Review - The Will to Kill

One of the advantages of the cold snap that hit Detroit last week is that it provided me with an incentive to stay indoors and catch up on all of the books that I've been meaning to read. This included Erle Stanley Gardner's Turn on the Heat, which I reviewed last week, as well as The Will to Kill by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins.

The Will to Kill is one of the last Mike Hammer novels that were left unfinished when Mickey Spillane passed in 2006 at the age of 88. Before he left us, Spillane designated Max Allan Collins as the author that he wanted to finish his projects.

The Will to Kill begins with iconic private detective Mike Hammer taking a midnight stroll along the Hudson River. He pensive moment, though, was interrupted when he discovers a partial corpse on an ice flow.

The body, we soon learn, is that of a butler who spent the last years of his life working for a millionaire - now also deceased - and his notoriously privileged children.

Were both master and servant murdered? Mike Hammer's friend Captain Pat Chambers of the New York City Police Department thinks so. However, to prove it Hammer must travel upstate to investigate the dead man's family, all of whom have a motive for murder.

Like all Mike Hammer mystery novels, there are a number of twists and turns in every chapter - perfect to keep the reader exciting and guessing. More importantly, the story comes across with the same gritty eloquence from Collins' pen that millions of fans came to love from Spillane.

The Will to Kill is a wonderful detective story that is a joy to read. It is currently available in hardcover at finer bookstores and for the Kindle. It will be available as a paperback from Titan Books on February 27. The paperback can be pre-ordered by clicking here.

Please come next week when I will have a review of Help, I am being held prisoner by Donald E. Westlake.