After two long and extremely busy weeks, I am back with a new book review. Here we have the mystery series about Nick and Tesla, two science loving, genius level twins who build gadgets from everyday materials in order to solve mysteries.
These books were written by the team of 'Science Bob' Pflugfelder, a school teacher, scientist, and showman who has been featured regularly on shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, and on his website www.sciencebob.com, and Steve Hockensmith who has penned a number of mystery and zombie novels including Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. This is the first book in the series and since, there has been another called Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Rampage.
Nick and Tesla begin the book in a taxi cab on their way to live with their Uncle Newton (Uncle Newt). We learn that they are going to stay with him for the entire summer when their parents are sent to Uzbekistan to learn about soybean irrigation. Well, Uncle Newt is not the most responsible adult in the world but he does have a super spectacular laboratory that he opens to the kids. The book paints uncle Newt as an eccentric kook with a heart of gold. He obviously has no idea on how to house children and makes us all wonder why any parent would send their children to a person like this. Well, uncle Newt has been working on spray on clothes, so when Nick and Tesla find him in his lab, he is trapped underneath a huge blob of orange foam that has stuck him to the ground. The kids need to find the purple solution to pour on the blog so uncle Newt can escape. He's escapes unharmed, but decidedly orange so he takes to his shower which is behind a submarine airlock door. Before he does this, however he grants Nick and Tesla access to use his lab to build whatever they desire. The kids find the necessary materials to build a soda bottle rocket and take it to a nearby estate yard to try it out. The rocket launches, but snags Tesla's special pendant on it's flight and lands behind a fence. The kids then start to formulate a plan to retrieve the pendant and that leads them to discover that something more sinister is going on.
What I like about this book is that it was very easy to read. The plot moves along at a very brisk pace, on a straight line, with no time spent developing character or getting inside for emotional depth. That isn't what this series is about. The plot itself is fairly cliche, but it is fun to read.
Nick and Tesla themselves are great characters, so is Uncle Newt. They are pretty standard character archetypes, but they work here. Tesla is the adventurous, impulsive one. Nick is the reserved thinker. Uncle Newt is the eccentric inventor who manages to do the right thing in spite of himself. The supporting characters, Silas, Demarco, Lily, Vince, and Frank aren't even really worth a mention because they are paper thin, truly one dimensional. Silas and Demarco are the not so smart sidekicks. Frank and Vince are the tough, gruff bad guys, Lily is the "damsel in distress". Silas and Demarco help Nick and Tesla uncover the mystery, Frank and Vince intimidate and scare the kids.
The writing quality is solid, but standard fare. There isn't anything flashy or overly creative about how the story is told or the descriptions. One might even call the writing drab. However, this is not what these books are about. These books are about the science and that's where their bright spots are.
As stated above, Nick and Tesla use homemade gadgets to help them solve the mystery. These include a DIY (do it yourself) burglar alarm, a DIY car tracker, a nail, wire, and battery electromagnet, and a DIY mentos and coke dog distractor. It's really fun to read about them in action, but even MORE fun is that the book actually includes blueprints, instructions, and a list of materials so that the reader can build the gadgets themselves. None of the experiments are dangerous, and only the soda rocket really requires any adult help. A curious mind with a steady hand could build most of these in an hour or so and they do actually work. What really helps these to stand out is that they are presented in context. When Nick and Tesla get set to use their gadget, the book stops the story for a few pages and presents the DIY instructions. They don't slow down the pace or interrupt the flow of the story at all, and I like how they allow the reader to make a connection with the story by building the gadget almost alongside the characters as if they were right there in the middle of the action.
Overall, outside of the great science content, this is not my favorite mystery series. If you want a better mystery, see my review of Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. If you like science and want something quick and fun, then Nick and Tesla's High Voltage Danger Lab just might electrify you.
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