The Electronic Mind Reader: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story

It's 1950s America, and twelve-year-old Rick Brant is lounging in his father's library on the private island of Spindrift, watching a quiz show with his friends Barby and Scotty. When the contestants keep fumbling easy questions, Rick sees an opportunity: what if they could feed the answers through hidden radio technology, disguised as a contestant? It's a wildly ambitious scheme, and the stakes are deliciously high. But just as the boys gear up for their electronic heist, a Coast Guard officer arrives with troubling news about suspicious activity near the island, pulling the adventure into darker waters than any quiz show prize could prepare them for. Suddenly, the boys' playful caper collides with something far more serious: espionage, national security, and enemies who aren't playing games. Harold L. Goodwin crafts a pitch-perfect adventure that treats its young protagonists as genuinely clever rather than merely lucky, layering radio technology and inventive problem-solving into a page-turning mystery. The result feels like catching lightning in a bottle: a mid-century time capsule that never talks down to its readers, delivering real thrills alongside its science. Fans of vintage adventure series will find plenty to love in Rick's world.