4/5

The last Mike Hammer novel at least chronologically. I couldn’t tell where Mikey Spillane started and Max Allan Collins finished. Mike Hammer post 9/11 is something for sure. Max Allan Collins is one of my all time favorites. If you like this kind of stuff check out his Nathan Heller series! ( )

I had seen too many nights like this on streets like these. There is an atmosphere that goes along with it, like smelling smoke from a fire a long way off. There was nothing you could put your finger on, but the years of living under the shadow of violence gave me an alertness I never tried to shrug off. Something was going to happen.

The Goliath Bone is Spillane's 26th Book, released posthumously in 2008, after being completed for publication by Max Allan Collins. Spillane began writing his Mike Hammer novels in 1947 and, surprisingly, was one of the top American fiction sellers of all time. His novels, which were panned by critics in the forties and fifties because of their violence, are top-notch crime novels and are often not recognized for the quality work that they represent. Before his death, Spillane left instructions for his friend, Collins, to finish his unfinished work and Goliath Bone was the first of these to be published.
It's the same Mike Hammer in this book, tough as nails, uncompromising. His good buddy, Pat, the homicide chief, is here too. And, of course, Velda, is prominently featured. Velda started off in the series as Hammer's secretary and former CIA operative. His romance with her is one of the longest running affairs in all of literature and, as this book begins, they finally have plans to get married. Hammer's fascination with Velda is obvious in every description of her, from how she gets out of a taxi to how she walks into a room.

This book is a post 9/11 book and, appropriately, Hammer's enemies are not the mob, but international terrorists, particularly Al-Queda and, throughout the book, there are numerous references to what is now missing from the New York skyline and what the stakes are when dealing with this foe.

Hammer, as usual, stumbles his way into the case that is at the heart of this story. He sees two young kids exiting a taxi with a large package and a suspicious man following them. Entering the subway station, Hammer shoots the gun out of the man's hand and the man tumbles down the stairs to his death. Taking the two kids under his wing, Hammer learns that they have discovered nothing less than the thigh bone of Goliath, that is, the Goliath that King David slew in the Bible. Hammer quickly realizes that such a relic is valuable to everyone in the Middle East as the modern-day Philistines will be out to wreak revenge on those who slew their hero and the Israelis will celebrate a great historic victory. But, Hammer will have his hands full trying to keep these two kids alive.
The premise is a bit hokey, but Spillane manages to make it work and an aging, but still fearless Mike Hammer does battle in the modern world.
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My first Mike Hammer read. It was the last of the series and it was co wrote. I can see the possibilities but the politics of th emiddle east has no place in American noir. I'll try one from the 1940's when he was pre-Jehovah's. ( )

I read my first Mike Hammer novel when I was about 10, so after 40 years, it was fun reading this one. Congrats to Collins for finishing it up so well. It was typical of the others, possibly a little better done. Some of the obvious plot devices were a bit smoother & subtler. It's Mike Hammer, so neither adjective fits too well. It was fun, though.

If you've never read a Mike Hammer novel, don't start with this one. [b:I, the Jury|823561|I, the Jury|Mickey Spillane|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1194641531s/823561.jpg|980371] is definitely the place to start. Here's the list & I believe the chronology runs pretty much in line with the publication dates.

1. I, the Jury (1947)
2. My Gun Is Quick (1950)
3. Vengeance Is Mine (1950)
4. One Lonely Night (1951)
5. The Big Kill (1951)
6. Kiss Me Deadly (1952)
7. The Girl Hunters (1962)
8. The Snake (1964)
9. The Twisted Thing (1966)
10. The Body Lovers (1967)
11. Survival... Zero (1970)
12. The Killing Man (1989)
13. Black Alley (1996)
14. The Goliath Bone (2008) (with Max Allan Collins)
15. King of the Weeds (2009) (with Max Allan Collins)
16. The Big Bang (2010) (with Max Allan Collins) ( )