The author has slipped far below the high standards which he has previously set for himself in this latest tale which is mostly a mongoose named Macnulty who becomes mainly monotonous. Mark Weatherby, USAF, returns from Hawaii smuggling in a mongoose for his twelve-year-old son. After warnings from the Federal Game and Fish Bureau, the lad stows away on a Hawaii-bound plane to return his pet to safer pastures. Adventures of animal and adolescent are not exciting or humorous enough to deserve much attention.