John and Julia Cartwright are deeply disturbed when they notice a drastic change in their daughter Maureen. She has become strangely lethargic and suffers from unexplained nausea. A sinister possibility occurs to John when he discovers evidence of contamination from a tin of baked beans.Adding fuel to the fire, photographic paper he has stored at home has clearly been damaged by something.A chilling possibility emerges… radioactive contamination.The same occurrences are soon reported in homes, schools and organisations across the country.A glass of water— a cigarette— a stash of pills…Everything has the potential to be lethal.But nobody is able to answer the key questions: how, and since when?Where has it come from?Someone, somewhere, has failed and the consequences are horrific. A disaster is unfolding and the Atomic Development Commission set out to investigate.The task is complex but one fact remains throughout all lines of enquiry: no one is immune to the force of contamination…

Chain Reaction is a gripping science fiction thriller, in which the very-real threat of radioactive devastation is brought to terrifying reality.

First published in 1959 by Hodder & Stoughton, Ltd.