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The Day the Sea Rolled Back
A man and his 12-year-old son lose all hope of finding a sunken treasure in the Caribbean. Then one day a strange thing happens to the sea.
- GenresYoung Adult
138 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
1 person is currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Mickey Spillane
316 books447 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 20, 2011
I only read this because my husband found it at Powell's and remembered reading it when he was a kid. It was dreadful. I can't remember it well enough to go into detail about its dreadfulness, but I know I don't want to read it again to sharpen my recall.
July 26, 2019
I was reading this book when suddenly uprooted at age eight. I only got to finish it years later when I got my hands on another copy. It does follow the prescribed formula for the treasure hunt genre, but I really enjoyed it.
“The Day the Sea Rolled Back” goes quickly and isn’t terribly long. Mickey Spillane is remembered for very different books than this one. I always like when bestselling authors write for children.
“The Day the Sea Rolled Back” goes quickly and isn’t terribly long. Mickey Spillane is remembered for very different books than this one. I always like when bestselling authors write for children.
May 2, 2022
In typical Spillane fashion, he keeps you reading until the last page. This book was written for children and was his only children's book, I believe.
July 29, 2016
A couple of weeks back, I was reminded of this book thanks to someone else asking about the name of the book. I had read this before, back when I was at least 30 years younger than I am now, and once we managed to track down the name of the book (and the surprise author!), I requested it through the library. Aside from being a source of nostalgia, the book had become a curiosity because it had been written by Mickey Spillane.
I've never read anything else by Spillane, but I could tell that the book was written by someone who wrote noir crime thrillers. There were no dames, and no guns, but there were definitely turns-of-phrase that stood out as being part of that genre. The plot, too, was a little hard-boiled: Larry and his father are treasure-seekers living on an island off the coast of Miami, who are ready to give up after a financial disaster. It turns out that the disaster was orchestrated by competing treasure hunters, and once the sea rolls back past the horizon, the chase is on between Larry and his friend and the competing hunters to reach the sunken ship they've both been trying to find.
The plot is fairly predictable, and what characterization there is is painted with broad strokes. The competing treasure hunters are motivated solely by greed, while Larry and his dad are nice-guy everymen. It's easy to see where things are going, and the story itself is just one of Larry and his friend staying a step ahead of their pursuers. No explanation is given for why the sea rolls out to such a low tide, but it's not necessary, since it's just a device to keep the characters on the run. I would have liked for there to be some explanation, but for its target audience -- young boys who have developed beyond chapter books -- it's probably not necessary.
There were also some issues with the printing of the book -- some "it's" in place of "its" (which was strange in itself, since later in the book, they were properly used), using apostrophes to indicate a plural, and a "choose" in place of a "chose" -- that were unfortunate, but not the fault of the author. They were a little jarring, though not enough to take me out of the story.
Overall, the story was an entertaining adventure story, but it's impossible for me to remove my nostalgia from the story to judge it completely objectively. I can see it might not have enough to keep today's readers fully engaged, but for young readers who don't have a problem getting lost in pure story, it has some merit. It was worth it to track it down and read it, especially since it only took me an evening to finish it.
I've never read anything else by Spillane, but I could tell that the book was written by someone who wrote noir crime thrillers. There were no dames, and no guns, but there were definitely turns-of-phrase that stood out as being part of that genre. The plot, too, was a little hard-boiled: Larry and his father are treasure-seekers living on an island off the coast of Miami, who are ready to give up after a financial disaster. It turns out that the disaster was orchestrated by competing treasure hunters, and once the sea rolls back past the horizon, the chase is on between Larry and his friend and the competing hunters to reach the sunken ship they've both been trying to find.
The plot is fairly predictable, and what characterization there is is painted with broad strokes. The competing treasure hunters are motivated solely by greed, while Larry and his dad are nice-guy everymen. It's easy to see where things are going, and the story itself is just one of Larry and his friend staying a step ahead of their pursuers. No explanation is given for why the sea rolls out to such a low tide, but it's not necessary, since it's just a device to keep the characters on the run. I would have liked for there to be some explanation, but for its target audience -- young boys who have developed beyond chapter books -- it's probably not necessary.
There were also some issues with the printing of the book -- some "it's" in place of "its" (which was strange in itself, since later in the book, they were properly used), using apostrophes to indicate a plural, and a "choose" in place of a "chose" -- that were unfortunate, but not the fault of the author. They were a little jarring, though not enough to take me out of the story.
Overall, the story was an entertaining adventure story, but it's impossible for me to remove my nostalgia from the story to judge it completely objectively. I can see it might not have enough to keep today's readers fully engaged, but for young readers who don't have a problem getting lost in pure story, it has some merit. It was worth it to track it down and read it, especially since it only took me an evening to finish it.
Read
January 7, 2014The Day The Sea Rolled Back by Mickey Spillane is about 2 kids that find a treasure box that they need to hide so they put it under a doc and leave it there. When they later find out that theirs a storm coming they go to treasure box and its not there. They see a diver crew next to the box, and they come up with an idea to get it back.
To get it back they make a big seen and take it, but then they leave it on a beach. Then they leave and the storm is coming sooner then they thought so they go back to the beach and the ocean was gone. They then go searching on the land where they think the treasure box is and they go to it.
The to boys are then put in several adventures to get the box before the other people and divers get it. They need resources to find so they get a dune buggy and computers. They find several sunken ships and artifacts. At the end of the book they find a a diamond that could be the biggest uncut diamond to be ever found.
To get it back they make a big seen and take it, but then they leave it on a beach. Then they leave and the storm is coming sooner then they thought so they go back to the beach and the ocean was gone. They then go searching on the land where they think the treasure box is and they go to it.
The to boys are then put in several adventures to get the box before the other people and divers get it. They need resources to find so they get a dune buggy and computers. They find several sunken ships and artifacts. At the end of the book they find a a diamond that could be the biggest uncut diamond to be ever found.
Read
January 29, 2016First book I ever received (signed) from an author. I wrote him (Mickey Spillane) a fan letter when I was in high school for a paper I was writing about him. He not only wrote back (a hand typed letter), but he sent me an autographed copy of his only children's book. I think he's deceased now.
On a slightly related (or not) note, Stacy Keach used to play the character of Mike Hammer (one of Spillane's most popular characters in his detective novels) in all the made-for-TV movies that aired during the 80's. Stacy's brother, James is a famous director (made "Walk the Line" about Johnny Cash) and I met him a few times when he came into the accountancy firm (as a client) I used to work for in Bath, England. Incidentally, James is married to Jane Seymour (but she never came in).
On a slightly related (or not) note, Stacy Keach used to play the character of Mike Hammer (one of Spillane's most popular characters in his detective novels) in all the made-for-TV movies that aired during the 80's. Stacy's brother, James is a famous director (made "Walk the Line" about Johnny Cash) and I met him a few times when he came into the accountancy firm (as a client) I used to work for in Bath, England. Incidentally, James is married to Jane Seymour (but she never came in).
September 27, 2011
This book wasn't TOO bad; it was geared more toward younger kids than adults. Not a bad story either; but it didn't hold my interest as well as it could have because it felt "dated" to me. Not bad, though, since it's a quick read.
September 2, 2012
This book needs more readers, especially young teens. It was a great adventure story about a weird low tide and buried treasure, suddenly unburied. The 2 boys in the book are at times in mortal danger, so there is some good suspense here. I really like the fun fast read.
June 1, 2010
Not good. Thankfully short.
February 9, 2023
12-11-03
January 5, 2013
An exciting treasure hunt adventure, one of the last waves (no pun intended) of classic boys' stories.
August 24, 2023
Fácil de leer, en un día lo acabas.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews