A story of a cop shoved off the force for being set up years ago,
then
brought back once a bizarre series of gangland slayings has started.
Gill Burke is the framed cop pulled back into action to figure out the
mess. The killings grow more bizarre and it seems that different people
are committing them, even though the were all top-echelon mobsters. This
causes friction within the mob itself with everyone thinking that one
of their own is behind the operation. Four of them are introduced with, each with his own agenda, including Papa Menes, an old-time mob
guy who thinks he has it figured out, and Marc Selby, an up-and-comer
who has his own theories and is relishing in them. The other two are
more of the enforcer types who meet an end that one would not wish on anyone.
Be forewarned: There is a lot of killing that will make everyone cringe. It’s told so graphically as one should get the shivers just
thinking about it. While all this is going on, Burke is reinvestigating the case for which
he was framed. It seems there is a connection between it all.
Printing History
Written by Mickey Spillane (1918-2006)
New American Library
Signet Books
Hardcover
ISBN 525 14353
January 1973
Trivia
Mickey's wife Sherri posed for the cover
Scott - Haven't read Spillane's non-Hammer stuff. Interesting you chose one of them. And of course, what a cover!
ReplyDeleteI've always believed that Spillane's two "dirty" books, "The Last Cop Out" and "The Erection Set" featuring Dogeron Kelly, were his two best novels after the first 6 Hammer novels from 1947-1952. Dog Kelly is one of the meanest "good guy" SOB that I ever ran across in a novel.
ReplyDeleteI have not read Mickey Spillane but keep telling myself that I will someday. I love that piece of trivia, and it is a pretty cool cover.
ReplyDelete