The Smuggled Atom Bomb

by Philip Wylie

Not only one of this contry's great authors, but a leading government consultant on Civil Defense, Philip Wylie spins suspense out of an atomic plot against the United States!

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Philip Gordon Wylie was the son of Presbyterian minister Edmund Melville Wylie and the former Edna Edwards, a novelist, who died when Philip was five years old. His family moved to Montclair, New Jersey and he later attended Princeton University from 1920–1923. He married Sally Ondek, and had one child, Karen, an author who became the inventor of animal "clicker" training. After a divorcing his first wife, Philip Wylie married Frederica Ballard who was born and raised in Rushford, New York; they are both buried in Rushford.

A writer of fiction and nonfiction, his output included hundreds of short stories, articles, serials, syndicated newspaper columns, novels, and works of social criticism. He also wrote screenplays while in Hollywood, was an editor for Farrar & Rinehart, served on the Dade County, Florida Defense Council, was a director of the Lerner Marine Laboratory, and at one time was an adviser to the chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee for Atomic Energy which led to the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission. Most of his major writings contain critical, though often philosophical, views on man and society as a result of his studies and interest in psychology, biology, ethnology, and physics. Over nine movies were made from novels or stories by Wylie. He sold the rights for two others that were never produced.

Reviews

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had a great period feel to it, I couldn't decide if I was reading Heinlein or Eric Frank Russell. For anyone who enjoys works of that time period, this comes highly recommended.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short novella thriller, with the prescient theme of terrorists (Russian saboteurs, natch) mining American cities with atomic bombs smuggled into the country. As luck has it, our clumsy protagonist---"Duff" Bogan, physics grad student and handyman extraordinaire---stumbles onto the small group of foreign conspirators. The FBI acts as if he's crazy, but is portrayed as rather competent as they start looking into the matter. Meanwhile Duff goes on his own investigation, thinking he's the only one who can stop an atomic attack.

A bit simple, a bit dated, but not bad entertainment. As expected, Duff performs admirably and gets the beautiful, intelligent girl in the end, thanks to some assistance by her wealthy suitor. Wylie's writing is competent, occasionally witty, and despite (or because of) its brevity the story flows well. I'm a bit put off by some hyperbolic plot contrivances, but overall decent entertainment... kind of a precursor to the techno-thriller.

[Jon Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this on the Internet Archive, as a scanned copy of the 1965 Lancer edition. When I say I "read" the book, that's stretching the truth a little. Actually, it's more like I "skimmed" the book, skipping over pages and paragraphs as I went, so that the entire 148 pages was consumed in the course of about 3 hours. But I'm still going to add it to my list of "read" books. The book was first published in 1951, and it reads like it. The story takes place in south Florida. A gawky graduate student in physics rents a room at the home of a widowed mother and her three children. There is another boarder, a nondescript older man who lives a simple life and keeps to himself. Through an improbable circumstance, the physics grad student discovers what appears to be part of the fissionable core of an atomic bomb hidden in the closet of the older boarder. He takes a sample of the material and analyzes it at the university, and determines the stuff is highly enriched uranium. So begins a tale of intrigue as the grad student and his story of purloined atom bomb parts are rebuffed by the FBI. The grad student decides to sleuth out why the other boarder is in possession of a component from an atomic bomb, and what it all means. Oh, and did I mention that the eldest daughter of the boarding house family is a college beauty queen? So there is spying and tailing and mooning over the unapproachable beauty queen. It turns out that the atom bomb part hadn't been stolen from the US government, but was one component of many bombs being smuggled into the US by a foreign government to be assembled and set off in major cities. The foreign government is never named, but of course it's the Soviet Union. The whole tale is pretty silly, but suffice to say at the end the bad guys are thwarted (hoisted by their own petard, as it were, when one of their smuggled atom bombs goes off accidentally) and the hero gets the girl. I had higher hopes for this book after reading Wylie's "Gladiator" and the two "Worlds Collide" books, but I guess this is not one of his best efforts. Three out of five stars.

[Metaphorosis · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Duff, a gangly physics graduate student, is a boarder and helpmate in the Yates household, home also to the young and beautiful Eleanor Yates. When Duff blunders into a mystery that might be a national threat - or might be nothing - they set out to investigate.

Review
I know of Philip Wylie primarily from When Worlds Collide, which – as a kid – I thought of as a sophisticated, modern, adult story (probably because it mentioned a girl in a bikini). In any case, presumably because of that, I’ve always thought of him as writer from the ’60s or ’70s. I liked When Worlds Collide, so I eventually picked up some of his other novels as e-books.

I was surprised to find a very different, very wholesome, ’50s-feeling piece in this book. And, it turns out, that’s because it was written in the early ’50s, though Wylie wrote most of his books in the ’30s and ’40s. The kids are earnest, well-behaved, and full of good intentions, and shucks, the authorities aren’t half bad. It’s still got some of the 'boy genius loves plucky beauty' elements to it that were starting to fade away by that point, but it comes across as charming rather than sappy.

There are no great surprises here, but it’s a fun, easy, lighthearted book that I really wasn’t expecting. And as a bonus, it was the perfect palate cleanser between snarky Steven Brust books. I’m looking forward to reading more of Wylie’s books soon.

[tyto · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was first published in 1951, and you can definitely tell. It's a brief story about people smuggling atom bombs into the US. It's cheesy and over the top, but it is a bit entertaining, and the writing is smart.

[Gary Mcfarlane · Rating 5 out of 5]

An "old" book but still relevant.

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is amazingly current given that it was first published in 1951. I was shocked!