Bringing Down the Mouse

By: Ben Mezrich

Narrated by: Tonya Mezrich

Charlie Lewis goes on a roller-coaster ride of risk, math, and gaming in this middle grade novel that parallels The New York Times best-selling Bringing Down the House, which inspired the movie 21.

Charlie Lewis is a nerd. All he’s ever been good at is math - and he’s really good at math. So good that he’s recruited by a group of kids determined to game the system at the biggest theme park in the world - and win the grand prize.

Soon Charlie is caught up in the excitement and thrill of using his math skills for awesomeness...but what’s at stake may be more than he’s willing to risk. How far will Charlie go for a chance at the ultimate reward?

©2014 Ben Mezrich (P)2018 Oasis Audio

Not very good

I enjoyed this a little more than it deserved. The story doesn’t really make any sense, but learning how carnival games are rigged was interesting. The writing is bad—not in a kid voice at all, stilted, and throws in random exposition. Like, it’s super cynical about the fake Disney World. It keeps describing everything there as tacky and over the top, even though the kid is excited to go. And also most of it doesn’t have anything to do with Disney—which is not known for carnival games or closing at 6:30! The promotion they’re doing their heist on makes absolutely no sense. The narrator has a nice voice but doesn’t really even try to do voices. And for some reason, they didn’t edit out her mistakes, so it sounds like she’s reading it cold.