Monster Machine Tom Swift 5

Tom Swift IV #5

by Victor Appleton

The TANC - a Transformable Ambulatory Nuclear-powered Craft - is an all terrain vehicle, supersonic jet, and state-of-the-art spacecraft rolled into one. And for Tom Swift, TANC also makes a mean monster truck. But before he can dive it into the mud pits, he's drawn into a snake pit of high-tech intrigue.

An international arms dealer who wants to turn TANC into a weapon of mass destruction kidnaps Tom to a remote South American hideaway. The only way Tom can stop the plan is to fly the monster machine untested - dodging an arsenal of artillery, missiles, and jet fighters!

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult

Mass Market Paperback

Published January 1, 1991

About the author

Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...

The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom has a cool car called TANC which talks, drives itself, turns into an airplace and turns into a spaceship. A supervillain kidnaps Tom and his friends, and they use TANC to escape. There is not much to the book, plotwise. It's just 150 pages of our heroes playing with a cool car, and the car is admittedly cool. This is the first book where Tom's sister Sandra is equally smart and good at science as he is. Even though the siblings didn't interact much, it's still an interesting dynamic for Tom to be working with another genius. There's a segment where they go through the tunnel from "Tom Swift And His Big Tunnel", which is a neat throwback to fans of the original Tom Swift series.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely the best entry so far in this Tom Swift series. The dialogue is quick, witty, and smart. The plot is straightforward and mostly believable. There is action, intrigue, and development. The characters don't really change much, but in a series such as this, that is to be expected. Not really any complaints here.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, but not the best Swift series.

[Nikita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected from what Victor told me about it,but still pretty good.I could see it becoming a movie, with a lot of add-ins but the dialogue i could see staying pretty much the same.

[Christopher Brehm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

[Kein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the idea of transforming vehicles.