Review of "The Egyptian Cat Mystery," by John Blaine

Review of

The Egyptian Cat Mystery, by John Blaine


Four out of five stars

 This Rick Brant adventure takes him and his friend Scotty to Egypt to work with some radio astronomy scientists that are attempting to decipher and interpret some very odd signals that the telescopes are receiving. The anomalies are so odd that they must eliminate all possible sources of terrestrial origin as well as equipment malfunction or natural phenomenon. The point of origin appears to be light years from Earth, the signal has a regular variation but not like a variable star and it is apparently moving at an incredible rate of speed. If everything else can be eliminated, then the only plausible explanation is that it is of intelligent origin.

 By itself, this would make for an interesting science fiction story. However, the radio astronomy is secondary to the Egyptian cat. Before Rick and Scotty leave the United States for Egypt, an Egyptian man asks them to take a plastic figurine of a cat with them and deliver it to a man in Egypt. Thinking that it is nothing more than the simple delivery of a token, Rick and Scotty agree to deliver the item.

 However, it is quickly clear that there is far more to the situation than they first thought, they are chased, frisked and kidnapped by the villains that are determined to acquire the plastic figure. This plot thread makes it just another mystery/adventure book.

 The science that appears is generally solid for 1961, the story would have been stronger if there had been more of it. A complete foundation is put down for there to have been a signal received from space aliens, it is unfortunate that the logical conclusion is not reached or amplified.