Scavengers in Space is the kind of near-future space opera I was always looking for when I rifled through the library stacks and drugstore racks in the 1960s. It had relatable characters, an engaging plot with plenty of action, and some satisfying space science and engineering. Two twin brothers who don’t always get along avoid the space patrol, pirates, and corporate baddies to find a treasure their father found just before he died in the asteroid belt. Books like this established the tradition that eventually led to works like the Expanse series. 4 stars, for nostalgia if nothing else. ( )

This is pretty typical space opera science fiction of the late fifties and early sixties. It's also a Juvenile Science Fiction though this doesn't detract from the enjoyment. Rather more unusual for the times (and especially the present!), the United Nations are on the Good Guys side.
Tom and Greg are just barely past their eighteenth birthdays when they learn their father had been found dead in the Outer Belt where he'd been working alone to stake a claim in the riches of the belt. The just know that Jupiter Equilateral, the big bully boy organisation is behind this bereavement. But the local UN representative isn't, officially, so sure. The boys are confronted by JE's local representative who offers a ridiculously high price for their father's claim, which makes them even more certain that JE is behind the death of their father so they hire a ship of their own to go and do their own investigating. But they'd forgotten one thing; out in the belt, the law is what the organisation with the biggest gun says it is. Can they survive the dangers of space and greed?
Okay, it is somewhat naïve by today's standards, but it doesn't hurt to read books with an optimistic feel to them, though it's made clear there are pressures on the current system shown in this book ( )

Twins try to track down what happened to their father out in the asteroid belt. This was alot of fun, even if the plot felt like a mash up of the hardy boys and an old western tossed into space. Not a life changing book in any way, but a good way to kill a couple of hours. If you like the asteroid belt as a setting, then give it a whirl. ( )