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Me, Hood!
First Printing by Signet Classics, New American Library. USA
144 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
11 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Mickey Spillane
316 books448 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 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 9, 2023
More as a warning to other readers - the content of the various editions of the Spillane book called Me, Hood! appears to vary widely. My Corgi Crime edition with the cerise coloured cover contains two stories - both longer than short stories but shorter than novel-sized, and a short story.
The titular Me, Hood! features Ryan, an Irish American hood who is dragged into a complex crime simply because his name was mentioned. Much like the better known Mike Hammer, he unravels the crime and figures out those responsible, while taking and giving out beatings, and getting the girl.
The second story, Kick it, or Kill it! features a different lead character, Kelly Smith. We don't find out Kelly's background until later in the story, but his 'vacation' to go fishing and relax after an apparent work injury is anything but relaxing after he recognises some criminal types in the small town and sets himself to work figuring out what is happening in the big and secure lodge in the hills.
The last - a short story The Affair with the Dragon Lady is the only bit of writing from Spillane I have read which is not crime fiction. This story is about a group of aging, retires American Air Force veterans who restore the B-17E aircraft that they served in, in a hangar of a disused air field adjacent to a swamp. A short story rolls out from there.
The first two were pretty standard from Spillane, and rolled out well. The third, different, but ok.
3 stars
The titular Me, Hood! features Ryan, an Irish American hood who is dragged into a complex crime simply because his name was mentioned. Much like the better known Mike Hammer, he unravels the crime and figures out those responsible, while taking and giving out beatings, and getting the girl.
The second story, Kick it, or Kill it! features a different lead character, Kelly Smith. We don't find out Kelly's background until later in the story, but his 'vacation' to go fishing and relax after an apparent work injury is anything but relaxing after he recognises some criminal types in the small town and sets himself to work figuring out what is happening in the big and secure lodge in the hills.
The last - a short story The Affair with the Dragon Lady is the only bit of writing from Spillane I have read which is not crime fiction. This story is about a group of aging, retires American Air Force veterans who restore the B-17E aircraft that they served in, in a hangar of a disused air field adjacent to a swamp. A short story rolls out from there.
The first two were pretty standard from Spillane, and rolled out well. The third, different, but ok.
3 stars
May 24, 2025
“Me, Hood” is one of several tough guy novellas Spillane put out. Mainly offered in dialogue, the story is fast-paced, sparse, and deadly. Ryan is a self-professed hoodlum, offered a police badge “To protect ourselves or yourself under impossibly remote circumstances you now have a certain measure of legal protection.”
They tell him they’ll give him a name and he has to figure everything else out. The name is Lodo and it’s worth a big bundle of money, more than he’s ever had in his life, and he’s given no time limit. Oh, and by the way, everyone involved has been knocked off and Ryan is almost the next victim. It’s not much to go on but a lot if private eyes have made cases out of less. On we go then with shadows nipping at Ryan’s heels as he tried to make sense of the mess he’s been dropped into.
The femme fatale of the piece is Carmen Smith; “This is one who has been waiting a long time for somebody and instinctively you know that until now she hasn’t found that one. She’s big and beautiful and stands square-shouldered like a man, but she’s full-breasted and taut and completely undressed beneath the sheath she has on. She’s not trying for anything. She doesn’t have to. You don’t have to look to know she’s long-legged and round and in her loins there’s a subtle fire that can be fanned, and fanned, and fanned.”
They tell him they’ll give him a name and he has to figure everything else out. The name is Lodo and it’s worth a big bundle of money, more than he’s ever had in his life, and he’s given no time limit. Oh, and by the way, everyone involved has been knocked off and Ryan is almost the next victim. It’s not much to go on but a lot if private eyes have made cases out of less. On we go then with shadows nipping at Ryan’s heels as he tried to make sense of the mess he’s been dropped into.
The femme fatale of the piece is Carmen Smith; “This is one who has been waiting a long time for somebody and instinctively you know that until now she hasn’t found that one. She’s big and beautiful and stands square-shouldered like a man, but she’s full-breasted and taut and completely undressed beneath the sheath she has on. She’s not trying for anything. She doesn’t have to. You don’t have to look to know she’s long-legged and round and in her loins there’s a subtle fire that can be fanned, and fanned, and fanned.”
March 10, 2018
I picked this up in honor of the 100th birthday of Mickey Spillane but to be honest, that was just an excuse. This is actually my very first Mickey Spillane experience and I’ve been itching to try one. A couple of friends suggested I start with something other than a Mike Hammer book because they preferred his standalones and since I had this on the shelf it was an easy pick.
This volume includes two short novels: “Me, Hood” and “Return of the Hood”. Ryan is a hoodlum, a man who skirts the law and frequently crosses the line but is smart enough to get away with it almost always. He is often called, simply “Hood” or sometimes “Irish”. In the first story he is conned by the police in order to bring justice to a situation that is beyond the rules of proper police procedure. His brand of violence and his connections provide just the spark that’s needed. The second story has a bit of an international espionage flavor to it as Hood is randomly entrusted by a desperate female spy with a capsule containing top secret microfilm. Unfortunately, he has simultaneously been accused by a gang leader of offing his little brother and during the resulting chaos, Hood loses the capsule.
These novellas were almost exactly what I expected from Spillane. Lots of hard boiled crime, violence, femme fatales etc. They are told in that wonderful first-person POV that works so well and allows for many a glib one-liner. I’m not sure how these two stories rank on the Mickey Spillane quality index but they worked well for me as an introduction and I feel confidant they won’t be my last.
This volume includes two short novels: “Me, Hood” and “Return of the Hood”. Ryan is a hoodlum, a man who skirts the law and frequently crosses the line but is smart enough to get away with it almost always. He is often called, simply “Hood” or sometimes “Irish”. In the first story he is conned by the police in order to bring justice to a situation that is beyond the rules of proper police procedure. His brand of violence and his connections provide just the spark that’s needed. The second story has a bit of an international espionage flavor to it as Hood is randomly entrusted by a desperate female spy with a capsule containing top secret microfilm. Unfortunately, he has simultaneously been accused by a gang leader of offing his little brother and during the resulting chaos, Hood loses the capsule.
These novellas were almost exactly what I expected from Spillane. Lots of hard boiled crime, violence, femme fatales etc. They are told in that wonderful first-person POV that works so well and allows for many a glib one-liner. I’m not sure how these two stories rank on the Mickey Spillane quality index but they worked well for me as an introduction and I feel confidant they won’t be my last.
May 14, 2021
Another bloodthirsty ultra-violent Spillane book. This time his protagonist isn't quite so obsessed with killing Communists. He seems a bit more likeable than most such characters until he starts using racial slurs for the Vietnamese and homophobic slurs. Not a big fan of that. But aside from that, Spillane always brings action and brings it fast. The Hood is another character who thrives on killing bad guys to save court costs and risk having said bad guys still out in the world. The Hood isn't very patriotic, but when he's given a license to kill, he's all in. Spillane as you like it!
June 12, 2019
Mickey Spillane is one third of the holy triumvirate of noir detective fictions writers, along with Raym0nd Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Me, Hood is a one of the author's earlier tales that does not feature his famous shamus Mike Hammer. Actually two shorter novellas involving the same protagonist, the second story is the more compelling of the two. Worth a look after you've read the Hammer series.
December 12, 2023
Racist, sexist and so overcharged with machismo it couldn't be anyone else but Spillane!
Conan with a gun!
2 classic "Hood" stories with commies, gangsters, druggies and a body count just short of genocide!
Conan with a gun!
2 classic "Hood" stories with commies, gangsters, druggies and a body count just short of genocide!
December 27, 2023
I’m really struggling to find where Mickey Spillane was supposedly such a great author. This is the third or fourth story I’ve read, figuring I’d give him the benefit of the doubt. But man, these stories are tedious, formulaic and transparent. 🤷🏻♂️
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May 29, 2025It's always raining in Spillane's New York City.
May 30, 2025
Ah, Spillane. You never fail to deliver the hard shelled, gritty goods.
February 2, 2017
The Affair with the Dragon Lady
"Mickey Spillane's 'The Affair with the Dragon Lady,'(3rd and last story in "Me Hood" )
The Affair With The Dragon Lady is not a detective or even tough guy story.
It is a tale about a group of aging men who survived WWII together as the crew of a shot up B-17E.
"Well, there we were, the 10 husbands of the Dragon lady. Our mutual wife was a B-17E with bullet hole acne, a patched up tail, and joints that creaked and groaned even when she was trying to rest. Still, she was a thing of beauty who took us all there and back 82 times, twice almost giving her own life in a grand gesture that we might live, but survived because our love for her was just as strong."
"You can imagine having to leave her. We each took a little piece of her away in our B-4 bags, kissed her mutilated body, left her there with tears of 100 octane dripping from No-1 and No-4 engines.
Don't ever tell us an airplane can't cry."
They got together after the war trying to preserve their youth by buying the old scrapped plane that had saved their lives. They stored her in in an abandoned hanger in a swamp near an airbase, and built a secret club house with a lounge and bar.
"Before long that old hanger became a lavish combination Officer's and N.C.O.'s club where men could be men in the old style, fight the war any way they pleased, and forget the crazy old world outside.
it was the place of the Permanent Pass, the Big Open Post, the Fabulous Furlough.
Nobody was old there. When they felt that way they could find their places inside the Dragon lady and she would console them within herself and give them back their youth."
There, as they continued aging, they bit by bit repaired the plane they loved as they relived and exaggerated their joined past.
When a tragedy occurs to a modern jet plane from the base, the boys in the club spring back into real action.
Read more: http://andy321.proboards.com/thread/7...
"Mickey Spillane's 'The Affair with the Dragon Lady,'(3rd and last story in "Me Hood" )
The Affair With The Dragon Lady is not a detective or even tough guy story.
It is a tale about a group of aging men who survived WWII together as the crew of a shot up B-17E.
"Well, there we were, the 10 husbands of the Dragon lady. Our mutual wife was a B-17E with bullet hole acne, a patched up tail, and joints that creaked and groaned even when she was trying to rest. Still, she was a thing of beauty who took us all there and back 82 times, twice almost giving her own life in a grand gesture that we might live, but survived because our love for her was just as strong."
"You can imagine having to leave her. We each took a little piece of her away in our B-4 bags, kissed her mutilated body, left her there with tears of 100 octane dripping from No-1 and No-4 engines.
Don't ever tell us an airplane can't cry."
They got together after the war trying to preserve their youth by buying the old scrapped plane that had saved their lives. They stored her in in an abandoned hanger in a swamp near an airbase, and built a secret club house with a lounge and bar.
"Before long that old hanger became a lavish combination Officer's and N.C.O.'s club where men could be men in the old style, fight the war any way they pleased, and forget the crazy old world outside.
it was the place of the Permanent Pass, the Big Open Post, the Fabulous Furlough.
Nobody was old there. When they felt that way they could find their places inside the Dragon lady and she would console them within herself and give them back their youth."
There, as they continued aging, they bit by bit repaired the plane they loved as they relived and exaggerated their joined past.
When a tragedy occurs to a modern jet plane from the base, the boys in the club spring back into real action.
Read more: http://andy321.proboards.com/thread/7...
March 15, 2015
No surprises here. It's yet another sex & violence madness. Plot is pretty far-fetched and due to its relentless pace (the whole thing is about 70 pages long) it quickly becomes almost incomprehensible. And to make matters worse, it falls into the "grand issues" category. But at least we get an early warning about this because our hero, after being recruited by a secret service (I think) to do some dubious job, quickly concludes that:
Patriotism doesn't exist on any local level. Suddenly we're international and I can only think of three fields where you striped pantsers could exploit me: The narcotic trade through Italy, Mexico or China; illegal gold shipments to Europe; then last, the Commies.
Welcome, once again, to the beautiful, frightening and simplistic world of Mickey Spillane!
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2014/11/m...
Patriotism doesn't exist on any local level. Suddenly we're international and I can only think of three fields where you striped pantsers could exploit me: The narcotic trade through Italy, Mexico or China; illegal gold shipments to Europe; then last, the Commies.
Welcome, once again, to the beautiful, frightening and simplistic world of Mickey Spillane!
More here (review includes spoilers!):
http://a60books.blogspot.ie/2014/11/m...
August 22, 2015
The American version of "Me, Hood" by Mickey Spillane actually has two novellas contained within it. The first story, "Me Hood", is a typical Spillane piece with a hard boiled main character, large curvy women, and a plethora of violence. It is entertaining as only a Mickey Spillane story can be. Sometimes the dialogue is almost comical, but I never tire of his writing. The second story in the book, "Return of the Hood", is actually the better piece. The writing is tighter, the story line is enthralling and you are compelled to read on to see the conclusion, even if somewhat predictable. All in all, in spite of the title, these two stories are fine examples of Spillane's talents.
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November 23, 2010 Again, sexxy cover. Another shot of "Catherine of the Savage Sands!" What a great portrait, I love covers like this, the ash/platinum blonde really personifies what a heroine of the 70's novel should be.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews