Eleven-year-old Helga Sharp is found unconscious in a drifting rowboat near the coast of Utley Island. Utley, as Helga finds out when she awakens in the hospital, is forbidden territory: it's a prison island to which the Mainland has exiled troublesome mad scientists for generations. The truth is, it's no accident that Helga landed here where she finds herself on a rescue mission. Provided by publisher.

Chiefly illustrations.