The book was originally published in 1932/3, so you know to prepare yourself for a very old-school read. I found this very hard to get into and, to be honest, it was a bit of a struggle to make it to the end (oh, the pressure of finishing what you've started...). At the same time, I would say that it slightly grew on me.

A mad scientist develops a way to read, record and control minds, by amplifying brain waves send out naturally (before drifting off into proper insanity, leaving the book's stage before he even entered it). Two different parties, one in the West and one in the East, manage to harvest his ideas, building a machine and synthesizing a powder, respectively. Both try to use this new-found power when political tensions between East and West heat up. Well, obviously it's mainly the evil "yellows", lead by thisl Fu Manchu-like stereo-type, that are to blame for this...

I think what bothered me the most about this book was how painfully, I don't know, obvious everything was. You know, how everything comes together by and unbelievable stupidity and lucky coincidences (you wouldn't believe how often people just run into each other, not withstanding that the events are of global-scale). Also, the people sometimes comment on events as if to explain it to a 10-year-old. Actually, the book reminded me a lot of the Silver Age of comics in this respect. Similarly, too, I've found myself develop something of a taste for the eye-rolling plainness at some point, so it wasn't all bad.

There were actually some interesting ideas in there. Most obviously, it made an interesting point about the importance of research and technology in and in-between war-times. The use of radar technology by the Brits to spot the German Luftwaffe in the early years of WWII comes to mind; and interestingly enough, this is a technology mentioned in this 1933 book. The story also hinted at difficulties we might find in actually understanding other people's thoughts (even if it turned out that thought could be identified with the stream of consciousness). I also found the idea of will not limited to the boundaries of one subject's mind quite intriguing. And, looked from the point the other way around, if your actions are controlled by another mind in a way that was congruent with your own usual pattern of behavior, would you even notice? What is your stance towards your own will? The book was surprisingly deep in this respect.

So, will I have to admit that I didn't enjoy this greatly, it wasn't terrible either. I wouldn't be surprised if I picked up another of Hans Dominik's books in the future (I have another novel somewhere). Probably not anytime soon, though.

Rating: 2/5