The Demon Headmaster Takes Over

Cross's prize winning successes with Wolf and The Great Elephant Chase have been eclipsed by her 'Demon Headmaster' series, subsequently adapted for television by Helen Cresswell. In this fifth book the Demon Headmaster miraculously returns, driven by his lust for power and total world knowledge, having survived been swallowed by the Evolution Accelerator --- not a pleasant experience. This time he wants control of the Hyperbrain, a world wide thinking computer network of such advanced Artificial Intelligence that it makes the internet look like a tin can and string telephone system. Dinah and the juvenile SPLAT gang have to be at their sharpest to prevent the Demon Headmaster's development, through the Hyperbrain, of Direct Brain Access. After all, as a clone of the original Headmaster, all he needs to secure total world domination is to discover his own name. Rumpelstiltskin-like, he is defeated in this dramatic, fast moving and very readable thriller, crafted in typical Cross style, with an ending that sets the scene perfectly for the sixth book. There are occasional half page illustrations. Despite the Demon Headmaster's TV success, there are junior children who prefer the books and actually read them before comparing them with the TV adaptation.