Max Einstein – Saves the Future

James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein's Max Einstein Saves the Future is a science-packed chase for 8 year olds, starring a twelve-year-old genius who REALLY hates waiting.

What happens

It opens in 1921, in a basement full of humming machines and flashing lights, with a baby crawling somewhere she definitely shouldn't. Hold on to that one!

Then we jump to the present. Max is stuck in London while Ben, her billionaire friend, sorts out the team's next big job. She's bored out of her mind, so she tours every spot her hero Albert Einstein ever visited in the city.

That includes sneaking backstage at the Royal Albert Hall with an empty violin case. It works right up until security points out that tonight's singers don't use instruments.

Meanwhile a shadowy group called the Corp has hired someone new to hunt her down. Professor Von Hinkle is nearly seven feet tall, his long coat jingles with hidden weapons and he's very proud of being ruthless.

Then her friend Siobhan flies in from Dublin, and London gets a lot more fun. The two of them plaster pretty scrapbook stickers all over their faces to fool the city's security cameras. Who knew that's how you beat facial recognition?

The science comes thick and fast but it never feels like a lesson. On the train to Oxford, Max explains one of Einstein's famous thought experiments with the help of an imaginary man called Bob. Siobhan is mostly worried about Bob's haircut. They laugh so hard they nearly miss their stop!

Max still chats with the Einstein in her head, who has a very cheesy sense of humour (he's delighted they named the Royal Albert Hall after him). Then there's an awkward lunch with Ben. Max insists he is NOT her boyfriend. Siobhan isn't convinced.

There's real heart too. Max sees a homeless family being handed leftover sandwiches in an alley and remembers being that hungry kid in New York. No wonder Ben's hint about tackling world hunger next matters so much to her.

It's worth knowing the new villain is properly menacing. In one scene he uses a tiny flying drone fitted with needles to drug a prisoner into talking, and he mentions that one of the needles can kill. A sensitive reader might find that a bit much. Most will be too busy rooting for Max.

What to read next

This is the third Max Einstein book and it carries straight on from the earlier ones. If your reader hasn't met her yet, start with The Genius Experiment, where Max is living above a New York horse stable with brilliant ideas and no money to build them.