Fourth 'R' Book

James Quincy Holden is just five when his parents are murdered, ran off the road by "Uncle" Paul Brennan. James was in the car too and was supposed to die, but he not only lives, he immediately begins to plot revenge on the man who murdered his mum and dad.

For James Holden is not just an ordinary five year old.

From birth he has been taught by the Holden Electromechanical Educator, a machine invented by his parents which records and imprints the brainwaves associated with learning, enabling you to learn something forever after reading it just once.

Can a child with the education of an adult really behave like an adult?

Holden certainly makes a more than decent fist of it, yet there is always something missing, quite apart from his characterisation as something of an intellectual brat who could do with a good clip round the ear.

What he lacks, of course, is experience, and therefore judgement.

He also lacks a fully developed body. His rather academic approach to understanding sexual matters at the age of ten is designed to illustrate this, though I thought it could have been left out (his later attempts as a teenager were more convincing).

That aside, the author did a good job with an interesting but difficult subject.

The premise raises a difficult quandary - would such a machine be used in the right way to benefit mankind? - one which I don't think Smith resolved to any satisfaction with his botched, preachy ending.

Mind you, I'm not entirely sure how I would have ended it. I'm not smart enough. Maybe a few sessions on the Holden Electromechanical Educator would put me straight?