I'm happy to see a recent turn to "gifted" children in novels.  My son and daughter are both in my school's gifted program and often the book offerings available do not appeal to them.  With the advent of Harry Potter, they both started finding more series popping up.  EVIL GENIUS is another debut that will appeal to those children looking for something a little different from the norm. 

At the age of seven, Cadel Piggett was far more advanced than his peers.  When he got caught hacking into the power grid, his adoptive parents follow police recommendations and bring him to a psychologist.  It is through this psychologist, Dr. Thaddeus Roth, that Cadel meets his birth father, Dr. Phineas Darkkon, a brilliant scientist who is currently serving a life sentence. 

At fourteen, Cadel is enrolled in the secretive Axis Institute where he and a number of students are taught a number of intriguing skills from forgery to lying to explosives to other forms of deception and thievery.  Soon Cadel realizes that the school is not all it appears.  Students and teachers are dropping like flies and Cadel realizes that his natural "father" may not be such a nice man after all.  With the help of a girl he meets online, Cadel sets out to stop his father from taking over the world. 

EVIL GENIUS appears to be the first in what may be one of the greatest series this decade.  From the first page, I was hooked.  I have to admit, I found myself actually agreeing with Darkkon, albeit wickedly, that tampering with DNA to rule out certain forms of people would make the world nicer!  Cadel, however, steals the show and I can't wait to spend more time with him. 

My son has now snatched my copy of the book to take to school.  He's already said it looks like a keeper.  Hopefully, the author, Catherine Jinks, can keep this delightful series rolling!