This certainly has TV written all over it, and hopefully Kogon will keep Max's adventures coming.
Just as Hannibal Lecter became a cannibal before him, what choice does a boy named Max Mooth have but to become a cyber sleuth, really?
Especially when we learn that he's something of a boy genius, out of college at 17 and essentially friendless. But to the septuagenarians in his building (his grandma raised him) and a somber eight-year-old known as Mr. Z., Max is an amiable, goofy sort who spends his days spitting zingy one-liners while tracking down virus creators, who have the nerve to harm innocent computers. We meet Max at a high point; he’s just met a girl named Abby who also names her gadgets, and he's thoroughly smitten. It's too bad that an old college nemesis, the lazy, pulchritudinous Xefland Aurcracker (and with a name like that, what choice do you have but to be the bad guy?), is out to steal his girl and frame Max for a virus that his anti-viral company is about to unleash. Will Max be able to get (and keep) the girl? Will he foil Xefland's evil plan in time? Readers will find the answers in this charming, well-paced story that could easily be Nickelodeon series.
This certainly has TV written all over it, and hopefully Kogon will keep Max's adventures coming.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-595-33324-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A melodramatic tale of a young snowboarder with terrifically bad judgement. First, Declan worms his way into the “Urban Xtreme Team,” a gang of Vancouver graffitists; then, when they perish in a self-started fire and he opts for a six-week rehabilitation stint in the mountains, he responds to the jeers of a rival by nearly killing himself three times, snowboarding down slopes that are beyond his ability. The third time is actually a suicide attempt, but in surviving it, he ends up straightening himself out. Declan picks up the rudiments of snowboarding with convenient ease, the cast is composed of types, and readers unfamiliar with the sport may stumble over the jargon; still, for solid vicarious entertainment, the plot is comprised of nonstop wild rides, avalanches, and wipe-outs. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 5, 1999
ISBN: 0-8225-3307-3
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Lerner
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
From Werlin, a meaty tale of self-discovery, wrapped in encounters between two computer gamers and a dangerously unstable kidnapper. Poster child for passive-aggressive behavior, hyper-wealthy orphan Marnie has blown off her studies in favor of spending hours online as the sorceress Llewellyne, battling monsters and a sharp rival known as Elf in virtual Paliopolis. Closed-off and hostile since the death of her unwed mother, Skye (a gospel singer turned author of uplifting bestsellers), Marnie pays the price for her self-imposed isolation: Leah, a teacher from her exclusive private school, kidnaps her, imprisons her in a windowless cellar room, and tremulously informs her—at gunpoint—that they are secret half-sisters. Enter Elf, actually a shaved-head prep school senior named Frank, who dashes to the “rescue” just in time to bollix Marnie’s escape, becomes another hostage, then sticks around afterward to teach her about friendship. Although the kidnapping, for all its high-pitched drama, adds a measure of suspense, this is more about Marnie’s learning how to let her mother go, which she does, but not before Leah shoots herself, Frank exhibits some endearing vulnerability beneath a veneer of macho rebellion, and brutal revelations about Skye’s past emerge. Leaving much between the lines, Werlin concocts a thriller for thoughtful readers. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32700-5
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
