The Vanishing Chip

Delaney's debut novel launches the Misfits, Inc. series, and introduces a quartet of high-school students, self-proclaimed ""Misfits,"" who solve a rather outlandish mystery. At the invitation of the security guard grandfather of one of the four, the friends visit a museum to view the prototype of a valuable, high-performance computer chip. Displayed in a Plexiglas cube, the chip disappears right before their eyes. When the police arrest the innocent guard, the Misfits are determined to find the real thief and clear the suspect's name. The author characterizes each of the four with a stereotypic quality necessary to their detective work: bespectacled Peter is brilliant and quick-thinking; stringy-haired Byte is a computer genius; Jake is a muscular jock; and diminutive Mattie moves as deftly and cleverly as a magician. The author liberally sprinkles his narrative with cliches, as well as with metaphors that occasionally lead to contradictory images (Mattie peers into the villain's mansion and spies his three apprehended pals on the floor, ""looking every bit like a bouquet of wilting flowers""; on the following page, Peter thinks that fellow captive Jake ""looked very much like a trapped bull contemplating a charge""). Still, the novel has its strong points, including mostly believable dialogue among the teenagers and some genuine moments of suspense. Of Heroes and Villains is the next installment, planned for release in the spring. Ages 12-16. (Oct.)