The bestselling American mystery writer of all time brings back his world-famous PI Mike Hammer for his biggest—and most dangerous—case.
In the midst of a Manhattan snowstorm, Hammer halts the violent robbery of a pair of college sweethearts who have stumbled onto a remarkable archaeological find in the Valley of Elah: the perfectly preserved femur of what may have been the biblical giant Goliath. Hammer postpones his marriage to his faithful girl Friday, Velda, to fight a foe deadlier than the mobsters and KGB agents of his past—Islamic terrorists and Israeli extremists bent upon recovering the relic for their own agendas. A week before his death, Mickey Spillane entrusted a substantial portion of this manuscript and extensive notes to his frequent collaborator, Max Allan Collins, to complete. The result is a thriller as classic as Spillane’s own I, the Jury, as compelling as Collins’s Road to Perdition, and as contemporary as The Da Vinci Code.
Almost vintage Spillane Max Allen Collins has done a good job in finishing this novel. I have no issue with Mike Hammer growing old. Everyone grows old.
The plot of the book is sufficient and I'm glad I spent the money. There are a few inconsistencies and a few mannerisms that Spillane never would have used. For example, there are just a few too many adjectives in certain areas where Spillane would have let you fill in the blanks yourself. There was also a scene where Hammer jacks a round into the chamber of his .45... except Hammer always carried with one up the pipe and the hammer on half-cock (which is dangerous and stupid, but we won't go there).
Overall a fun, fast read and if you haven't reread everything Spillane has written five times like I have, you won't notice the small errors.
Classic Hammer There is NOTHING bigger than Goliath-Mike Hammer
Mickey Spilliane's last Mike Hammer novel was left uncomplete at the time of his death. Noted mystery author Max Allen Collins finished up this novel and we should all be beholding.
Two young adults find a bone belonging to Goliath of biblical days. It brings out many factions to get this bone back. Hammer gets involved protecting these young people and get in the middle of a hot bed of a mystery
What we have here is Mike Hammer's final case. Hammer shows his age, rather than being eternally young as he has been in the series of novels . He admits to wanting to retire with Velda. Spilliane's usually body count is lessen in this novel. He meshes modern day information with pulp sense of nostalgia. This is a modern mystery with old sense pulp novel earmark.
Under the audio hand of Stacy Keach (yes TV's Mike Hammer himself) , this capture the characters and well as a great story. Keach who is so familar as Hammer, a role he has played on and off for 20 years, that this text is more like comfort food for a mystery fan.
There are a few vocal slips, by on the whole... This is an audio treat for mystery fans and Hammer fans alike.
I wish the good people at Simon and Schuster audio would re-release the older Mike Hammer's audios read by Keach
Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD
Not firing-on-all-cylinders Hammer, but not bad Where's the showmanship? A much better title for this novel would have been "Goliath!" instead of the just okay "The Goliath Bone". And that's really the problem with the novel, too: it's just okay. Not horrible by any means, but not great, either. Sequences at the beginning and end are laced with the trademark Mike Hammer suspense and violence (though the book's final sequence hinges on a million-to-one-shot piece of luck instead of Hammer's skill), but the middle section kind of meanders.
Did co-writer Max Allan Collins (who finished this book working from Mr. Spillane's notes and unfinished manuscript) resist sharpening things up with his own plotting contributions, preferring instead to give us a book that was as much of a purely Spillane story as possible? Perhaps. And, if so, maybe that was the right thing to do.
Other quick pros and cons? The pros include a couple of sexy scenes and lots of Mr. Hammer's general appreciation of the fairer sex ("respectful leering" is a good way to describe it). There's a nice sense of place as Mr. Hammer moves around New York City during the course of the case. And I liked the fascinating discussions between Hammer and Homicide Chief Pat Chambers about life in a post 9/11 world. Cons? Besides some of the slow pacing, there's way too much discussion of how old Hammer, Velda, and Pat are, how they aren't what they used to be, etc. It's gratifying that Spillane and Collins don't want to ignore the fact that Hammer has been at the game since the 1940's, but it became hard to suspend disbelief when we were constantly reminded that Hammer should be in a wheelchair by now!
Final verdict? In the end, if you like Mickey Spillane and Mike Hammer, there's no reason not to pick this up. Temper your expectations and you'll likely find "The Goliath Bone" entertaining enough.
Looking For the Femur Bone of Goliath Unlike many of the posthumous books lately, The Goliath Bone is actually based on a manuscript started by Spillane, and given by him to Collins, who had written several books with Spillane. Bringing back Mike Hammer, this novel is an updated version, leaving the Mob and KGB behind, and moving Hammer to a post 9/11 New York City. Helping a couple from a violent mugging, Hammer finds himself protecting them from Islamic terrorists and Israelis, both seeking what is suspected to be the femur of the biblical Goliath. While it carries the same feel of the original Hammer stories, it is off setting when you consider his start in 1947, and try to reconcile it with the passage of 60 years. Much like reading the James Bond novels, you suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the ride.
Hammer in a post-9/11 world "Do we need an attorney, Mr. Hammer?" "No," I said. "You need me."
Mike Hammer is back! Twelve years after his last appearance in print (1996's Black Alley), America's best-selling private detective adapts to a post-9/11 world, complete with Islamic terrorists on his tail.
The Goliath Bone is the 14th in the long-running series that has spanned over 60 years. Mickey Spillane was never what you would call a prolific writer. Probably because he didn't write because he had to write: he only wrote when he needed money. Thus, for there to be years, even decades, between books was not unexpected. In fact, the 12 years since the last entry doesn't seem quite so long when you consider the nearly 20 that passed between #11 (Survival ... Zero!, 1970) and #12 (The Killing Man, 1989).
A little backstory: After Spillane's death in 2006, his friend and sometime collaborator Max Allan Collins (still the most vocal supporter of Spillane's influence on the crime genre) was given the task of finishing some of the incomplete works found in Spillane's files, with the most excitement focusing on a handful of unfinished Mike Hammer novels.
Though a standalone novel called Dead Street was published by Hard Case Crime under Spillane's sole byline, a Mike Hammer novel called The Goliath Bone was actually closer to completion when Spillane died. The job required Collins to do a combination of editing and writing throughout, getting his fingerprints, so to speak, all over the book.
Therefore, Collins's influence is felt throughout The Goliath Bone, where in Dead Street it was mainly in the final three chapters. Collins does a masterful job at matching Spillane's terse style, but his own more literary tendencies are likely to be noticed by a Collins devotee (such as myself).
The story is a little odd by usual Hammer standards. Two stepsibling grad students (the children of Nobel Prize candidates) possess a valuable artifact presumed to be the femur bone of Philistine giant Goliath ("that champ who went down for the count with an underdog's creek rock in his forehead") wrapped in brown paper. On their way down the subway stairs, someone tries to kill them, and Hammer (who just happened to be exiting a nearby bar when his Spidey-sense tingled) steps in just in time, making himself their bodyguard in the process.
Unfortunately, this new case comes at a very inconvenient time. Hammer and his long-time secretary/girlfriend Velda were just about to head off to Las Vegas and get married, and this puts that off for a little longer. But Velda knows who she's dealing with, and so doesn't put up much of a fuss, offering her own exemplary mental and armamentary services in addition.
No longer the lone wolf, Hammer is surrounded by the other characters for much of The Goliath Bone. The modern Mike Hammer is a man in love: he holds hands with Velda often and discusses the options with her, respecting her input. This is the Hammer of the 21st century, a man who doesn't live in the past, though he certainly talks about it a lot ("I was in all the papers").
Readers used to the tight pacing of the classic Spillane novels will notice instantly that The Goliath Bone has a great deal of talk in it. The exposition -- including lengthy discussions on the history and origins of the bone, the intentions of the different factions concerned (handled with some degree of sensitivity), life in a post-9/11 world, and especially far too much of "here's what might happen and here's what we're going to do about it" -- takes up over a third of the novel. But once it gets going, the book offers international intrigue on the level of Eric Ambler and John LeCarré.
More Hammer novels are slated for the next few years, but The Goliath Bone is meant to be the last chronologically in the Hammer "timeline" (much like Collins's own Quarry series "ended" with 2006's The Last Quarry, with The First Quarry coming two years later). With a final-chapter reference that ties back to I, the Jury, the series comes full circle in a satisfying way.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
