first time, The Last Stand, reviewed at borg.com.
Get your copy of Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins’ Mike Hammer novel Killing Town now, available in hardcover.
Author Max Allan Collins has so far completed ten novels featuring detective Mike Hammer, novels that were started by Mickey Spillane but never finished. That tenth novel is Killing Town, and not only is it one of many from the stack of unfinished Hammer novels Spillane left behind upon his death in 2006, Collins put it aside to release this year in celebration of the 100th centenary of Spillane’s birth. For fans of Mike Hammer, it’s an even bigger celebration, as Killing Town is Spillane’s very first Mike Hammer story, set in the character’s first days of opening his own detective agency. Most of the world knows I, the Jury as the first work to feature private investigator Mike Hammer and the debut novel of the celebrated crime fiction writer. But in Spillane’s later years, according to Collins, on one of his many visits to Spillane’s house, Spillane handed him a copy of Killing Town and Collins read it while sitting across from him, having no idea one day it would be he who would complete it and release it to the world. Collins asked, “Is this what I think it is?” Spillane nodded and smiled.
Written around 1945 and now available for the first time ever as part of Titan Books’ series of noir novels, Killing Town is as defining of noir crime pulp novels as anything you’re likely to have ever read, by Spillane or anyone else. It has the hardboiled, put-upon, would-be shlub detective trying to get himself out of big trouble with the mob, it has a mysterious femme fatale (more than one actually), it has the smoke-filled diner (with pie), the smoke-filled bar (lots of booze), the police station stacked with crooked cops, and it takes place in a crappy little town nobody could possibly want to visit, let alone read about. It has loads of crime, a few fist fights, a con or two, some ugly people and some pretty people, some poor people and some rich people. And it has a murder (or two or three). That’s really all you need to know.
A little more? Okay. When we first meet Mike Hammer (and as Spillane first puts Hammer’s origin story into type) he’s sneaking into the little burgh called Killington hanging underneath a train with $30,000 in his pocket and a job to carry out. From his first steps into the town he should have known nothing was going to drop in his favor. You might not think his position could be any worse when only a few hours after his arrival the police arrest him and charge him with the rape and murder of a local secretary of the owner of the big local mill. But it does get worse, as Spillane drives Hammer deeper and deeper into despair to the point that the reader is going to ask: “How can you possibly get out of this one, Mike?”
This “killing town” of Killington is going to be the death of Hammer, unless he can carve out his own power play in the town, and maybe deliver some payback while he’s trying to figure out who was behind his lock-up, and what is motivating this beautiful, wealthy woman who walked into his life. And hopefully finish the job that landed him in this town in the first place.
If you’re not a reader familiar with noir crime novels, take heed to a note in Collins’ introduction. These stories are from another era. As Collins puts it, “You are cautioned to keep in mind that this is a story begun and conceived over seventy years ago by a writer who was about to rock the conventions of popular culture with a new level of violence and sexual content. You are advised to drop all notions of political correctness in the basket at the door of the Mickey Spillane Theater.” If you love crime fiction like Ed McBain’s Cut Me In, Roger Zelazny’s The Dead Man’s Brother, Erle Stanley Gardner’s Turn on the Heat, Lawrence Block’s Sinner Man, Gore Vidal’s Thieves Fall Out, Michael Crichton’s Scratch One, Donald E. Westlake’s Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner, James M. Cain’s The Cocktail Waitress, Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch, or Stephen King’s Joyland, then Killing Town is for you. Like Chinatown, Laura, The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, or The Big Sleep, Killing Town is one of those rich, dark stories that probably has already been made into a noir thriller and is on a list of the best film noir of decades past in some parallel dimension. If only Spillane had finished it 70 years ago in this dimension. But then we wouldn’t have this new Mike Hammer novel to savor right now.
As a reader I am always left wondering who wrote what in a novel when it’s created by an author of the past and another author editing or completing the story. It’s a little like reading a decision in a Supreme Court case–you’re never sure how much was written by the judge and how much was written by the law clerk. But it probably doesn’t matter. With ten of these joint Hammer projects completed, Collins has proven he knows how to create a seamless end result.
In case you missed it–Spillane fans should check out my review of the other Mickey Spillane centenary release, his final completed novel published earlier this year for the first time, The Last Stand, reviewed at borg.com.
Get your copy of Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins’ Mike Hammer novel Killing Town now, available in hardcover.
November 30, 2018
The party celebrating the 100th birthday of Mickey Spillane continues and gets better than ever. The newly published KILLING TOWN is touted as the “lost” first Mike Hammer novel. A close reading of the introduction by Max Allan Collins indicates that it wasn’t really lost. Collins, Spillane’s hand-picked posthumous collaborator, was shown the unfinished manuscript prior to Spillane’s death and made substantial contributions to its completion.
To discover why the “first” Mike Hammer novel wasn’t published before Spillane’s iconic I, THE JURY, you will need to read Collins’ fine introduction to KILLING TOWN. Even if you’re familiar with the story, you won’t know all of it until you experience Collins’ in-the-room account of how it all went down, what is occurring, and what will happen to the collection of Spillane’s manuscripts, which was in various stages of completion at the time of his passing.
What had been 30 pages of an unfinished novel is now a full-blown work, thanks in great part to Collins’ experienced and respectful hand. This isn’t just a book for Spillane completists. It’s a wild Hammer trip for the neophyte and the veteran from beginning to end, one that doesn’t take place in Hammer’s beloved New York but rather in the small town of Killington, Rhode Island. The manner in which Hammer arrives in post-World War II Killington --- the nickname for which provides the book’s title --- is anything but auspicious, but it is classic Spillane, as is Hammer’s apparently subconscious inclination to get in trouble.
Hammer is in town just long enough to secure downtrodden lodging, a decent meal and a few beers before finding himself accused of the rape and murder of a woman he barely glimpsed and did not know. His momentary salvation is another woman who he never met but whose (false) testimony gets him released from police custody. This angel is Melba Charles, the glamorous daughter of a local industrial magnate whose considerable influence extends far beyond Killington and has more than brushed off on his offspring. Melba’s largesse towards Hammer does not come without a price, though, and it’s an interesting one indeed.
As we wonder what the fallout from Melba’s intercession is going to be, we are also left to ponder why Hammer is in the misbegotten burg of Killington to begin with. That question is introduced gradually but is not fully revealed until approximately halfway through the book. But an even more important issue for Hammer is who set him up for the rape and murder that caused him so much trouble and pain when he first arrived in town, and to what end. Longtime Hammer fans know what will happen, but getting there is a great deal of the fun while Collins, with the approving shade of Spillane standing over his shoulder, provides the remainder.
We are assured by Collins --- a marvelous, one-of-a-kind author in his own right --- that there are more unfinished Hammer novels being completed, to be published in the near future. It is hard to imagine them being better than KILLING TOWN, which has all of the elements that made Spillane and Hammer the multimedia icons of the mid-20th century and beyond. It is strongly recommended as Exhibit A for how the job of writing the hard-boiled detective novel is fittingly and properly done.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
To discover why the “first” Mike Hammer novel wasn’t published before Spillane’s iconic I, THE JURY, you will need to read Collins’ fine introduction to KILLING TOWN. Even if you’re familiar with the story, you won’t know all of it until you experience Collins’ in-the-room account of how it all went down, what is occurring, and what will happen to the collection of Spillane’s manuscripts, which was in various stages of completion at the time of his passing.
What had been 30 pages of an unfinished novel is now a full-blown work, thanks in great part to Collins’ experienced and respectful hand. This isn’t just a book for Spillane completists. It’s a wild Hammer trip for the neophyte and the veteran from beginning to end, one that doesn’t take place in Hammer’s beloved New York but rather in the small town of Killington, Rhode Island. The manner in which Hammer arrives in post-World War II Killington --- the nickname for which provides the book’s title --- is anything but auspicious, but it is classic Spillane, as is Hammer’s apparently subconscious inclination to get in trouble.
Hammer is in town just long enough to secure downtrodden lodging, a decent meal and a few beers before finding himself accused of the rape and murder of a woman he barely glimpsed and did not know. His momentary salvation is another woman who he never met but whose (false) testimony gets him released from police custody. This angel is Melba Charles, the glamorous daughter of a local industrial magnate whose considerable influence extends far beyond Killington and has more than brushed off on his offspring. Melba’s largesse towards Hammer does not come without a price, though, and it’s an interesting one indeed.
As we wonder what the fallout from Melba’s intercession is going to be, we are also left to ponder why Hammer is in the misbegotten burg of Killington to begin with. That question is introduced gradually but is not fully revealed until approximately halfway through the book. But an even more important issue for Hammer is who set him up for the rape and murder that caused him so much trouble and pain when he first arrived in town, and to what end. Longtime Hammer fans know what will happen, but getting there is a great deal of the fun while Collins, with the approving shade of Spillane standing over his shoulder, provides the remainder.
We are assured by Collins --- a marvelous, one-of-a-kind author in his own right --- that there are more unfinished Hammer novels being completed, to be published in the near future. It is hard to imagine them being better than KILLING TOWN, which has all of the elements that made Spillane and Hammer the multimedia icons of the mid-20th century and beyond. It is strongly recommended as Exhibit A for how the job of writing the hard-boiled detective novel is fittingly and properly done.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
July 17, 2020
#24 in the Mike Hammer series (#11 co-written by Max Allan Collins after 13 solo efforts by Mickey Spillane). This 2018 novel is set in 1946-47, which places it about a year before I, The Jury (1947) which had long been considered the first entry in the Mike Hammer canon. Here is Hammer without the familiar trappings of NYC, before he has met Velda and with Pat Chambers only a patrolman in the NYPD. He gives his age to the records clerk at the marriage license bureau as 27, which put his bith date at A fascinating slice of history and a great read.
Set sometime around 1946-47, Killing Town finds the usually NYC-based Hammer pretty much on his own in unfamiliar and unfriendly surroundings, namely the title town of Killington, Rhode Island. Hammer sneaks into town one evening to carry out a mysterious errand when suddenly he finds himself framed for the rape-murder of a woman. Unable to prove his innocence thanks to a couple of corrupt cops. Hammer gets rescued, if that’s the word, by the beautiful and sexy (natch!) daughter of local fish cannery owner Senator Charles, Melba. She’ll testify that she saw Hammer someplace else on the night of the crime. The only catch is, if Hammer wants to stay free, he’ll have to marry Melba! Toss in the aforementioned corrupt cops, some Mafia killers showing up looking for Hammer, several violent beatings, and Melba’s somewhat shady relatives, and Hammer realizes he’s in deep trouble.
Set sometime around 1946-47, Killing Town finds the usually NYC-based Hammer pretty much on his own in unfamiliar and unfriendly surroundings, namely the title town of Killington, Rhode Island. Hammer sneaks into town one evening to carry out a mysterious errand when suddenly he finds himself framed for the rape-murder of a woman. Unable to prove his innocence thanks to a couple of corrupt cops. Hammer gets rescued, if that’s the word, by the beautiful and sexy (natch!) daughter of local fish cannery owner Senator Charles, Melba. She’ll testify that she saw Hammer someplace else on the night of the crime. The only catch is, if Hammer wants to stay free, he’ll have to marry Melba! Toss in the aforementioned corrupt cops, some Mafia killers showing up looking for Hammer, several violent beatings, and Melba’s somewhat shady relatives, and Hammer realizes he’s in deep trouble.
June 29, 2018
Yeah, I grew up with Mike Hammer. "I, the Jury" was his first and one of my first non-sci-fi adult books. It had been hanging around the house for a long time, having been written shortly after I was born. My father was a newly minted physician then, in the Navy, and even a cheap paperback was a dearly purchased item, not to be tossed or damaged. Maybe bartered, so if the book hung around for the next 14-15 years, it had to have something special going for it.
Max Allan Collins has crossed my path several times and the Spillane feeling in his work is unmistakable. I paid little attention as 'collaboration' books appeared, but this one, based on Spillane's first Hammer novel, long tucked away, seemed special enough to give a go. Early Mickey and a mature Collins had to be worth reading. A 100th 'Happy Birthday' to Spillane publishing event.
And I was correct. A pretty darn good yarn, weakened by a few plot twists typical of newbie authors--- Spillane was responsible for the beginning and ending, apparently, more than the middle. But the middle, however much either one wrote, had to tie the ends together. The duo did so well enough for me to say the book is
Recommended.
Max Allan Collins has crossed my path several times and the Spillane feeling in his work is unmistakable. I paid little attention as 'collaboration' books appeared, but this one, based on Spillane's first Hammer novel, long tucked away, seemed special enough to give a go. Early Mickey and a mature Collins had to be worth reading. A 100th 'Happy Birthday' to Spillane publishing event.
And I was correct. A pretty darn good yarn, weakened by a few plot twists typical of newbie authors--- Spillane was responsible for the beginning and ending, apparently, more than the middle. But the middle, however much either one wrote, had to tie the ends together. The duo did so well enough for me to say the book is
Recommended.
November 9, 2021
Mike Hammer: dispatching thugs, mobsters & crooked cops with impunity since 1947.
Though published as the 24th entry in Spillane's Mike Hammer series, Killing Town chronologically is the 1st novel written for the series.
Shortly before his death Spillane shared a yellowed, 30 page single-spaced manuscript with collaborator Collins. Spillane never finished it but left it, along with a cache of other manuscripts in various stages of completion, for his friend to complete.
In this early outing Hammer has just started his own P.I. business, has not yet hired his secretary Velda, and there's also no appearance by another series regular: Pat Chambers, captain of NYPD's homicide division, and Hammer's best friend.
Nonetheless, it has all the earmarks of a typical Mike Hammer novel: a fast-paced narrative with sex, violence, language, and snappy dialogue in spades.
Though published as the 24th entry in Spillane's Mike Hammer series, Killing Town chronologically is the 1st novel written for the series.
Shortly before his death Spillane shared a yellowed, 30 page single-spaced manuscript with collaborator Collins. Spillane never finished it but left it, along with a cache of other manuscripts in various stages of completion, for his friend to complete.
In this early outing Hammer has just started his own P.I. business, has not yet hired his secretary Velda, and there's also no appearance by another series regular: Pat Chambers, captain of NYPD's homicide division, and Hammer's best friend.
Nonetheless, it has all the earmarks of a typical Mike Hammer novel: a fast-paced narrative with sex, violence, language, and snappy dialogue in spades.
April 27, 2018
WELCOME BACK MIKE HAMMER!
Killing Town gives us a look at Mike Hammer before "I, The Jury." In this story, Mike hops a train to Killington. Once there, he is blamed for the death of a young woman. He must prove his innocence and complete the task he originally came to Killington for. The Mike Hammer in this story is a young Hammer, and it is filled with all the rough edges the first six Mike Hammer novels had in them. It is a little bit shorter than most of the Mike Hammer books (as it has less than 250 pages to it) but what those pages contain are all the elements that make Mike Hammer great!
Killing Town gives us a look at Mike Hammer before "I, The Jury." In this story, Mike hops a train to Killington. Once there, he is blamed for the death of a young woman. He must prove his innocence and complete the task he originally came to Killington for. The Mike Hammer in this story is a young Hammer, and it is filled with all the rough edges the first six Mike Hammer novels had in them. It is a little bit shorter than most of the Mike Hammer books (as it has less than 250 pages to it) but what those pages contain are all the elements that make Mike Hammer great!
October 10, 2025
After reading I, The Jury, I knew I had to continue following the infamous P.I./playboy Mike Hammer. Killing Town, being the second Spillane novel I’ve read, though chronologically the first in the series, I loved getting a glimpse at a younger, less established Mike Hammer. Velda’s absence is definitely noticeable in this novel, but I loved that her eventual arrival is foreshadowed when Mike muses about needing a secretary (a fun detail if you know what's to come). While this “lost first Mike Hammer thriller” offers a unique insight into Hammer’s earlier days and remains enjoyable and clever, I still found it not quite as strong plot-wise as I, The Jury.
August 5, 2021
It has been a long time since I've read a Mike Hammer thriller by Mickey Spillane. This was the 1st Mike Hammer story but it had not been published because it was an unfinished manuscript that was turned over to Max Allan Collins, who was a good friend of Mickey's, after Mickey passed away. I have read several of the Mike Hammer books as a teen, and have forgotten just how good they were. No punches pulled, these are stories that are filled with brutal murder, very sexy scenes and a private eye who takes pleasure in dealing out justice to the bad guys, men and women.
April 20, 2018
Unearthing the very first Mike Hammer story is a fitting way to commemorate Mickey Spillane's 100th Birthday. The story lacks some of the familiar tropes of Hammer's world, such as secretary/partner Velda and the streets of Manhattan, but is still a solid entry with some strong moments. There's something reinvigorating about a Mike Hammer who's even more raw and unchecked than ever, at the peak of his prowess.
May 15, 2018
Awesome !! I have several of Mickey Spillane that feature Velda so I am fascinated that this one that Max says is probably his first novel, features a gal named Melba. And I love that the period is back in the forties, as I was growing up then and I am familiar with a lot of the detective story authors, but have just begun reading more of them in my elder years. I like that Mike Hammer is a tough guy but he does have some principles. Max has done a good job here.
May 28, 2019
With about 25 pages left, I was already thinking of my review and getting ready to call it the best of the Max Allan Collins/Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer collaborations.
But the ending ... I won't spoil it, obviously, but been there done that. All I could think was, Oh, we're going to that plot point again in a hard-boiled detective novel.
Beyond that, this was a well-written story, still worth checking out.
But the ending ... I won't spoil it, obviously, but been there done that. All I could think was, Oh, we're going to that plot point again in a hard-boiled detective novel.
Beyond that, this was a well-written story, still worth checking out.
April 6, 2023
Loved it, a proper page turner, read it in literally one day. It's not a long book, just over 200 pages, but each is crammed full of action.
It is set in post-war America, the storyline and the settings are gritty and grimy. The writing style is old fashioned, as befits the time when the manuscript for this book was initially written by Mickey Spillane, lost foramy years until it was found nd finished by Max Collins.
Wj be looking out for others in the Mike Hammer series.
It is set in post-war America, the storyline and the settings are gritty and grimy. The writing style is old fashioned, as befits the time when the manuscript for this book was initially written by Mickey Spillane, lost foramy years until it was found nd finished by Max Collins.
Wj be looking out for others in the Mike Hammer series.
August 21, 2018
I'm like Max, I have been a Mickey Spillane fan since I was a teenager. It's impressive that he can finish these books and you can't tell where Mickey stops and Max starts. Even the ending read like something Mickey would have written. It's always fun to read a new Mickey Spillane book. Even if it is and old one.
July 8, 2022
I hadn't read a Micky Spillane book in awhile, so I figured it was time. I love to read his books for the dated style, they were definitely written for men but ................
anyway he gets right to the point and its fun to try and see if I'm right as to the outcome. I did have it figured out except for 1 little tiny detail I didn't see coming.
anyway he gets right to the point and its fun to try and see if I'm right as to the outcome. I did have it figured out except for 1 little tiny detail I didn't see coming.
October 7, 2023
Another awesome entry in the series. According to Mr. Collins this is the first chronologically.
Slightly different than the usual Mike Hammer story line in a good way. Mike's in more peril here and seems to get the worst part of it with the hand to hand fighting.
The mystery is really well drawn. And the characters are so intricate and real. Excellent. Give it a read.
Slightly different than the usual Mike Hammer story line in a good way. Mike's in more peril here and seems to get the worst part of it with the hand to hand fighting.
The mystery is really well drawn. And the characters are so intricate and real. Excellent. Give it a read.
December 19, 2025
I am so happy that many of the Mike Hammer mysteries weren't lost with his death. This, according to the forward, was the first of many. Definitely a different Mike Hammer, a very young Mike. Get ready to begin the Mike Hammer legacy. Thanks to Max A. Collins for continuing to give us Mike Hammer through Mickey Spillane.
May 11, 2018
From two of the best crime writers of the modern era, Spillane and Collins bring Mike Hammer back in this lost original introduction set before I, the Jury. An excellent introduction to this character, this is a book I'll treasure for a long time.
August 4, 2023
Early Hammer, and with the modernizing voice of Max Allen Collins.
I read I, the Jury and might have liked it without the T.R.A.S.H. The Hammer I’ve read with Collins as a co-writer has good noir poetry, flayed killing, and shocking-at-the-time sex and much less racism, sexism, etc
I read I, the Jury and might have liked it without the T.R.A.S.H. The Hammer I’ve read with Collins as a co-writer has good noir poetry, flayed killing, and shocking-at-the-time sex and much less racism, sexism, etc
August 20, 2018
Killings
There are a lot of killings in this book. This is a quick, suspenseful story of small town corruption. Interesting!
There are a lot of killings in this book. This is a quick, suspenseful story of small town corruption. Interesting!
August 24, 2018
A classic Mike Hammer detective story
April 6, 2022
Review forthcoming
December 18, 2022
Junk reading maybe but good noir fun.
January 17, 2023
Pretty distilled Hammer here, a very young Hammer - pre-Zelda. As a result, very stripped down, not too many other characters.
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