01/15/2018
At the start of this final novel by MWA Grand Master Spillane (1918–2006), prepared for publication by Spillane expert Max Allan Collins, pilot Joe Gillian makes a forced landing in his vintage plane somewhere in “John Wayne country.” Joe soon encounters Sequoia Pete, a Native American whose horse has tossed and deserted him. They join forces to trek the grueling 50 miles across the desert back to the rez, noshing on a rattlesnake along the way. When Joe happens upon an arrowhead made of an unknown substance, Pete identifies it as an ancient rarity. This find looms large as the plot expands to include FBI agents and ruthless gangsters. Once on the rez, they’re greeted by Pete’s beauteous sister, Running Fox. A lengthy build-up to the book’s action set piece—a mano-a-mano battle between Joe and Big Arms, an enormous brute who intends to obliterate him because he’s wooing Running Fox—has a satisfying payoff with a rather touching aftermath. More adventure yarn than mystery, this is a worthy coda to Spillane’s remarkable career in his centennial year. (Mar.)

A hell of a way to wrap up a legendary writing career.”— Booklist
 
“Spillane hot and cool…bookends his storied career.”— Kirkus
 
“A satisfying payoff with a rather touching aftermath…a worthy coda to Spillane’s remarkable career in his centennial year." — Publishers Weekly
 
"Tremendous fun" - Atomic Junkshop

“will appeal to any fan of Michael Crichton” - borg.com


"An entertaining adventure....The adventure takes a lot of unexpected turns and Spillane weaves in a lot of threads in just a couple hundred pages, but that’s all part and parcel of Spillane’s brilliance. Combined with his trademark sharp dialogue and simple prose style, he keeps the tale moving at an entertaining clip. " Killer Nashville (Book of the Day)

"An absolute 'must read' for all dedicated mystery buffs and the legions of Mickey Spillane fans" Midwest Book Review

"THE LAST STAND may result in a radical re-evaluation of Spillane evolution as an author, especially for those who felt he had nothing more to offer than the primitive, hard-hitting stories of Mike Hammer. For this reason, as well as discovering these two works for the first time, THE LAST STAND is a valuable contribution to the Spillane canon and highly recommended to both Spillane’s longtime fans and those who know him solely as the creator of Mike Hammer. " - Bookgasm

2017-12-24
Legendary pulpmeister Spillane's final completed novel and a novella from half a century earlier are published for the first time to mark the centenary of the author's birth.In his Introduction, Max Allan Collins, the frequent collaborator of Spillane's later years, notes the bedrock importance of revenge to the author's most characteristic work. That's an acute observation about A Bullet for Satisfaction, presumably written in the early 1950s, in which Homicide Capt. Rod Dexter, kicked off both the investigation into political kingpin Mayes Rogers' murder and the Gantsville police force when he accuses District Attorney Frank Graham of being a rotten apple, goes into Mike Hammer mode, cleansing Gantsville by summary violence. But it's much less true of The Last Stand, a far less action-driven and even (gasp!) meditative tale in which pilot Joe Gillian, stranded in God's country when his ancient airplane conks out, bonds with Sequoia Pete and his Native American community over an arrowhead Joe's found that seems to be a source of limitless energy. His plane fixed by Pete's predictably beautiful sister, Running Fox, who just happens to have an engineering degree, Joe's about to return to what passes for civilization when he spots something from the air that makes him turn back and plunges him—well, dips him gently—into a tussle over the treasure sought for years by old Miner Moe. Not even the involvement of the FBI and Joe's conflict with Big Arms, a battler who correctly reads Joe as a rival for Running Fox's affections, can turn up the heat on this surprisingly tranquil valedictory.Spillane hot and cool, standard-issue and contemplative: a volume that bookends his storied career even more appropriately than the recent collection A Long Time Dead (2016).