The last of five books in the 'Tom Swift' series to be published in its initial year of 1910, this one is decent but relatively routine. Howard Garis, the man behind the Victor Appleton house name for the majority of the original run, was clearly working to a formula that hadn't quite been set into stone yet, but he adheres to most of the nascent series traditions here and does it pretty well. In fact, the regular shenanigans probably work better in this book than its episode gimmick.

As you might expect, that's an electric car. We learned at the very end of the previous book, 'Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat', that his nemesis Andy Foger had bought a new car, prompting the tease that maybe Tom will build a faster one. Of course, that's what he does here, starting with a battery. There is another impetus beyond petty rivalry, which is that the Touring Club of America puts up three grand for the speediest electric car, though that's a little misleading as their test is an endurance race. They don't merely want speed, they want reliability as well and they've built a new track on Long Island to find it.

While I probably shouldn't spoil that, because the race serves as the finalé, I really don't have to. You know how it's going to play out already, just by knowing it's going to happen. I could add a few details, like how it ends up being a five-hundred-mile race with twenty cars aiming to manage the hundred laps of the five-mile Long Island track faster than their competitors, but you won't find a dab of tension because you know who wins before you even pick up the book. I'd lay odds you know how much he wins by too. Frankly, the actual result is less important to the series than the detail that Mary Nestor is there to see it live.

What really matters here is that Tom is back at home in Shopton. I think I can safely assume from later titles, and especially later subtitles, that many of these adventures will follow the previous book's lead and hurl Tom and his cohorts to wild and wonderful places around the globe, but most of the first three books unfolded around home base and this one follows suit. I like how grounded it is, not just that Tom takes his time putting his electric runabout together, both succeeding and failing with experiments and talking shop with Barton Swift like two adults with a shared interest rather than like father and son.

I also like how the vehicle du jour doesn't relegate previous such to the scrap heap. Tom rides his motor-cycle to Mansburg to get steel tubes and takes Mary Nestor out for a spin on Lake Carlopa in his motor-boat, while Mr. Sharp and Wakefield Damon take a trip in his airship, even if a storm prompts it to crash into the house. Don't worry, only minor repairs are needed and everyone's in good shape. Of the four vehicles du jour thus far, only the submarine doesn't get hauled out for a spin and there's not much opportunity to put one of those to use in upstate New York.

In many ways, that fourth book served as a palate cleanser for the series, an opportunity to start certain things afresh. It was pretty clear by book two that the Happy Harry Gang weren't going to last as series villains and, when Tom is kidnapped off the road here by twenty masked men, it only takes him a moment to realise that they're still in jail and these must be new villains. Well, sort of new, given that he quickly identifies Andy Foger's voice and extrapolates a few more, but that's a rivalry with more legs. I'm not sure how long it'll remain viable, especially after the events of this book, but it annoys less here than it did in the previous book.

Partly that's because it grows here. It isn't just Andy and a couple of his cronies getting into basic mischief any more. The masked Deep Forest Throng tying Tom to a tree for a mock trial feels like a step beyond that and history lends that still more gravitas. The first charge is merely that "he's a regular snob" but the second is that "he keeps an old colored man on guard"; "The coon throws whitewash all over us." Is this suddenly a racial thing? Well, the sentence is to tar and feather him so it's hard to avoid that suggestion. Suddenly, this whole scene smacks of the Klan.

Of course, the old colored man is Eridacate Sampson, whose dialogue is embarrassing stereotype but who has otherwise been treated reasonably well by the series. He's a good guy who hangs out with the good guys and has made the difference on a number of occasions already. He does in this book too, a rather convenient example being Tom's first test drive in his electric runabout, a slip in fuse choice leading Eradicate to tow it home by mule. However, while every ethnic slur prior to this book was delivered by Eradicate himself, that changes here, Sid Holton using the one above but the author also using "darkey", apparently entirely acceptable in 1910.

That Klan-esque scene isn't the only escalation. It felt dangerous, even though Tom orchestrates his own escape in effective fashion, and an act of sabotage feels even more so. Tom showcases his revolutionary new battery to his dad and thus electrocutes himself because someone had crossed his wires. "Then a blue flame appeared to encircle him and he dropped to the floor of the shop, an inert mass." Don't worry, he'll be OK soon enough, but this could be argued in court as attempted murder. I should add that that isn't the work of Andy Foger but another player we've met before, who may or may not be back in future books.

Less dangerous but just as vicious and criminal, Andy's dad joins the rivalry on a financial front. If you'll recall from 'Tom Swift and His Airship', Mr. Foger was a director at the Shopton bank but he has moved on now, aiming to start up a rival and steal as many customers as he can. Barton Swift and Wakefield Damon both become directors at the old bank, being large depositors, and so find themselves impacted when Mr. Foger spreads rumours that they're failing in order to force a run. Once again, I have to wonder about what legislation and regulations were in place to prevent this sort of thing at the time. Apparently not a lot in New York state in 1910.

If this sounds relatively pessimistic, with youths acting like racist thugs and adults triggering bank runs out of spite, I should add that there are plenty of good people in this book, people willing to lend a hand to anyone who happens to be in need. Twenty youths kidnap Tom and tie him up in the woods but, after he uses chemical powder to generate an explosion, neighbouring farmers rush in to rescue him. When Wakefield Damon's plan to prop up the bank's supply of cash runs into literal highwaymen, the farmers driving a hay truck flounder their hold up.

This is a pretty easy novel to like. The build to the eventual electric car race is agreeably patient but there's plenty of action thrown in on the side while that progresses. Some of it's tense, while some of it's dangerous and all of it builds the series. While we firmly expect at this point that the bad guys are going to get their comeuppance, there's also no shortage of delicious karma in play to make that enjoyable. There are some clichés but there are fewer plot conveniences than usual and most of the book holds up surprisingly well.

Oddly, the next book doesn't seem to aim to build on that, instead reverting to the approach of 'Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat' by whisking the characters away from home for a much more adventurous outing in 'Tom Swift and His Wireless Message', the first book not to be named for a vehicle. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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