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Something's Down There: A Novel
The master of hard-boiled detective fiction is back -- and better than ever -- with Something's Down There, a blade-sharp thriller set among the islands of the Caribbean.
To the casual observer, Mako Hooker looks like any other grizzled fishing-boat captain trawling the Bermuda Triangle. He's content with his nets in the water and a beer in the cooler, but he's hardly your typical fisherman. Hooker is in fact a retired government operative taking a much-needed respite from his highly secret, highly lethal career in the States. But when local fishermen begin to fall prey to a mysterious sea creature the islanders dub "the eater," he discovers the truth in that old saw about the spy You're not retired from the Company until you're dead.
Is the monster a prehistoric beast rising from the depths? Or mines from a sunken WWII destroyer, only now shaken loose by the U.S. Navy's depth charges? Or the work of someone with an agenda even more deeply undercover than Hooker's?
Hooker quietly begins to investigate with the help of his unwitting fishing partner, Billy Bright; a local movie heiress, the seductive Judy Durant; and Hooker's old nemesis, Chana Sterling. The Company sent her as backup, but Hooker doesn't trust power-hungry government agents too far -- especially Chana, who once put a bullet in him for no good reason. As more boats are mauled and the islanders begin to panic, the action heats up and the players a Hollywood film company arrives on the scene, eager to turn live footage of "the eater" into box-office payoff, and the heavyweight film executive in charge looks suspiciously like Tony Pallatzo, a Brooklyn mobster from Hooker's violent past. As he moves steadily closer to the truth, Hooker realizes that someone (or something) is plotting to stop him, and only his rusty instincts will save him this time.
A riveting story of criminal intrigue, greed, romance, and the mysteries of the deep, Something's Down There showcases Mickey Spillane at his best.
To the casual observer, Mako Hooker looks like any other grizzled fishing-boat captain trawling the Bermuda Triangle. He's content with his nets in the water and a beer in the cooler, but he's hardly your typical fisherman. Hooker is in fact a retired government operative taking a much-needed respite from his highly secret, highly lethal career in the States. But when local fishermen begin to fall prey to a mysterious sea creature the islanders dub "the eater," he discovers the truth in that old saw about the spy You're not retired from the Company until you're dead.
Is the monster a prehistoric beast rising from the depths? Or mines from a sunken WWII destroyer, only now shaken loose by the U.S. Navy's depth charges? Or the work of someone with an agenda even more deeply undercover than Hooker's?
Hooker quietly begins to investigate with the help of his unwitting fishing partner, Billy Bright; a local movie heiress, the seductive Judy Durant; and Hooker's old nemesis, Chana Sterling. The Company sent her as backup, but Hooker doesn't trust power-hungry government agents too far -- especially Chana, who once put a bullet in him for no good reason. As more boats are mauled and the islanders begin to panic, the action heats up and the players a Hollywood film company arrives on the scene, eager to turn live footage of "the eater" into box-office payoff, and the heavyweight film executive in charge looks suspiciously like Tony Pallatzo, a Brooklyn mobster from Hooker's violent past. As he moves steadily closer to the truth, Hooker realizes that someone (or something) is plotting to stop him, and only his rusty instincts will save him this time.
A riveting story of criminal intrigue, greed, romance, and the mysteries of the deep, Something's Down There showcases Mickey Spillane at his best.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2003
4 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Mickey Spillane
316 books448 followersMickey Spillane was one of the world's most popular mystery writers. His specialty was tight-fisted, sadistic revenge stories, often featuring his alcoholic gumshoe Mike Hammer and a cast of evildoers who launder money or spout the Communist Party line.
His writing style was characterized by short words, lightning transitions, gruff sex and violent endings. It was once tallied that he offed 58 people in six novels.
Starting with "I, the Jury," in 1947, Mr. Spillane sold hundreds of millions of books during his lifetime and garnered consistently scathing reviews. Even his father, a Brooklyn bartender, called them "crud."
Mr. Spillane was a struggling comic book publisher when he wrote "I, the Jury." He initially envisioned it as a comic book called "Mike Danger," and when that did not go over, he took a week to reconfigure it as a novel.
Even the editor in chief of E.P. Dutton and Co., Mr. Spillane's publisher, was skeptical of the book's literary merit but conceded it would probably be a smash with postwar readers looking for ready action. He was right. The book, in which Hammer pursues a murderous narcotics ring led by a curvaceous female psychiatrist, went on to sell more than 1 million copies.
Mr. Spillane spun out six novels in the next five years, among them "My Gun Is Quick," "The Big Kill," "One Lonely Night" and "Kiss Me, Deadly." Most concerned Hammer, his faithful sidekick, Velda, and the police homicide captain Pat Chambers, who acknowledges that Hammer's style of vigilante justice is often better suited than the law to dispatching criminals.
Mr. Spillane's success rankled other critics, who sometimes became very personal in their reviews. Malcolm Cowley called Mr. Spillane "a homicidal paranoiac," going on to note what he called his misogyny and vigilante tendencies.
His books were translated into many languages, and he proved so popular as a writer that he was able to transfer his thick-necked, barrel-chested personality across many media. With the charisma of a redwood, he played Hammer in "The Girl Hunters," a 1963 film adaptation of his novel.
Spillane also scripted several television shows and films and played a detective in the 1954 suspense film "Ring of Fear," set at a Clyde Beatty circus. He rewrote much of the film, too, refusing payment. In gratitude, the producer, John Wayne, surprised him one morning with a white Jaguar sportster wrapped in a red ribbon. The card read, "Thanks, Duke."
Done initially on a dare from his publisher, Mr. Spillane wrote a children's book, "The Day the Sea Rolled Back" (1979), about two boys who find a shipwreck loaded with treasure. This won a Junior Literary Guild award.
He also wrote another children's novel, "The Ship That Never Was," and then wrote his first Mike Hammer mystery in 20 years with "The Killing Man" (1989). "Black Alley" followed in 1996. In the last, a rapidly aging Hammer comes out of a gunshot-induced coma, then tracks down a friend's murderer and billions in mob loot. For the first time, he also confesses his love for Velda but, because of doctor's orders, cannot consummate the relationship.
Late in life, he received a career achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America and was named a grand master by the Mystery Writers of America.
In his private life, he neither smoked nor drank and was a house-to-house missionary for the Jehovah's Witnesses. He expressed at times great disdain for what he saw as corrosive forces in American life, from antiwar protesters to the United Nations.
His marriages to Mary Ann Pearce and Sherri Malinou ended in divorce. His second wife, a model, posed nude for the dust jacket of his 1972 novel "The Erection Set."
Survivors include his third wife, Jane Rodgers Johnson, a former beauty queen 30 years his junior; and four children from the first marriage.
He also carried on a long epistolary flirtation with Ayn Rand, an admirer of his writing.
His writing style was characterized by short words, lightning transitions, gruff sex and violent endings. It was once tallied that he offed 58 people in six novels.
Starting with "I, the Jury," in 1947, Mr. Spillane sold hundreds of millions of books during his lifetime and garnered consistently scathing reviews. Even his father, a Brooklyn bartender, called them "crud."
Mr. Spillane was a struggling comic book publisher when he wrote "I, the Jury." He initially envisioned it as a comic book called "Mike Danger," and when that did not go over, he took a week to reconfigure it as a novel.
Even the editor in chief of E.P. Dutton and Co., Mr. Spillane's publisher, was skeptical of the book's literary merit but conceded it would probably be a smash with postwar readers looking for ready action. He was right. The book, in which Hammer pursues a murderous narcotics ring led by a curvaceous female psychiatrist, went on to sell more than 1 million copies.
Mr. Spillane spun out six novels in the next five years, among them "My Gun Is Quick," "The Big Kill," "One Lonely Night" and "Kiss Me, Deadly." Most concerned Hammer, his faithful sidekick, Velda, and the police homicide captain Pat Chambers, who acknowledges that Hammer's style of vigilante justice is often better suited than the law to dispatching criminals.
Mr. Spillane's success rankled other critics, who sometimes became very personal in their reviews. Malcolm Cowley called Mr. Spillane "a homicidal paranoiac," going on to note what he called his misogyny and vigilante tendencies.
His books were translated into many languages, and he proved so popular as a writer that he was able to transfer his thick-necked, barrel-chested personality across many media. With the charisma of a redwood, he played Hammer in "The Girl Hunters," a 1963 film adaptation of his novel.
Spillane also scripted several television shows and films and played a detective in the 1954 suspense film "Ring of Fear," set at a Clyde Beatty circus. He rewrote much of the film, too, refusing payment. In gratitude, the producer, John Wayne, surprised him one morning with a white Jaguar sportster wrapped in a red ribbon. The card read, "Thanks, Duke."
Done initially on a dare from his publisher, Mr. Spillane wrote a children's book, "The Day the Sea Rolled Back" (1979), about two boys who find a shipwreck loaded with treasure. This won a Junior Literary Guild award.
He also wrote another children's novel, "The Ship That Never Was," and then wrote his first Mike Hammer mystery in 20 years with "The Killing Man" (1989). "Black Alley" followed in 1996. In the last, a rapidly aging Hammer comes out of a gunshot-induced coma, then tracks down a friend's murderer and billions in mob loot. For the first time, he also confesses his love for Velda but, because of doctor's orders, cannot consummate the relationship.
Late in life, he received a career achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America and was named a grand master by the Mystery Writers of America.
In his private life, he neither smoked nor drank and was a house-to-house missionary for the Jehovah's Witnesses. He expressed at times great disdain for what he saw as corrosive forces in American life, from antiwar protesters to the United Nations.
His marriages to Mary Ann Pearce and Sherri Malinou ended in divorce. His second wife, a model, posed nude for the dust jacket of his 1972 novel "The Erection Set."
Survivors include his third wife, Jane Rodgers Johnson, a former beauty queen 30 years his junior; and four children from the first marriage.
He also carried on a long epistolary flirtation with Ayn Rand, an admirer of his writing.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 3, 2023
basically a mike hammer novel set on the ocean with mike against a giant shark and fun as hell. the hero’s name is even mako hooker (M=mike H=hammer), which i’m guessing is mickey spillane’s way of getting around his bullshit contracts with hollywood and victor saville back then. maybe someone else can clear this up?
either way, mickey’s voice is alive and well here. it’s not as gritty and street-wise as the hammer series, but it’s rather a fun and witty “what if” version of hammer set amongst the sunny oceans and islands of the caribbean. it’s hammer in a summer blockbuster movie a la jaws. don’t take it too seriously and just enjoy mickeys writing.
my next spillane book: dead street.
i shall report back.
either way, mickey’s voice is alive and well here. it’s not as gritty and street-wise as the hammer series, but it’s rather a fun and witty “what if” version of hammer set amongst the sunny oceans and islands of the caribbean. it’s hammer in a summer blockbuster movie a la jaws. don’t take it too seriously and just enjoy mickeys writing.
my next spillane book: dead street.
i shall report back.
March 17, 2023
I've read a few of Spillane's hard-boiled Mike Hammer novels in years gone by. Something's Down There is Spillane's last novel and it doesn't quite compare to his early efforts. In this one, the protagonist, Mako Hooker, is an ex-CIA agent living on an island near the Bermuda Triangle. He poses as a fishing-boat captain complete with a boat named 'Clamdip' and a native Captain named Billy Bright. His past career comes in handy when a series of vessels in the Bermuda Triangle fall prey to attacks by unknown causes. Could the boats be running into unexploded American mines laid years ago? Or are the gouges in their hulls evidence of something alive with very big teeth? The islanders are calling this unknown monster the "eater" and some think it may be a gigantic extinct shark. Some of Hooker's former colleagues are sent to the scene to investigate along with a Hollywood film crew who see a possible movie in the making. One of the Hollywood producers is an ex-mobster who is hiding a sinister past and who may be out to get Hooker. So what is really going on and what is the "eater?"
This novel was kind of a combination between JAWS and a CIA spy novel. I thought it started out well but the plot involving the former mobster was very convoluted and the ending was kind of anticlimactic. I remember enjoying the Mike Hammer novels that I read but this one was mediocre at best.
This novel was kind of a combination between JAWS and a CIA spy novel. I thought it started out well but the plot involving the former mobster was very convoluted and the ending was kind of anticlimactic. I remember enjoying the Mike Hammer novels that I read but this one was mediocre at best.
June 30, 2017
I say 2 1/2 stars on this one as it was a struggle for me to finish. No Mike Hammer in one of Spillane's later novels.
May 9, 2024
“Something’s Down There” (2003) was the final novel published in Spillane’s lifetime. “Hooker Mako” is a Tiger Mann- type character, a rough-and-tumble ex-CIA operative and former police officer who is now retired and living in the Carribean, spending his days on an old canvas chair on the deck of a fishing boat letting the sun bake him with his fishing partner, native Billy Bright. He was retired by mutual agreement from the Company, but with the understanding that no one is ever fully retired and, if duty ever called, he would be re-activated (kind of like a Terminator).
Being in the vicinity of the Bermuda Triangle is not necessarily a good idea and there’s something down in the depths that keeps coming up and biting giant holes in fishing boats, something on the level of a Leviathan of the deep, larger than any shark that modern-day man has ever known. The entire fishing fleet is up in arms about this supernatural beast. And the Company is sending a scientific expedition to look into it. Meanwhile, Hollywood approaches in the form of a film-shooting cruise line that goes wherever the party is and aims to get top-notch footage at whatever cost. Thing is, though, one of the people involved is an ex-mafioso that Hooker remembers. There is a lot going on here and it doesn’t necessarily fit together well in a Jaws meets James Bond kind of way.
Hooker is a great character that perhaps Spillane could have built an entire series around, a gruff retired take-no-prisoners ex-spook reactivated from retirement whenever the Company needs someone like him (and, of course, there is no one like him).
There are two female foils for Hooker. One is an old co-worker from the Company who once shot him, Chana Sterling. Their meet-up here is awkward and tense. When he spots Chana, he wishes he had been packing his .45 with the hammer back “so he could turn and shoot her guts right out of her beautiful belly and it would finally be over with for all time.” The other female foil is Judy Durant, a tall, lovely brunette, who inherited half a movie company from her father and plays the damsel in distress to Hooker’s Tiger Mann/Mike Hammer toughness.
Spillane shows how he can write almost any kind of novel with his awesome descriptions of the tip of an orange-red sun hovering over the edge of the horizon and the water’s surface rolling gently under soft two-foot swells.
Being in the vicinity of the Bermuda Triangle is not necessarily a good idea and there’s something down in the depths that keeps coming up and biting giant holes in fishing boats, something on the level of a Leviathan of the deep, larger than any shark that modern-day man has ever known. The entire fishing fleet is up in arms about this supernatural beast. And the Company is sending a scientific expedition to look into it. Meanwhile, Hollywood approaches in the form of a film-shooting cruise line that goes wherever the party is and aims to get top-notch footage at whatever cost. Thing is, though, one of the people involved is an ex-mafioso that Hooker remembers. There is a lot going on here and it doesn’t necessarily fit together well in a Jaws meets James Bond kind of way.
Hooker is a great character that perhaps Spillane could have built an entire series around, a gruff retired take-no-prisoners ex-spook reactivated from retirement whenever the Company needs someone like him (and, of course, there is no one like him).
There are two female foils for Hooker. One is an old co-worker from the Company who once shot him, Chana Sterling. Their meet-up here is awkward and tense. When he spots Chana, he wishes he had been packing his .45 with the hammer back “so he could turn and shoot her guts right out of her beautiful belly and it would finally be over with for all time.” The other female foil is Judy Durant, a tall, lovely brunette, who inherited half a movie company from her father and plays the damsel in distress to Hooker’s Tiger Mann/Mike Hammer toughness.
Spillane shows how he can write almost any kind of novel with his awesome descriptions of the tip of an orange-red sun hovering over the edge of the horizon and the water’s surface rolling gently under soft two-foot swells.
July 8, 2022
Odotin saavani kovaa agenttimeininkiä karibianmeren auringonpaahteessa, mutta sen sijaan sainkin hitaasti lässähtävän sekametelisopan, Tappajahai-kopiolla. Spillane on itselle tuntematon kirjailija, mutta eiväthän nämä nyt vaan voi olla näin sotkuisia juoneltaan? Milloin oli vihollisia omasta Firmasta, milloin vanhoja italiaanogangstereita ja sekaan vähän Bermudan kolmioon liittyvää mysteriolentoa ja loppupeleissä mikään tai mitään ei selvinnyt.
Sinällään hahmoissa ei ollut mitään vikaa, paitsi että omiin korviin kosahti vähän epäkunnioittavasti suomennettu "alkuasukkaat", kun puhuttiin saarelaisista. Hei haloo, karibian asukkaat nyt mitään varsinaisia alkuasukkaita ole?! Olisikin kiinnostavaa tietää käytettiinkö alkuperäisessä "native" - termiä?
Mutta kovin heppoinen tämä oli, ja ainakin itselle ei nyt ihan auennut kuka oli paha ja kuka ei. Sen lisäksi naurua aiheutti varsinaisen "mysteerin" ratkaisu, jonka sankarimme esitteli kuin jumala kaikille osallistujille, ja se oli todella antikliimaksista. 😁
Sinällään hahmoissa ei ollut mitään vikaa, paitsi että omiin korviin kosahti vähän epäkunnioittavasti suomennettu "alkuasukkaat", kun puhuttiin saarelaisista. Hei haloo, karibian asukkaat nyt mitään varsinaisia alkuasukkaita ole?! Olisikin kiinnostavaa tietää käytettiinkö alkuperäisessä "native" - termiä?
Mutta kovin heppoinen tämä oli, ja ainakin itselle ei nyt ihan auennut kuka oli paha ja kuka ei. Sen lisäksi naurua aiheutti varsinaisen "mysteerin" ratkaisu, jonka sankarimme esitteli kuin jumala kaikille osallistujille, ja se oli todella antikliimaksista. 😁
October 7, 2015
Thriller - Ex-spook Mako Hooker and his Carib fishing partner, Billy Bright Mako, retired on remote Peolle Island, devotes himself to drinking Miller Lite, fishing and boating, but he soon learns you never really retire from the Company. Trouble arises on several fronts: a malevolent leviathan of unknown species begins slashing huge chunks out of the bottoms of fishing boats, and still-functioning WWII-era mines from sunken ships appear on the surface of the ocean, prompting the U.S. government to send in a team of agents and re-activate Hooker. Also in on the fun is ex-mobster Tony Pallatzo, now known as Anthony Pell, the head of a movie unit determined to capture the sea-dwelling monster on film, and lovely agent Chana, an old enemy against whom Hooker still holds a grudge.
April 26, 2019
Although Something's Down There is not a formulaic mystery, it is constantly engaging and moves forward at a very good pace. I've heard the name Mickey Spillane throughout my life, but this is the first novel of his that I've read. I guess I expected something more hard-boiled, like I imagine the Mike Hammer novels to be, but it takes place in the Caribbean, mostly over water and the central mystery concerns a large beast that is taking a bite out of the locals' boats. I won't spoil the ending for anybody, but I will say that I saw it coming a long way ahead.
March 22, 2025
Another Spillane that I haven't read before. This one is a thriller, set in the Bermuda Triangle, rather than a mystery so a bit of a departure.
Lot's of stuff about fishing and messing about in boats for retired government agent Mako Hooker. For some reason I couldn't get the image of William Shatner, as T. J. Hooker, out of my mind while while reading this.
A departure from Spillane's usual themes, but the sarcastic wise cracking dialogue is still there.
Lot's of stuff about fishing and messing about in boats for retired government agent Mako Hooker. For some reason I couldn't get the image of William Shatner, as T. J. Hooker, out of my mind while while reading this.
A departure from Spillane's usual themes, but the sarcastic wise cracking dialogue is still there.
September 2, 2023
Mickey Spillane does Dr. No, but forgets to include much fun, despite the sleazy bookcover promising sex and the pen name promising violence. Our hero, Mako Hooker--Spillane fails to outdo Mike Hammer as an action hero name--is a retired CIA agent in the Caribbean when rumors spread of a sea monster about. Unconvincingly, this is posed as an international incident in the making. The CIA, the Navy, Hollywood filmmakers, the Mob, and a cruise ship full of millionaires show up, but the plot involving all these factions turns out to be pretty much the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading played straight. There's no real antagonist, no evil scheme to foil, not much of anything really, only there's 400 pages of it.
With the way Spillane plays coy with the 'sea monster's' description, you might guess that it's a robot or a hologram or something otherwise man-made, but the eventual reveal is far stupider and sillier (and anticlimactic) than that. I'll tell you, just so you're not too curious.
It makes Scooby Doo look like Se7en and you're left thinking that there's no way a revelation this anemic deserves an entire novel devoted to it. As a short story, Something's Down There might've passed muster, but as a novel, it's hard not to notice that it's almost all filler and red herrings.
With the way Spillane plays coy with the 'sea monster's' description, you might guess that it's a robot or a hologram or something otherwise man-made, but the eventual reveal is far stupider and sillier (and anticlimactic) than that. I'll tell you, just so you're not too curious.
It makes Scooby Doo look like Se7en and you're left thinking that there's no way a revelation this anemic deserves an entire novel devoted to it. As a short story, Something's Down There might've passed muster, but as a novel, it's hard not to notice that it's almost all filler and red herrings.
February 5, 2021
This might be a 3.5 star book because the author took a few liberties. If you are a fan of Mickey S., you know he sometimes allows the main characters to simply get lucky. He does not, “jump the shark“ per se, but here, a shark makes a pretty lucky jump to save our hero. I can envision him saying, oh, screw it, I don’t know where I’m heading with this scene, so I’m just going to end it. Finally, a grenade launcher simply can’t accomplish what he suggests in the last scene. If you suspend those two moments in the book, you have a four-star book. I enjoyed the character development, the dialogue, the interaction, the descriptive narrative… So much of this book made it a page turner.
April 1, 2021
Although I've never picked up a Mickey Spillane novel before, I wanted to give him a try.After reading Something's Down There, I have to assume that his earlier works are a lot better, because this book couldn't have built his reputation.
July 8, 2018
It had me going all the way to the end! I couldn't figure out WHAT was down there! LOL
February 20, 2017
A GR rating of two means OK......and that's what is was, just ok. No Mike Hammer story here folks.
May 18, 2014
This is Spillane's final book, and he goes out with a bang! Mako Hooker, a former secret agent for the U.S., has retired to an island in the Caribbean, where his biggest ambition is fishing for his dinner and having a few beers. Unfortunately for him, there's a giant sea monster tearing boats apart, and he's dragged back into service by the government to investigate. It's pure Spillane. Tough guys, dames with gams up to here, bad guys who think they're tough but aren't, this one has it all. The only thing is, I wonder if maybe he wrote this book back in the day and put it in a drawer, then added some modern updates to make it look like it was written now. The only reason I say this is because some of the references don't feel right. Given all evidence, Mako Hooker was probably an agent during the 'Seventies and 'Eighties. That would put him at the right age for a story told in 2003. However, all of his references are WWII-era, as if he was in action back in those days instead. They're certainly references Spillane himself would make, since he was in the Air Force back then, but I don't think they're right for Mako Hooker. Regardless, this is an excellent book. Oh, and did I mention that Mako Hooker kinda-sorta has a pet shark?
September 16, 2016
He ain't Mike Hammer, but Mako Hooker is just as tough with the bad guys and lucky with the ladies as Spillane's most famous creation. The author applies his ability to describe a scene in NYC to this Caribbean paradise with the same skill that made Hammer's city as much a character as Mike himself. You'll feel the change in temperature and the rush of adrenaline when 'the eater' attacks.
There are Spillane fans and Mike Hammer fans. Both groups should read this book. Readers who love a good mystery and/or a Caribbean adventure need to read it as well. The novel works for all of them.
Read it! You will love it!
There are Spillane fans and Mike Hammer fans. Both groups should read this book. Readers who love a good mystery and/or a Caribbean adventure need to read it as well. The novel works for all of them.
Read it! You will love it!
December 29, 2009
Well, I meant to write this review some time ago. I was actually inspired by Ed to read this book (based on his reviews of Mickey Spillane).
This was the first book I could find in the library. It was written recently and does not have the same feel as his earlier Mike Hammer books (I read one after this).
I found the book a little slow and the ending somewhat anti-climatic.
Overall, it was an okay book. However, if you're looking of the old Mickey Spillane, you won't find him here.
This was the first book I could find in the library. It was written recently and does not have the same feel as his earlier Mike Hammer books (I read one after this).
I found the book a little slow and the ending somewhat anti-climatic.
Overall, it was an okay book. However, if you're looking of the old Mickey Spillane, you won't find him here.
April 2, 2012
The plot, characters and overall story line is not at all believable. The main character Mako seems similar to Doc Ford from Randy Wayne Wright's novels (or visa versa) This was my second time with Mr. Spillane and he has disappointed me again. I may read one of his earlier works as a last resort. His Mike Hammer character also seems to have morphed from a PI to kind of a secret agent character from earlier book. This new Mako character doesn't seem very well developed...as the story in general lacks clear thoughtful development.
September 20, 2015
First Spillane I've read. Obviously a talented writer but I don't think this was more than an average beach read. Main character a typical ubermensch, women are thinly drawn, good at mood, decent pace. The setting and it's characters were the best part of the book. The plot seemed almost a throwaway. The conclusion required a few too many coincidences. Felt like the author just didn't have the energy to really pull it together. Good enough to make me want to check out his earlier stuff.
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August 10, 2008My grandfather bought me this book the year before he died as a direct result of meeting the author in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. While this is certainly not Spillane's best, I keep it both in memory to him, and to my incredible grandfather, without whom I would have been much worse off.
Read
April 25, 2008This book was terrible.
Read
March 20, 2011This is starting off slow for me. Maybe it's springtime or something because I can't get enough traction right now. I'll try again, I'm certain. I'm a fan of Mr. Spillane's work.
September 25, 2012
Not typical Spillane. The hardboiled is understated though this is a fairly gripping mystery/thriller and one I'd recommend.
July 24, 2012
Good premise and I could not figure out the titular reference until the very end.
January 7, 2015
Good read, compelling male characters but the female ones seemed superficial.
June 10, 2016
Thoroughly enjoyed this novel.....a page grabber mystery from the very beginning to the end. First time I've read novels by this author & will definitely read more of his.
August 2, 2016
The things I do for work....
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews