Every now and then I like to toss a crime fiction novel into my to-be-read pile and this one fell into my lap. Most people already know that there are already several Mike Hammer books available. I, however, was unaware because crime novels are actually not my meat and potatoes. Crime novels are more like a delicious foreign delicacy for me. I discover new crime authors about twenty years too late, but I’m okay with that as long as you, as my blog readers, understand that it’s not my everyday. Since I have read The Will To Kill, though, I have been checking into buying the others and I made it a point to buy and read some of the really old Mike Hammer books before I wrote this review. I can’t stand the idea of having just one book from a series, set, or group. It drives me mad. I also couldn’t see writing this review not knowing anything about Mike Hammer or Mickey Spillane’s vision of his character.
Taking a midnight stroll along the Hudson River, Mike Hammer gets more than he bargained for: a partial corpse on an ice floe. The body is that of a butler who spent the last years of his life working for a millionaire—also now deceased—and his notoriously privileged children.
Were both master and servant murdered? Captain Pat Chambers thinks so. But to prove it Hammer must travel to upstate New York to investigate the dead man’s family, all of whom have a motive for murder, and one of whom who has a taste for it.
-Blurb from Amazon.com
I wasn’t disappointed with this book, but I wasn’t blown away, either. It was everything I enjoy in a crime novel. There was a murder mystery to solve, complex and believable characters, crisp, clear language, and someone even says, “Jeez Louise!” somewhere in the story. The real amazing feat within the pages, however, is not in the story itself, but in the writing. Somehow, Max Allan Collins was able to take Spillane’s Mike Hammer stories and create new ones to match seamlessly. He was able to mask his own writing style as Spillane’s, making the two authors of one voice.
I can’t think of one single thing to gripe about with this novel. And, if we’re being honest, I always look for something to gripe about because I want to be sure to give my own readers the honest truth about the books I read. THE WILL TO KILL is one case where what you see is truly what you get. You buy the book looking for a great Mike Hammer story and that’s what you will receive.
To buy THE WILL TO KILL by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins on Amazon, click here!
To buy THE WILL TO KILL by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins from Titan Books, click here!
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