Yes, Mike Hammer is back, and in deeper trouble and darker danger than ever before. He has the gunning down of an old army buddy to pay back with interest. He has two generations of the most powerful family in the Mafia to beat at their own gory games. He has a missing chunk of vital memory blown out of his head by a bullet in his guts.

And above all, he has a missing cache of $89 billion to find in a slick maze of false clues, phony stories, brutal betrayals, and deadly twists and turns, before the bad guys get their hands on it and their sights on him. And to complicate matters, the Feds have dealt themselves into the game, eager to beat everybody else to the loot.

1. On his side, against this awesome array of evil, he has only his beautiful, loving, and when necessary lethal secretary, Velda. Plus a pair of rock-hard fists. And his old reliable companion, his well-oiled .45. Yes, Mike Hammer is definitely back with the kind of action and excitement that only he delivers. Which is another way of saying that fans of the greatest of hard-knuckled heroes are once again in the hands of the grand master, Mickey Spillane, at the very top of his form.