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Last Cop Out
A tough-guy mystery to please even the most bloodthirsty of fans!
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
Mickey Spillane
321 books454 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 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 29, 2018
Mickey Spillane's The Last Cop Out is violent, sexy, and loaded with the author's trade-mark grit.
Originally published in 1973, the book focuses on a prominent cross-continent mob under siege by persons unknown. Naturally, conspiracy theories abound; a hostile takeover, a rival mob, a mafioso looking to clean house, or the law finally taking their courtroom justice to the streets.
It's here where the plot gets murky, and quickly. Gill Burke is an ex-cop who hasn't burnt all his bridges on the force, while Mark Shelby is the seeming heir-apparent to the mob throne; book smart and with enough gusto to lead the mob into a violent new age. Both characters are essential pieces to the puzzle who each add a unique perspective to the power struggle.
Having read a lot of books by Mickey Spillane, I think The Last Cop Out is some of his best writing while also being some of his worst. It's this contradiction which makes the book middle-of-the-road as apposed to being something great. On one hand the prose is poetic; pitch perfect noir and back-alley brawl inspired while at other times the plot is disjointed and difficult to follow.
My rating: 3/5 stars. Well worth the patience and persistence if noir is your niche in crime fiction.
This review originally appeared as part of my Pick Up A Pulp series of blog posts: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
Originally published in 1973, the book focuses on a prominent cross-continent mob under siege by persons unknown. Naturally, conspiracy theories abound; a hostile takeover, a rival mob, a mafioso looking to clean house, or the law finally taking their courtroom justice to the streets.
It's here where the plot gets murky, and quickly. Gill Burke is an ex-cop who hasn't burnt all his bridges on the force, while Mark Shelby is the seeming heir-apparent to the mob throne; book smart and with enough gusto to lead the mob into a violent new age. Both characters are essential pieces to the puzzle who each add a unique perspective to the power struggle.
Having read a lot of books by Mickey Spillane, I think The Last Cop Out is some of his best writing while also being some of his worst. It's this contradiction which makes the book middle-of-the-road as apposed to being something great. On one hand the prose is poetic; pitch perfect noir and back-alley brawl inspired while at other times the plot is disjointed and difficult to follow.
My rating: 3/5 stars. Well worth the patience and persistence if noir is your niche in crime fiction.
This review originally appeared as part of my Pick Up A Pulp series of blog posts: http://justaguywholikes2read.blogspot...
May 23, 2025
The Last Cop Out features a stunning eye-catching bare-bottomed model on its cover. Inside, it is a fitting tribute to the sex and violence which Spillane became know for. Set in New York City primarily, it also takes place in Miami, Cleveland, and Phoenix. The story here is an internal squabble among the Syndicate with dozens of operatives being knocked off. “Victor Petrocinni achieved one final orgasm when a heavy caliber bullet tapped a hole in his forehead and blew his brains all over the front of the car.” “That night a hollow-tipped .22 went into the left earhole of Dennis Ravenal and the sub-chieftain of East Side prostitution died on silken sheets in a high rise apartment building whose door he thought was absolutely pick-proof.”
Mark Shelby sitting at the head of the table wants something done quickly. “They called him Primus Gladatori, the First Gladiator, not because of his true given name, but for the way he dispatched his opponents—quickly and with pleasure.” Yet, over his head, the bosses were bringing in “the Frenchman,” as Frank Verdun was known. “Murder, to the Frenchman, was the same as an orgasm. He enjoyed it best when one followed the other, but he could take each separately if the need arose, but inevitably one would follow the other anyway.”
But law enforcement also wants something done because it doesn’t matter if all the victims are tough guys, there’s just too many killings and the police and the district attorney look weak and ineffective. Gill Burke, who is sort of our lead character, is brought out of retirement to take on the situation and we get him facing off against the Frenchman to the point where he falls for the Frenchman’s secretary, Helen, who is tasked with getting intel from Burke, but actually falls for him.
Helen Scanlon, a cop’s daughter, is as tough as they come: “At fourteen she had been indoctrinated into sex by a street punk who liked to be called Killer Miller, who had attacked her in the vestibule of their own apartment. When Joe Scanlon caught up with him in the parking lot of the supermarket it took four men to drag him off a pulpy body so mutilated and so brain-damaged, that when Killer Miller was released from the hospital seven months later they all called him Silly Millie. There were no screams of police brutality in those days, either.”
Spillane has almost every other character double crossed and killed in a violent sexualized manner from the assassin whose penis and navel are cut out while he’s still breathing to the old time mafia boss who takes a gunshot from a gun shoved up his rectum.
There are barely any soft edges in this novel. Spillane doesn’t let up for a second letting you know who these people really are and how crude and violent their inner thoughts are.
Mark Shelby sitting at the head of the table wants something done quickly. “They called him Primus Gladatori, the First Gladiator, not because of his true given name, but for the way he dispatched his opponents—quickly and with pleasure.” Yet, over his head, the bosses were bringing in “the Frenchman,” as Frank Verdun was known. “Murder, to the Frenchman, was the same as an orgasm. He enjoyed it best when one followed the other, but he could take each separately if the need arose, but inevitably one would follow the other anyway.”
But law enforcement also wants something done because it doesn’t matter if all the victims are tough guys, there’s just too many killings and the police and the district attorney look weak and ineffective. Gill Burke, who is sort of our lead character, is brought out of retirement to take on the situation and we get him facing off against the Frenchman to the point where he falls for the Frenchman’s secretary, Helen, who is tasked with getting intel from Burke, but actually falls for him.
Helen Scanlon, a cop’s daughter, is as tough as they come: “At fourteen she had been indoctrinated into sex by a street punk who liked to be called Killer Miller, who had attacked her in the vestibule of their own apartment. When Joe Scanlon caught up with him in the parking lot of the supermarket it took four men to drag him off a pulpy body so mutilated and so brain-damaged, that when Killer Miller was released from the hospital seven months later they all called him Silly Millie. There were no screams of police brutality in those days, either.”
Spillane has almost every other character double crossed and killed in a violent sexualized manner from the assassin whose penis and navel are cut out while he’s still breathing to the old time mafia boss who takes a gunshot from a gun shoved up his rectum.
There are barely any soft edges in this novel. Spillane doesn’t let up for a second letting you know who these people really are and how crude and violent their inner thoughts are.
January 24, 2019
OK, lets throw it straight out there - Mickey Spillane books quite often have covers which have little relevance to the story within. This is one of those. This edition was a 1974 one from Corgi. I have been looking around for a substitute for Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe series, which I am quickly running out of, and I picked up a bulk lot of Spillane's books - some Mike Hammer, and some others.
This one is stand alone, and features a hard-man cop called Gill Burke.
It is loaded with rival mob gangs, revenge killings, payoffs and double crosses. It is noir, but it is a different style to Chandler - less clever, and less delicate around the sex storylines.
An enjoyable read, with twists and turns, and plenty of opportunity to puzzle over what is going on before the threads come together near the end, and then there is more cleverness to reach a conclusion.
Three and a half stars, which I am struggling to figure out whether I should round up or down... perhaps for the cover, and the awkwardness of reading this at lunchtime in the park, I will round it down!
This one is stand alone, and features a hard-man cop called Gill Burke.
It is loaded with rival mob gangs, revenge killings, payoffs and double crosses. It is noir, but it is a different style to Chandler - less clever, and less delicate around the sex storylines.
An enjoyable read, with twists and turns, and plenty of opportunity to puzzle over what is going on before the threads come together near the end, and then there is more cleverness to reach a conclusion.
Three and a half stars, which I am struggling to figure out whether I should round up or down... perhaps for the cover, and the awkwardness of reading this at lunchtime in the park, I will round it down!
January 19, 2023
Mickey Spillane said that he was a commercial writer not an author:
"Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar."But I think Spillane is trying to serve caviar here. Gill Burke is not as virile and violent as Mike Hammer, but he has more depth. Much of the story dwells on the various mobsters and their perverted affairs. There are many abrupt transitions between the subplots -- like smash cuts in a movie. I prefer peanuts.
July 1, 2017
mickey spillane's hyperviolent world of cops and criminals deals in a lot of stereotypes and characters that we've seen before, but it still manages to be remarkably shocking in the risks that it takes structurally, including its willingness to let questions go unanswered and to leave our protagonist for lengthy periods to exam more tangential elements of the story, or even to place major events in the hands of ancillary characters, denying us the main characters the opportunity for the heroic moment that they have chased for the entirety of the novel's plot. it's fast paced, quick witted, cleverly plotted and tightly structured.
it is also sort of fascistic and insistent upon sexual arousal's relationship to violence. while spillane may trip us up sort of brilliantly with the misinterpretations that characters have of other characters motivations, his own motivations are pretty obvious here: 1950's morality.
it is also sort of fascistic and insistent upon sexual arousal's relationship to violence. while spillane may trip us up sort of brilliantly with the misinterpretations that characters have of other characters motivations, his own motivations are pretty obvious here: 1950's morality.
October 21, 2022
A stand alone novel about the mob. Someone kills off the heads of various operations, setting up paranoia, suspicion and retaliation among the remaining bosses. Problem is, nobody really knows who is behind it. As well as the characters in the book there is a mysterious group of Dons called The Big Board that oversees things but doesn't take an active hand in the operations.
Sex and violence are staples of Spillane's work but this one, written in the 1907's, seems to turn it up a notch compared with earlier works.
Sex and violence are staples of Spillane's work but this one, written in the 1907's, seems to turn it up a notch compared with earlier works.
July 18, 2013
The cover for this book is probably one of the most eye-catching covers of its era. Take a look at the copy on the back, and you'll be shocked that something like this could have been published back then. It makes this book sound like a 190-page blood orgasm, and it lives up to expectations. Spillane is the best when it comes to psychotic heroes. Not anti-heroes, mind you, but HEROES. This book is the best example of it. It's an orgy of blood and vulgarity rivaled by no other crime book. It's an incredibly awesome, incredibly deranged read!
April 11, 2017
Graphic fun, a bit over the top, good ol' rough and tough copper versus the mob, the establishment, and society. poor POV transitions required numerous rereadings. was a quick read and a good interlude with a strong example of the 'virile and violent' hero.
October 30, 2019
Read it
If you like action mystery and Just you'll like this work by Spillage or any of his books I think I read them all!
If you like action mystery and Just you'll like this work by Spillage or any of his books I think I read them all!
September 11, 2020
Read in 1984. Down and dirty detective fiction.
March 27, 2023
Mike Hammer he ain't, but Gill Burke is still a good example of why Mickey Spillane's writing sold over 100 million books before his death. He's a stripped down version of every tough guy cop in books and movies, maybe more so than Hammer himself.
While the whodunit part of the book is pretty clear early on, how the puzzle pieces fit together is a superb example of how Spillane draws his readers into his hyper-violent world of good versus evil where even the most straight arrow cop has a pitchfork in his closet, ready to go.
Revenge is another recurring theme with Spillane. He works it well in the main storyline and throughout the subplots. The final act just before the close of the novel is shocking, but somehow appropriate as well. Keep in mind, this book was NOT written for kids.
Find it. Buy it. Read it.
While the whodunit part of the book is pretty clear early on, how the puzzle pieces fit together is a superb example of how Spillane draws his readers into his hyper-violent world of good versus evil where even the most straight arrow cop has a pitchfork in his closet, ready to go.
Revenge is another recurring theme with Spillane. He works it well in the main storyline and throughout the subplots. The final act just before the close of the novel is shocking, but somehow appropriate as well. Keep in mind, this book was NOT written for kids.
Find it. Buy it. Read it.
January 31, 2021
I’ve only ever read one other Mickey Spillane, “I, The Jury” (of course), and I loved it but this one just doesn’t live up. Some of the dialogue is cool but between some creepy horny elements, a jumbled plot (and not in the good way), and a generic cop protagonist I found myself reading more to finish it than because I was enjoying it.
August 4, 2019
edge of the seat thriller from Mickey Spillane, gang war gone wrong, nobody knows who is the killing the mobsters off one by one.
August 25, 2023
Lots of mob action.
May 3, 2016
Spillane assomiglia ad Ellroy, per trame e ambientazioni, e anche per la violenza dei suoi personaggi che sembra fine a se stessa. Qui sangue e morte la fanno da protagonisti in ogni pagina, orchestrati da un ex poliziotto che porta avanti la sua vendetta contro chi lo ha fatto, per paura delle sue capacità, buttare fuori dalla polizia. Un ottimo romanzo, molto ben scritto, che non viene addolcito nemmeno dall'inevitabile storia d'amore.
October 11, 2012
This aimless mess of a story is certainly not Mickey Spillane at his
best. Lots of graphic sex and brutality, but if that was supposed to
save it, it doesn't. I shhould have re-read an old Mike Hammer novel,
instead of this.
best. Lots of graphic sex and brutality, but if that was supposed to
save it, it doesn't. I shhould have re-read an old Mike Hammer novel,
instead of this.
October 29, 2013
This was the first Mickey Spilliane book I have read. I doubt if this was his best effort. For me, there were too many players, too much dialog and low key suspense. The story did not flow well and at times seemed forced. I have bought his first book, I, The Jury, and will give him another chance.
May 16, 2008
va va voum
January 22, 2014
This one was a lot of fun; I like when classic pulp writers get to explore their dirtier side later in life.
December 26, 2015
The Last Cop Out is a Knock Out
Its pure Spillane. Always at the top of his game. Reality as it used to be. This is good reading.
Its pure Spillane. Always at the top of his game. Reality as it used to be. This is good reading.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews