Pick Up A Pulp [63]: THE LAST STAND by Mickey Spillane

The Last Stand (2018, Hard Case Crime) features two standalone novellas by Mickey Spillane unrelated to his Mike Hammer series of which he's better known for; A BULLET FOR SATISFACTION and THE LAST STAND. 

The fact that these two novellas remained unpublished whilst Spillane was alive, only to be brought to print posthumously thanks to Max Allan Collins, says something about the quality of these stories... (unlike some of the recent Hammer books, these two just don't stack-up)

Firstly, A BULLET FOR SATISFACTION is a hardboiled mess of pulp, private eye, and police procedural. The story features a disgruntled, lone-wolf cop who makes the ladies swoon every time he takes a breath, and kills without compassion; Rod Dexter could easily be a Mike Hammer in poor mans clothing. 

The plot centers around a murdered politician with suspicious links to the syndicate. When Dexter looses his badge thanks to this case, he knows the fix is in. The only way he can right the wrong done to him and the murdered politician is by putting bullets in as many bad guys as he can, and bed as many wanton women as he can... 

Despite a couple of hardboiled classic Spillane scenes, A BULLET FOR SATISFACTION was bland and underwhelming; I couldn't connect with the story and the plot never felt plausible. 

THE LAST STAND is a comedy western of sorts with an equally head scratcher of a plot... why this even got published is a mystery to me. 

The plot is pure high school; grown men fighting for the attentions of a women who is happy to go with whichever beats the other to a pulp. 

Lurking in the background are FBI agents on the hunt for a source of power which could turn the weapons race on its head, an Indian who lives off the trinkets discarded by others, and a shaman of sorts who can predict the future (at least by way of guessing the victor of brawls). 

I couldn't find a single redeeming thing to save this novella. 

In summary, the cover art by Laurel Blechman is the best thing about this book. One for the die hard Spillane / Hard Case Crime collectors only.