Book 14: Something's Down There
Continuing with the book_it_2006 project...
Book 14: Something's Down There
Author: Mickey Spillane
Genre: Mystery
Number of pages: 288
Pages Read This Year: 3827
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best]: C-
Short description/summary of the book: from Amazon
From Mickey Spillane, the hardest-boiled of detective writers, comes ... a sea story? Surprising but true, and a fun yarn it is. Mako Hooker is enjoying retirement from a life of lethal undercover work, fishing the days away on the remote Caribbean island of Peolle. But his idyll is shattered by the "eater"--an unknown presence in the deep water that bites the bottoms out of boats. As the attacks intensify, the outside world converges on Peolle: the media, a Hollywood film company, and some of Hooker's old colleagues from the Company, one of whom once put a bullet in him. As the intrigue thickens and the action gets nasty, Hooker reluctantly reactivates his old "kill or be killed" skills while trying to solve the riddle of the eater and kindling a romance with a beautiful heiress from a neighboring island.
My Thoughts: Quick bit of personal info -- I'm a writer myself. Whenever I start a new project, I like to read other works in the same genre, preferably by the masters of the genre. I'm currently working on a detective novel, and although I've never picked up a Mickey Spillane novel before, this seemed like a good time 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.
Mako Hooker is a sailor (or is he) who seems to want a quiet retirement in the islands. When a mysterious creature begins attacking boats in the area, he's forced to contend not only with the beast, but a film crew that wants to capture it and some shadows of his own past. The biggest problem with this book is that Spillane doesn't seem to know what he wants this story to be. Sometimes it's a detective story, sometimes a crime drama, sometimes it's a Hollywood farce and sometimes its a godawful monster movie. Hooker is cut right out of the tough guy handbook, as is his love interest, and his sidekick (who, in nearly 300 pages, never stops calling Hooker "sar" despite repeated protests both from the character and the readers to knock of the bad accent) is just plain annoying.
I want to give Spillane another try. Maybe a Mike Hammer book or something. I can't imagine that his normal style is like this -- overwritten, boring and completely without excitement.
In the Queue: Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett, Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore
Book 14: Something's Down There
Author: Mickey Spillane
Genre: Mystery
Number of pages: 288
Pages Read This Year: 3827
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best]: C-
Short description/summary of the book: from Amazon
From Mickey Spillane, the hardest-boiled of detective writers, comes ... a sea story? Surprising but true, and a fun yarn it is. Mako Hooker is enjoying retirement from a life of lethal undercover work, fishing the days away on the remote Caribbean island of Peolle. But his idyll is shattered by the "eater"--an unknown presence in the deep water that bites the bottoms out of boats. As the attacks intensify, the outside world converges on Peolle: the media, a Hollywood film company, and some of Hooker's old colleagues from the Company, one of whom once put a bullet in him. As the intrigue thickens and the action gets nasty, Hooker reluctantly reactivates his old "kill or be killed" skills while trying to solve the riddle of the eater and kindling a romance with a beautiful heiress from a neighboring island.
My Thoughts: Quick bit of personal info -- I'm a writer myself. Whenever I start a new project, I like to read other works in the same genre, preferably by the masters of the genre. I'm currently working on a detective novel, and although I've never picked up a Mickey Spillane novel before, this seemed like a good time 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.
Mako Hooker is a sailor (or is he) who seems to want a quiet retirement in the islands. When a mysterious creature begins attacking boats in the area, he's forced to contend not only with the beast, but a film crew that wants to capture it and some shadows of his own past. The biggest problem with this book is that Spillane doesn't seem to know what he wants this story to be. Sometimes it's a detective story, sometimes a crime drama, sometimes it's a Hollywood farce and sometimes its a godawful monster movie. Hooker is cut right out of the tough guy handbook, as is his love interest, and his sidekick (who, in nearly 300 pages, never stops calling Hooker "sar" despite repeated protests both from the character and the readers to knock of the bad accent) is just plain annoying.
I want to give Spillane another try. Maybe a Mike Hammer book or something. I can't imagine that his normal style is like this -- overwritten, boring and completely without excitement.
In the Queue: Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett, Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore