Highways in Hiding (1956)

Highways in Hiding is a science fiction novel by author George O. Smith first published in 1955.
Strange signposts led to an underworld of ESP, espionage... and untold danger. Follow Steve Cornell's weird and terrifying race with time and unseen enemies to locate and stop a dread menace from outer space!
The novel concerns ESP and a disease that turns men into supermen. It contains multiple plotlines concerning the interactions of people that can sense things (espers) and people that can read thoughts (telepaths). This is set against the plot of a secret society that is harboring people that are infected with a spaceborne illness called Mekstrom's Disease.
J. Francis McComas found Highways in Hiding to be "a tasty enough dish for those on a diet of pure melodrama," concluding that "Our hero's adventures go on a bit too long, but over all, his exploits are entertaining." Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale praised the novel for its "suspense [and] crackling, hard-boiled dialogue."
Highways in Hiding was first published in the magazine Imagination in 1955, and as a book in 1956 (the novel was also published in an abridged version as Space Plague in 1957.)
George Oliver Smith (1911-1981) (also known by the pseudonym Wesley Long) was an American science fiction author. He is not to be confused with George H. Smith, another American science fiction author.
Smith wrote mainly about outer space, with such works as Operation Interstellar (1950), Lost in Space (1959), and Troubled Star (1957). Smith continued regularly publishing science fiction novels and stories until 1960. He was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1980.