Customer Reviews

Menace in the Walls

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Awaken Children's Interests in the Sciences
Throughout my childhood I had always enjoyed science and math, which eventually led me into the field of Engineering. I have always loved a good mystery as well. Combine science with a good mystery and you have 'Menace in the Walls'. What a great way to spark a child's interest in the sciences! 'Menace in the Walls' addresses a hot topic of our day in a way that appeals to a child's curiosity, reasoning and imagination. Its pages are are sure to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. This book is a great read for the next generation of Engineers, Scientists, and Doctors!

Every science fiction book must strike a balance between the science and the fiction. Too many, especially children's books, stretch the truth to the point that it breaks. This is a book that science teachers will enjoy. The fiction places the main characters in unlikely situations (access to sensitive data), but the science is impeccable. The reader will come away with a good understanding of a hidden killer, which could even save lives. This would be an excellent selection for a school library.

Memo to guys: Smart is cool. Also, be nice to your sister. Those are two important lessons, refreshingly not delivered with a cafeteria lady's heavy hand, in N.L. Eskeland's "Erin Brockovich meets Michael Crichton" thriller for the preteen set, Menace in the Walls, a fictional account of a true and controversial medical horror story from the 1990s that stems from corporate greed and research funding versus the lives of innocent children. Moreover, we would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids, the Harry Potter-looking bespectacled Joshua Keegan and his firecracker younger sister Kelley, who find themselves brought together while investigating children's deaths. Sibling rivalry pales when you're running for your lives, It is not a "kids versus adults" story either: Joshua's parents, as well as a kindly researcher named Dr. Tang, prove to be great allies and protectors. In this moral, faith-filled, intelligent page-turner, Eskeland makes science cool again.

A perfect book for children should contain these elements, in no particular order: intrigue, camaraderie in the face of the darkest dangers, sound morals, and it should be educational. Menace in the Walls has all of the above.

Joshua Keegan is very eager to work in a hospital, and he jumps at the offer to work in Dr. Channing's lab for the summer. Prior to starting his job in the lab, he helped his mother one night during a terrible storm and was surprised to see that several children were being brought to the emergency room with the same symptoms: nosebleeds, coughing, congestion, and X-Rays that reveal damaged lungs. As Joshua begins his job in the lab, part of his duties involve entering patient information into the computer. As he's doing so, he notices that eight children, all under the age of four months, and all from the same area that experienced the flooding during the storm, have large X's over their data. Finding this odd, he prints out the information.

Later he learns that his favorite horse died - from mold that it ate in its hay. Doing some quick research on the internet, he discovers a disturbing link between the infants that were brought in during the storm and his horse's death. Thus begins the intrigue, and the mystery that Joshua sets out to solve. And it is an exciting, page-turning story that I found most enjoyable.

Along the way he finds unexpected help from a school jock and, perhaps even more surprising, his younger sister, whom he thought of as a nuisance in the beginning of the book. Working together, they work better than working alone.

Joshua's character in particular was very impressively fleshed out for such a relatively short book. With the exception of one "villain", in fact, there really weren't any typical caricatures that you expect to see in children's books. These were all very real characters.

But I think my favorite part of the book was learning about micropipette tips and autoclaving. Reading without learning, regardless of how exciting the story (and this is an exciting story) is like eating mashed potatoes without salt and butter, or gravy, or whatever you like to put on them. It's just not the same.

A fascinating novel about a boy and his sister and their thrilling adventure of finding out the cause of all these infant casualties. N. L. Eskeland tells the story in a way of many twists and turns,even when family could be disguised as foe. I recommend this book as an excellent mystery combining with the elements of science.

-AC, a 7th Grade Student

Menace in the Walls is a captivating quick weekend read -- "quick" because the story keeps you turning the pages! Very refreshing to enjoy a wholesome good book with educational benefits as well! "Kids" of all ages will enjoy this book.

I enjoyed reading this book very much! I could not put it down. Each Chapter kept me in suspense that I had to go to the next one. Joshua, the main character, is cool and very smart. Read this book- you will not be disappointed.