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.
I couldn't figure out the ending until the very end. I kept agonizing about what IT was. Solid, if not a bit dated.
Mako Hooker may look like any other grizzled fishing-boat captain trawling the Bermuda Triangle--but he's much more. Hooker is in fact a retired government operative taking a break from his highly secret, highly lethal career. When local fishermen begin to fall prey to a monstrous sea creature the islanders dub "the eater", he investigates--with the help of his off-kilter circle of friends--and uncovers a sinister conspiracy that will resurrect Hooker's violent past, and pit his legendary (if a bit rusty) skills against a powerful adversary who's out to prove the old spy saying: You're not retired from the Company until you're dead.
