A boy tries to stop a rampaging robot in this “deliciously wicked fun” tale by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls ( School Library Journal )   When feared Yankees slugger Cliff Bullard goes barnstorming around the northeast, offering $10,000 to any local pitcher who can strike him out, Professor Childermass and Johnny Dixon get a sneaky idea. There’s a local legend about a crackpot inventor who once built a robot capable of throwing a baseball 110 MPH, and the professor thinks that if they find the machine, they can win Bullard’s prize. They discover the rusted old monstrosity in an abandoned workshop and put it back together, piece by piece. But when they screw in the robot’s eyes and it comes to life, they realize they have made a terrible mistake.   As soon as it’s activated, the robot attacks, trying to kill Johnny and the professor. Was it made to be a killing machine, or have its circuits been corroded? To save the town and get a crack at the $10,000, Johnny and the professor will have to tame the steel beast.   The adventure stories featuring Johnny Dixon, from the award-winning author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls , are a delightfully imaginative treat, and this book in the popular series features “a unique plot, marvelous characters, and non-stop suspense” ( School Library Journal ). Praise for John Bellairs   “I have just spent a long rainy weekend buried under a quilt, devouring salty peanuts and a stack of John Bellairs mysteries. It was heaven . . . Much like other mysteries, these short works of the imagination are designed and constructed with the fine storytelling craft of an adult master. . . . Bellairs moves the action at a furious clip. . . . [These] hair-raising adventures also excite readers because they involve believable and likable characters with whom we can empathize in moments of danger . . . An endearing detective team.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times “Is there no end to the suspense John Bellairs can create?” — School Library Journal   “There’s suspense and action aplenty. . . Perfect for the pre-Stephen King set.” — Booklist   “Sophisticated notions on the nature of good and evil, nuanced storytelling, and expert world-building.” — AV Club   Praise for John Bellairs   “I have just spent a long rainy weekend buried under a quilt, devouring salty peanuts and a stack of John Bellairs mysteries. It was heaven . . . Much like other mysteries, these short works of the imagination are designed and constructed with the fine storytelling craft of an adult master. . . . Bellairs moves the action at a furious clip. . . . [These] hair-raising adventures also excite readers because they involve believable and likable characters with whom we can empathize in moments of danger . . . An endearing detective team.” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times “Is there no end to the suspense John Bellairs can create?” — School Library Journal   “There’s suspense and action aplenty. . . Perfect for the pre-Stephen King set.” — Booklist   “Sophisticated notions on the nature of good and evil, nuanced storytelling, and expert world-building.” — AV Club   John Bellairs is beloved as a master of Gothic young adult novels and fantasies. His series about the adventures of Lewis Barnavelt and his uncle Jonathan, which includes  The House with a Clock in Its Walls , is a classic. He also wrote a series of novels featuring the character Johnny Dixon. Among the titles in that series are  The Curse of the Blue Figurine ;  The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt ; and  The Spell of the Sorcerer’s Skull . His stand-alone novel  The Face in the Frost  is also regarded as a fantasy classic, and among his earlier works are  St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies  and  The Pedant and the Shuffly . Bellairs was a prolific writer, publishing more than a dozen novels before his untimely death in 1991.