Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 3/17/2023 + 1223 more book reviews

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.

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