Mickey Spillane Something’s Down There Review

Overall Rating

Something's Down There
Mickey Spillane
Simon & Schuster, Dec 2003, $24.00, 288 pp.
ISBN: 0743251466

Retired from his harrowing operative career, American Mako Hooker spends his time fishing from his boat, the Clamdip. However, his solace at sea ends when his former employers order him back to work. They want Mako to investigate the explosive attacks on ships in the Bermuda Triangle where the former agent conveniently is spending his time.

His ex employer also sends his former peer Chana Sterling to work closely with him over Mako's chagrin as this femme fatale once shot him. He would prefer to simply shoot Chana to put her out of everyone else's misery because she caused a lot of people much misery. Still Mako knows one never truly retires from the Company so he begins looking into the cause behind the gaping holes in the hulls of several vessels. That soon leads Mako to uncover conspiracies, but of what and why he still struggles (as does the reader after finishing the book) to learn.

Only long time die hard fans of Mickey Spillane will appreciate this strange espionage thriller though the hero is an interesting throwback to the Jurassic Age. The story line is action-packed, but never seems to tie into a cohesive plot. The cast is hard boiled circa Eisenhower with perhaps the most interesting character being Mako the Shark (literally a fish in water and not Hooker).

Harriet Klausner