Harold L. Goodwin 3 hr 28 min read

A million-dollar gimmick, an invasion of Spindrift, a peripatetic barber, and a dagger of the mind draw young inventor Rick Brant into a case where a machine can read human thoughts.

Harold L. Goodwin's 1957 novel (as John Blaine) is a brisk juvenile science-adventure from the Rick Brant series. Fast, clever, wholesome period SF. Read it for a rousing boys' mystery of espionage and gadgetry, where Rick and Scotty confront a device that lays bare the secrets of the mind.

In its time

Published in 1957, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

3 hr 28 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).