Like Catch-22 (1961), Something Happened exposes the moral vacuity of American society. In this later novel, the targets of Heller's satire are two: the cutthroat corporate realm and the suburbanite middle-class family.

Through the eyes of his narrator/ protagonist Bob Slocum, Heller presents the hierarchical relationships and the social and sexual intrigues of the employees of an unidentified company — a company that Heller has suggested in conversation has affinities with Time, Incorporated, where he worked as an advertising copywriter from 1952 to 1956. In portraying the corporate world, the author uses stereotyped situations: the executive burnout in the upper ranks, the incompetent secretary whom everyone is afraid to fire, the office party flirtations and sexual misconduct at company conventions, and the requisite golf games. Fear and distrust flourish as department competes with department and individual vies against individual for promotion.

In such a high-pressured atmosphere, nervous breakdowns are...