This story, about an accident at an atomic industrial site was written in 1942, which was well before the general public had any idea how nuclear reactors worked, let alone what kind of accidents they could cause. This was one of those great predictive stories, where the details are very wrong, but the basic ideas were frighteningly predictive. And it's a great action packed story. However, as someone who has lived through three major nuclear accidents, and lives in a place that is pretty much surrounded by nuclear accidents waiting to happen, I found I was unable to suspend my disbelief enough to actually engage with the story in a meaningful way. Some science fiction just doesn't age well, and I'm afraid this must be included in the list.

A really good touch for the time is the addition of an extremely competent female nurse-practitioner who the older male doctor readily accepted as an equal colleague. ( )