MAX MOOTH—CYBERSLEUTH AND THE CASE OF THE ZOMBIE VIRUS

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.