Hammer, Mike, is a brawling, hard-boiled private detective featured in novels by the American writer Mickey Spillane (see Hard-boiled fiction). When first published, the novels created considerable controversy because of their emphasis on explicit violence and sex. Many critics claim that the Mike Hammer novels have no literary merit, relying on sensationalism for their appeal. But the stories have been popular with readers, and the character has been featured in television series and in motion pictures.
Spillane wrote the Mike Hammer novels in a blunt prose style, with the detective as narrator. Hammer pursues criminals and Communists with a savagery driven by his hate of what he sees as injustice that has evaded the law. He wears a tan trench coat and a hat drawn low over his forehead and always carries a revolver. In spite of Hammer’s brutality, beautiful women find him attractive.
Spillane introduced Mike Hammer in the novel I, the Jury (1947). Hammer appeared in 12 more Spillane novels: Vengeance Is Mine! (1950), My Gun Is Quick (1950), One Lonely Night (1951), The Big Kill (1951), Kiss Me, Deadly (1952), The Girl Hunters (1962), The Snake (1964), The Twisted Thing (1966), The Body Lovers (1967), Survival…Zero! (1970), The Killing Man (1989), and Black Alley (1996).
