The Girl Hunters

by Mickey Spillane

Book Overview

Reissued to coincide with the publication of Mickey Spillane's twelfth Mike Hammer novel, "The Killing Man", the first for 20 years. In this book Hammer's secretary, Velda, has been missing for seven... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451063953
• ISBN13: 9780451063953
• Release Date: March 1963
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 189 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Guilty pleasure.

Mike Hammer, Mickey Spillane's street-wise private-eye, has been on a seven-year drunk. His perennial girlfriend and licensed P.I. office assistant, Velda, died on a bodyguard job that Mike should have handled himself. Hammer sobers up very fast when a dying secret agent tells him that Velda is still alive, but in danger. In this throwback to the Cold War, Hammer embarks on another case of murder, mayhem, and espionage. On a rainy night, the girl hunters prowl. When Hammer encounters the dread assassin known as "The Dragon," he strikes both tooth and nail. Mickey Spillane's writing is something less than literary, but the fast pace holds the attention. In this era of veritable tomes by Tom Clancy, etc., Spillane's succinct mystery adventure novels (i.e., less than 200 pages) are a quick hit of gutter tough action. Mike Hammer boldly proclaims his rightwing political beliefs at the business end of his rod, a .45 Colt automatic. A running theme in the writings of Mickey Spillane is the aggressive and violent pursuit of "commie slobs." Bureaucrats and politicians who coddle nefarious elements should beware the day of the guns. To his credit, Spillane does an effective job of capturing the essence of the underside of New York City, both its stenches and forbidden delights. His first-person narrative features slang and jargon of 40 years ago. We imagine that Hammer's lifestyle of cigarettes (deck of Luckies), beer (Blue Ribbon), and unprotected sex (every sex kitten in sight) causes fear and trembling in the politically correct crowd. Hammer's unbridled male chauvinism is another amusing relic of a bygone era. Published in 1963, this book is typical of the second phase of Spillane's productive years as a novelist, after his first spectacular burst of popularity in the early '50s. Enjoy the action. ;-)