First part of The Accelerati Trilogy, this young adult tale introduces Nick and Danny who move house with their father after the tragic home fire that changed their lives forever. Arriving at the house left to them by a great- aunt, the boys get to checking out the musty rooms and cluttered attic. Nick's fourteen and a garage sale sounds like a good way to make some cash and get rid of the junk. TESLA'S ATTIC contains a strange lamp that, switched on, draws people from all around the area to buy the elderly appliances, such as Caitlin who can't stop herself buying a tape recorder.

Next day some people have trouble with the wonky toaster, the ivory disc, and Caitlin discovers that the tape recorder picks up her thoughts, not just her voice. Nick and Danny's first day at school in Colorado Springs is complicated by their having been deleted from computer systems. And their dad, a retired baseball player, is out looking for a job when four shady men call to see if any of the attic goods are still available. Nikola Tesla, an inventor in the days of Edison and Marconi, once lived in Colorado Springs; and Petula and Mitch in school believe that he could have left some trial gadgets with Nick's great-aunt, a socialite. Even that doesn't explain how strange their lives are becoming.

This is a hugely enjoyable read and enquiring minds could do worse than imitate Tesla, who invented a wide range of innovations, made a million dollars by the age of forty and gave it all away. The kids in town are each individuals with distinct lives and range from creepy but helpful Vince, and Caitlin with her game playing and smashed art, to chatty Mitch whose father lives in a 'gated community' which turns out to be the wrong kind of maximum security accommodation. The kids experience baseball on a cosmic level and find out just who their friends are. The shady men turn out to be the mysterious Accelerati society - whatever that is.

TESLA'S ATTIC is published by Disney and I could well see it being made into a film on the lines of The Goonies. I'd pay to watch it. I also liked the witty chapter headings and the promise of two more books in the series. TESLA'S ATTIC by Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman is an addictive read for teenagers and serious fun.

Book Summary

After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger brother, and their father move into a ramshackle Victorian house they've inherited. When Nick opens the door to his attic room, he's hit in the head by a toaster. That's just the beginning of his weird experiences with the old junk stored up there. After getting rid of the odd antiques in a garage sale, Nick befriends some local kids-Mitch, Caitlin, and Vincent-and they discover that all of the objects have extraordinary properties. What's more, Nick figures out that the attic is a strange magnetic vortex, which attracts all sorts of trouble. It's as if the attic itself has an intelligence . . . and a purpose.

Ultimately Nick learns that the genius Nikola Tesla placed the items-his last inventions-in the attic as part of a larger plan that he mathematically predicted. Nick and his new friends must retrieve everything that was sold at the garage sale and keep it safe. But the task is fraught with peril-in addition to the dangers inherent in Tesla's mysterious and powerful creations, a secret society of physicists, the Accelerati, is determined to stop Nick and alter destiny to achieve its own devious ends. It's a lot for a guy to handle, especially when he'd much rather fly under the radar as the new kid in town.

Fans of intrigue, action, humor, and nonstop surprises are guaranteed a read unlike any other in Tesla's Attic, Book One of the Accelerati Trilogy.