The Last Stand

The Last Stand from Mickey Spillane, with the assistance here of award-winning mystery writer in his own right Max Allan Collins, contains the final completed novel from Spillane (2016) and an unpublished novella from earlier in his career, A Bullet for Satisfaction. Collins also includes an introduction that puts these additions to Spillane’s oeuvre and the famous author (1918-2006) in context. More stories are in the works from Spillane, who was for a time the most widely read author in the world. Spillane also was an actor and was in the public eye for other things as well.

Collins explains in the introduction that his famous detective Mike Hammer, who made it to the movies, was motivated by revenge. Spillane was also controversial because there were some explicit sex and gratuitous violence in his work. It sure does make for exciting reading, even now if we are blase about such things.

These two stories are a birthday present for his centennial. The Last Stand with detective Joe Gillian, told in third person, is set on an Indian reservation with some very valuable geology and dangerous players. One hears from detective Rod Dexter in A Bullet for Satisfaction in this family murder mystery. These authors will still be helping us with the bad guys for a long time still.