Skin is a short story. If you are new to the Mike Hammer world, this is a good place to start. It's one of the manuscripts that Max Allan Collins found among Spillane's effects. Collins was Spillane's designated literary executor. What I like about Spillane's writing is that there's little wasted effort on unimportant descriptions. His work is easy to read and full of action. Mike Hammer is Spillane's most famous creation and he's the toughest hardboiled detective you'll ever meet. Generally, he leaves a trail of bodies as he pushes through to mete out justice like a vigilante. He has a decades-long engagement to his secretary Velda, who can still turn heads at fifty. His pal, Captain Chambers, is often featured as well in Spillane's stories. Here, we have an aging Hammer who spots a human hand and a pile of raw flesh by the roadside. Of course, a hot tv anchor pulls up and starts interviewing Hammer as her young cameraman pukes at the sight if the remains. Later, Hammer finds that The hand belongs to a famous producer.
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Private Investigator Mike Hammer may be getting older, but he hasn’t lost his step. So when he spots a brutally destroyed corpse on the side of the road in upstate New York, unrecognizable as human except for the disembodied hand lying next to it, there’s no question of him not taking the case. Especially when Melodie Anderson, the stunning young reporter determined to investigate, goes missing. But as Mike sifts through Melodie’s leads in a race to find her before it’s too late, he discovers a murder method more horrible than anything he’s ever come across… and one that neither he nor Melodie may be able to escape. (Summary provided by www.NetGalley.com)



This is a short story that has Mike Hammer in the middle of an investigation. He does a great job solving the case, as usual. Although I had some idea of how the book was going to end, it was great to read another Hammer story from the late Mickey Spillane. I’m glad that Max Allan Collins has come along to complete and finalize some of these great Mike Hammer stories.



I loved how Hammer deduces the clues before him. He knows how to look at everything around him and find out who the suspect is and apprehend him. I loved the suspense built up in the book even though it was a short story. The authors were able to write a suspenseful and well written story in just a few words. My only critique is that I would have loved to have a longer story because I love Hammer and his cases.



(Kindle Book; Provided by NetGalley; Read August 2012; Thank you to Penguin Group-USA for the opportunity to read and review this book.) ( )