“Oh, come on!” you say. “What else is big and red, lives underwater, and has eight tentacles it can use to go after submarines?” How about a squid? I don’t want to give too many spoilers, but…let’s just say the cover photo is not misleading.
But, first, let’s find out a bit about Tom Swift. This series, another one from the Stratmeyer Syndicate, actually went through a few iterations. Other Stratmeyer Books, such as the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series, were revised and rewritten in the late 1950s—those are the versions commonly read today. This Swift Book, first published in 1954, is from about the same time period, and it is a part of a new series—as “The New Tom Swift Jr. Adventures” would certainly seem to indicate. Unlike the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series, though, in which the central characters stayed the same, this book follows a different character: Tom Jr., son of the star of the first books. I’ve never read any of the original Swift stories (older and likely harder to come by), but fact that these are all new stories means you don’t have to worry about comparing the second version of the story to the first!
As you might have guessed, Tom Swift, Jr., is the son of Tom Swift, Sr., the legendary inventor who now runs Swift Enterprises, a company as large as Google is today, but a company which deals with the latest scientific inventions, instead of tech devices. Not that computers aren’t tech-y, but Swift’s devices are a little cooler to read about—oh, and in this series, Tom Jr. does most of the inventing. In this book, the third in the series, he’s just putting the finishing touches on his latest scientific triumph, a jet-powered submarine.
There’s an immediate need for the submarine’s services, though. A devious gang of pirates is robbing ships all over the world’s oceans. By some mysterious means, they’re causing everyone on the ships to suddenly lose consciousness—by the time the passengers and crew come to, supplies and stuff have been stolen, and the pirates have vanished without a trace. This has been going on for some time at the start of the book, but things get even worse, as Ned Newton, good friend of the Swifts and father of Tom’s girlfriend, Phyllis (barely mentioned at all in this story) is taken prisoner by the pirates. Tom theorizes that the pirates are using a pulsator from an airplane to knock everyone on the ships unconscious, and that a submarine then surfaces to pick up the loot from their captured ships. He hopes to use his jet-powered submarine to track the pirates to their headquarters, wherever that may be, and bust up their gang.
Meanwhile, a suspect emerges early on. Sidney Dansitt, an erratic young pilot, nearly crashes into Tom’s sister when she’s flying a plane, then nearly runs over Tom when he lands. The insolent youth is unapologetic when confronted by Tom, but seems interested in a Cuban peso with a dog’s head stamped over it that Tom finds on the runway. Later that night, someone breaks into the Swift residence and steals the peso, as well as plans for Tom’s jetmarine. Fortunately, Tom had left the plans incomplete, but he begins to wonder if Dansitt might be the pilot of the blackout ray plane.
You’ll have to read the book for yourself, but let me promise you, the story is full of thrills. It’s basically a Hardy-Boys type adventure, with more cool gadgets thrown in. Tom doesn’t finish the submarine until about the middle of the book, but he’ll have many adventures in it throughout the second half—including the one with the squid. If you run across this anywhere, be sure to snap it up! You won’t be disappointed!
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