Something's Down There : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A superior effort from an acknowledged master.
Review: After leaving "the Company," Mako Hooker retired to the remote Caribbean island of Peolle, where he spends his days fishing aboard his boat, the Clamdip. His brief idyll ends when something starts attacking and sinking boats in the region, part of the mysterious Bermuda Triangle. The locals blame a sea creature, dubbing it "the Eater." Although Mako's seen the damage wreaked first hand, he hasn't come to any conclusion regarding the attacks.

The attacks draw the attention of the Company, and, before you can say "intrigue", Hooker is once again forced to rely on skills and instincts he happily suppressed upon retiring from the spy game. Trying to uncover the source of the mayhem, his investigations are complicated by the presence of aggressive Company operatives, an opportunistic Hollywood film crew, and a budding romance with a sultry heiress.

A successful author for over half a century now, Spillane still knows how to grab and hold a reader's attention--at eighty-five, his story telling skills remain undiminished. Sure, a few anachronisms creep in, and Mako is little more than a Mike Hammer/Tiger Mann hybrid, but those quibbles are easily ignored considering the story's brisk pacing, non stop action and colorful characters. In the final analysis, the book delivers all we've come to expect from a Mickey Spillane novel over the decades--plentiful action, riveting suspense, and a competent, tough hero who can take whatever his enemies have to throw at him. An explosive tale of intrigue and espionage, loyalty and betrayal, Something's Down There is a superior effort from an acknowledged master of mystery and suspense.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but flawed story
Review: Aging cold warrior Mako Hooker has retired to the islands where he fishes and doesn't do much else. But rumors of a boat killer are starting to mount and the Company,' anxious to pick up political favors, sends a team into the area to find out whether the long extinct mega-shark has emerged. Because Mako has seen the six-inch broad bite marks that the killer has left. Along with the Company team, a cruise ship filled with millionaires and a Hollywood filming team are in the area.

Mako's friend and boat captain pushes Maco into a relationship with be beautiful millionaire Judy (a.k.a. 'Doll'). That is the good news. The bad news is that the woman on the Company team is gunning for a chance to kill Maco and one of the Hollywood men is a Mafiosa. The Mafiosa may be playing legitimate now, but Mako knows that it's only a matter of time before he decides to go for illegal profits. A number of suspicious deaths in his past make Mako even more suspicious.

Author Mickey Spillane has been writing hard-boiled action for more than half a century and he can still turn out captivating action. Still, SOMETHING'S DOWN THERE didn't seem quite put together. I wasn't clear why the Mafiosa had to be there and what illegal objective he was seeking that even a legitimate Hollywood manager (if there is such a thing) wouldn't be doing. The boat-killer is an intriguing concept but was perhaps too easy to guess and its final resolution seemed unsatisfactory to me. And the relationship between Mako and Judy seemed just a little too sexist for me to buy into. Finally, Spillane's characters occasionally date themselves, talking about World War II as if it was a recent event and as if veterans of that war were still active in espionage.

SOMETHING'S DOWN THERE is flawed, but it is still interesting and occasionally compelling. Spillane maintains a way with words even in a story that is not his best.

Rating:
Summary: Well-Plotted Suspense!!!!!
Review: Forget that Mickey Spillane wrote this novel, and forget that you have ever read about Mike Hammer . . . because this is not a Mike Hammer story. If you are willing to do those things, you have an enjoyable story ahead of you.

Many people forget or never knew that Mickey Spillane helped write Captain Marvel and Captain America comic books before launching his Mike Hammer books. To me, Something's Down There harkens back to those origins.

Mako Hooker is a retired lethal operative for the Company. Now he spends his days kicking back on his vintage fishing boat and trying to keep his mate, Billy Bright, from calling him "Suh." They fish to eat what they catch, and generally enjoy a Miller Lite or two as they do. Billy's gradually introducing Mako to the delights of island cuisine in the process.

This tranquility is broken when many local fishing boats are sunk by something large that "eats" through the bottom of their hulls. Life gets even more complicated when former colleagues from the Company arrive to find out more about what's going on. Chana Sterling in particular is not welcome, having once shot Mako. Then, leftover mines start showing up on the beach.

But there's a positive side. Billy's helped arrange for Mako to meet a beautiful heiress, Judy Durant, and Mako's soon smitten. But Judy comes with complications too. Her father was killed mysteriously, and her father's former partners run the family businesses without any say-so from her. One of the CEOs is a man Mako recognizes as a Brooklyn mobster, Tony Pallatzo, who Mako knows to be a bad guy. Mako's soon watching his back.

One of the great parts of the story is that the suspense builds remarkably as more and more discoveries are made about the "eater." You'll find yourself gripped by the suspense as you wonder about the "eater" and what will happen next. I cannot remember another book about the sea with this much suspense since Jaws.

The book does have some weaknesses though. Mr. Spillane makes too rapid transitions within and into new scenes from time to time, and I found myself having to reread sections to figure out what was going on. In other places, he spends a little too much time having the Company people flex their bureaucratic muscles for one another.

The plot itself is a refreshing and interesting one with twists that I didn't expect. If I were only rating the book on the plot, I would have given the story five stars.

I hope that Mr. Spillane will give us more of Mako and Billy in the future. He's got a winner here!