Justice Department agent Quentin Locke is a scientist and an escape artist. He is on a mission to investigate and bring to justice a powerful cartel that is protected by The Automaton, a robot that uses a gas weapon known as The Madagascar Madness.

Arthur B. Reeve (1880-1936) was an American mystery writer. He is best known for creating the series character Professor Craig Kennedy, sometimes called "The American Sherlock Holmes", and Kennedy's Dr. Watson-like sidekick Walter Jameson, a newspaper reporter. Kennedy is a scientist detective at Columbia University who uses his knowledge of chemistry and psychoanalysis to solve cases, and uses exotic devices in his work such as lie detectors, gyroscopes, and portable seismographs. Many of Reeve's novels were turned into films.