II Victor Appleton 2 hr 48 min read

Tom Swift Jr. awaits the arrival of a visitor from Planet X in the form of pure energy, which he names Exman, as ruthless factions scheme to seize it and engineered earthquakes threaten disaster.

Victor Appleton II's 1961 novel is a rousing entry in the Tom Swift Jr. juvenile series. Fast, wholesome, imaginative. Read it for classic mid-century boys' science-adventure, an energy-being from the stars, devastating engineered earthquakes, and young genius Tom Jr. racing to protect a world-changing discovery, in the bright, optimistic Space Age style of the beloved series.

In its time

Published in 1961, during the 1960s, new wave revolutionizes the genre.

Reading it

2 hr 48 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).

Illustrated by

Graham Kaye