Catherine Jinks.  Evil Genius
Harcourt  $21.95  ISBN 978-0-15-205988-0  486 pg.
Reviewed by Melissa, Age 15

“Good luck on your first day, and a word of advice from someone with experience.” He waited until the whole class was looking at him. “The refectory’s sweet-and-sour pork,” he said, “is poison.”

And he laughed.

Cadel is a very special young man; in fact he’s the son of an evil genius.  AND being a very special young man, he must attend a very special school, known as The Axis Institute for World Domination.

Everything is as perfect as can be. Cadel is going to a school with the most high-tech equipment that he has ever seen. He is even learning how to be evil. But, he becomes suspicious when the students attending the Axis Institute start to…die. What is happening to them? Why? Cadel starts to have second thoughts about the school and its founder.

This novel is like a rollercoaster until the very last word! I am in love with the plot and how intricate everything is. The book has an on-going line of surprises and questions and there always is more than one conflict going on at once, and it keeps the reader hanging by a thread. The characters are all different and they all have amazingly distinguished appearances and attitudes. As this book has some mild language and violence, I would recommend it for people fourteen years and older. Also, Jinks incorporates a lot of high school context, like the periodic table for instance. That is, by far, my favourite piece in the book! Everything is a puzzle, and in order to solve it you have to really think. The end has to be the sweetest and most interesting thing that I have read in a long time.

The title says it all! Evil Genius is a work of genius!  Melissa gives the book five 30.94-111-16-32.065-3-14.007-32 stars!  We’ll let YOU break this code.