Mickey Spillane developed a clean, uncomplicated — at times even telegraphic — writing style which serves well to convey the direct action of the Mike Hammer books. Unlike some other writers in the hard-boiled tradition, Spillane avoids almost all description to set mood. For example, it is often raining in the city as Mike chases down the evil doers, but Spillane dispenses with lengthy and evocative prose passages describing the dark, wet streets. Sometimes he merely notes that it is raining, or still raining. I, the Jury simply begins with Mike shaking the rain from his hat as he enters the room. This does not mean that Mickey Spillane is incapable of writing moodsetting paragraphs, and on the rare occasion when he does, they often border on the poetic. The opening of The Big Kill (1951), the fifth Mike Hammer book, begins with this: "It was one of those...