iUniverse © 2005, 114 pages (juvenile fiction)
Max Mooth is a socially immature but intellectually precocious nineteen-year-old (he graduated from college at seventeen) with an inordinate fondness for computers--his favorite things in the world, with the possible exception of pudding. Indeed, Max is dedicated to tracking down cyber-criminals, the nefarious disseminators of computer viruses, which he does with the aid of an impressive array of high-tech gadgetry. The Robin to Max's Batman is Mr. Z, a similarly precocious eight-year-old who eschews age-appropriate play and views the world with the cynical eye of a noir detective. Like any hero worthy of the name, Max is saddled with a nemesis, in his case an enemy from his Berkeley days, the delightfully over-the-top Xefland Aurcracker. Aurcracker is the filthy-rich, computer-challenged CEO of a company that produces virus protection software. Aurcracker intends, with the assistance of a minion or two, to release a devastating computer virus, frame Max for the crime, and rake in piles of cash by selling the only software capable of defeating it. At the same time, Aurcracker means to break Max's heart by stealing away the girl he's just met and fallen for (principally because she is nearly as fond of her iBook as he is of his own numerous computers).
Max Mooth--Cyber Sleuth is not a perfect book. Max punctuates his speech with corny computerisms--"Feeling downloadable, punk?"--that grow tiresome. Occasional scenes don't work because they strain credibility: climbing a muddy hill, Max is beset by an unlikely number of worms; he extricates himself from difficult situations with the homemade screwdriver he carries around, which he fashioned, inexplicably, out of paper clips. Max lives in a retirement home, having been raised there by a now deceased grandmother. This is interesting in that it adds a further layer to Max's hesitant relationship with adulthood--the boy/man is more comfortable with children and the elderly than with his own age group. But the implausibility of the arrangement is distracting.
These shortcomings, however, are relatively minor, and they pale in comparison with what the book has to offer: a cast of delightfully quirky characters and some genuinely amusing dialogue and situations. For example, Aurcracker assembles a team of psychiatrists to ask them how best to steal Max's girlfriend from him. "I'm pursuing a woman," he says to them, "mainly to deny a nemesis from having her by completely lying, deceiving and pulling the wool over her eyes. Any ideas how I should proceed?"
Meanwhile, Max, having blocked the door to a certain Mr. Underwood's office with a chair, frantically searches the room and Underwood's computer while its owner is away:
"Just then, the door hit the chair, blocking it. Max jumped, and quickly turned off Underwood's computer. He dove over the desk, back in his chair, as Underwood pushed his way in. Max appeared bored, leafing through his briefcase.
"'What was a chair doing there?' Underwood asked suspiciously.
"'I don't know,' Max said. 'Must've fallen when you left. I'm not a physics expert, Mr. Underwood.'"
Stephen Kogon published Max Mooth himself via the online book publisher iUniverse. I'm hoping the book finds a traditional publisher, as it deserves a wider readership.
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