by Mickey Spillane
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 "The street wasn't dead yet.Not all the way.", 2008-06-12
When I finished reading "Something's Down There",I felt that I had just read the last novel I would ever read by Spillane. I have read most of his novels since I first read his "I the Jury" back in the 50's while still in High School;and I still have most of them in my library.When I came across this paperback ,sitting on the bookshelf in the store;my attention was immediately taken by the cover. My first reaction was that it looked out of place and looked like something from the 50's.Then I noticed the name "Mickey Spillane".What a surprise ,a new novel,when I thought the great run of his novels was over.And now we find we may be in for a few more with the help of his friend Max Allan Collins and Hard Case Crime books.
A special mention is deserved to Arthur Suydam whose painting for the cover faithfully captures the style we came to love in the covers of Spillane's novels over the years.
It is also important to mention the efforts of Spillane's friend Max Allan Collins who actulally helped complete this novel,writing its last 3 chapters.Fans of that other great crime fighter,Dick Tracy,will also be familiar with his efforts in keeping that fantastic comic strip going.
So,once again,we get another engrossing crime story,fully in the style and action packed adventure that we have have come to love over the years.
We all miss Spillane's great stories;but if he were still with us;I am sure he would be taken by Collin's line on page 186;"I feel for you,Bucky. But like the man says,I just can't reach you." ;and be asking "I wonder if he was really talking to me here?"
Can't wait for another one;--thanks for keeping it all going.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Above all, a love story, 2008-02-21
When Mickey Spillane died, he left behind several unfinished manuscripts. Lucky for us, they were left in the care of his good friend (and most vocal proponent) Max Allan Collins to prepare for publication. Dead Street is the only one that will be printed under Spillane's solo byline.
It's more than somewhat appropriate that Hard Case Crime is publishing a Spillane novel, since the publisher whose tone HCC is trying to recapture -- Fawcett Gold Medal Books -- was created to tap into the hardboiled paperback market that Spillane's work unearthed all on its own.
Twenty years ago, police captain Jack Stang lost his fiancée when she was abducted and the vehicle carrying her subsequently fell off a bridge into the Hudson River. Now retired, Stang learns that the love of his life is still alive -- though blind and with complete memory loss of the period before the incident.
Stang is hired by someone who knows of their previous connection to protect her from people who still want what they think she knows. But can Jack stand being so close to her and falling in love all over again, when she doesn't even know who he is?
Dead Street has all the Spillane hallmarks: deep characterization, a fast plot, realistic dialogue (peppered generously with tough-guy slang), and a great deal of sensitivity. Anyone expecting an exclusively hardboiled experience is forgetting what a romantic Spillane was (Mike Hammer more than once let his heart rule his head to the detriment of a case, at least temporarily), and Dead Street is, above all, a love story.
According to Collins's afterword, eight chapters of Dead Street were already complete. Collins wrote the final three based on Spillane's notes and Collins's own discussions with the author. The transition is definitely noticeable, but perhaps only to a Collins fan like myself. Nothing against Spillane, but Collins is simply a more literate writer. He uses more complex sentences and includes more information in them. (This probably comes from his extensive comics work, having to put as much story as possible in those little boxes.) But he retains the tone of the rest of the book (as well as Spillane's signature knockout ending), so it hardly affects the book's impact, and the average reader probably won't notice the difference.
In fact, there's very little at all wrong with Dead Street. The atomic bomb subplot feels a bit dated (even when you consider that the book took ten years to write), but one doesn't really expect a Mickey Spillane novel to be grounded in the present day. Even though he is writing about the last quarter of the twentieth century, it's the 1950s all over again. Whether writing about Mike Hammer or Jack Stang (incidentally, the name of one of Spillane's best friends), his stripped-down prose harks back to the great old days of classic crime fiction -- and that's always a trip worth taking.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Classic Spillane, 2008-01-27
Despite the plot holes and technical flaws (NYPD cops carrying .45s, etc.), this is Mickey at his best. The plot harkens back to his vintage red-scare stories, with plenty of violence, only one hot babe (hey, the hero's in his 50s), and New York City as a major character.
There's only a fdew of these new Spillane's left. I for one will savor them all.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Vintage late Mickey, 2008-01-07
Here's a detective novel which was about 3/4 complete at the time of Mickey's death, and which has been finished by Max Allan Collins. The joining of the Mickey and the Max material is fairly seamless, and I had to go back and look for it after reading past it.
A retired New York City cop is still brooding over the kidnapping and death of his girlfriend 20 years before, when he suddenly learns she is still alive, but blind and with no memory whatsoever of her life before the kidnapping. This sets off a complex plot, which turns out to center in more ways than one on a "dead street," which is being cleared of all its existing structures--- many of which have important history touching on the life and career of the main character--- so that Saudi investors can build a hive of yuppie lofts.
The action swaps back and forth between a gated retirement community in Florida, inhabited mainly by ex-cops, and the mean streets of New York. As usual in the Mickster's work, the plot takes many twists and turns, and Collins manages to tie all the loose strands together fairly well at the bloody climax.
There are some echoes of previous Spillane novels here and there, but by and large the old master still had it when he wrote this, his final non-Hammer crime novel. Enjoy.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
He's still got it! , 2008-01-04
Mickey Spillane is what every writer of hardboiled mysteries aspire to become. "Dead Street" is one of the best of the Hard Case Crime series and a good place to start if you haven't tried one yet. It really doesn't get any better than this. A great set of characters, a taut plot and easy reading that can be done in a few sittings and a very satisfying story all around.
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