After I was impressed by Charles Edward Maine's Calculated Risk, I bought a nice hardcover copy of The Isotope Man, hoping for the same sci-fi excitement. This didn't come up to the same level, but was entertaining. I see from another reviewer that this story began originally as a thirty minute television show, then a film in 1955, and then a novel form in 1957. It was the first of three novels starring Mike Delaney, Science Reporter. I was still expecting science fiction, so I was a little disappointed that it's more an espionage thriller.
Mike Delaney is an American working in London for the popular photo journal View. When he happens across the photo of a famous scientist being pulled from the Thames, he skirts his next assignment to investigate. Having met Dr. Rayner in the past, he alerts the police ~ yet they are baffled to discover "Dr. Rayner" alive and working at a large atomic energy plant.
Who is the man from the river? Why does his photograph appear blurry and no X-rays turn out? Why is he seemingly incoherent when interviewed? And if he is Dr. Rayner - who is impersonating him and why?
The real Dr. Rayner has been called The Isotope Man from his experiments with the Tungsten isotope K and the plot revolves around the production of synthetic Tungsten metal. While it is mostly chasing the bad guys around London, Maine does include a few neat science points with the real Dr. Rayner's long time radioactivity exposure causing his brain to time-slip into the future! Cool.
Delaney delves deeper into the mystery with photographer Jill Friday, finding a nest of South American spies and thugs, British scientists selling secrets, kidnapping, flying bullets and explosive fires. Delaney seems to be one step ahead of the irritated police (with the help of MI5 and the FBI no less) yet needs their help to fit the final pieces into the puzzle.
The first half of the book was more 'reporter chasing a story and finding romance' than I was expecting, I was waiting for the action to begin. Once it hit the halfway mark though, it really started to roll with scene after scene of action, fighting and a finale set during the test of a new atomic reactor experiment that could blow the whole plant sky-high.
While there is always the hope after reading a really great book that the authors other novels will be as good, this was an original story with a memorable finale. It had a charm, like watching a 1960's episode of The Avengers. I enjoyed it and will read more of Charles Eric Maine.
1957/ Hardcover / 184 pages
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