Most people see Oliver Watson, and they see a chubby, 12 year old, who seems a bit dimwitted. In reality he is a genius and business mastermind who runs a major corporate empire, allowing him to have and do whatever he wants behind the scenes. Now that he is int he eighth grade, the third richest person on the planet has a new goal: he wants to be president of his middle school student council.

He sets this new goal in the hopes of upstaging his dad, a man who feels an unfulfilled sense of grandeur and importance while overlooking his son. Ironically, Oliver has turned into everything his father ever wanted to be in the area of success while also taking on his father's arrogance and ability to be overly harsh to everyone around him. He plays with people like toys for entertainment and judges others by ranking them against his own success. He comes across as quite the Grinch, with a cruel internal voice that mocks his peers and allows him to seek revenge by using his corporate tools.

Oliver is in fact and evil genius similar to Artemis Fowl in the series by that name written by Eoin Colfer or Cadel Piggott from the Evil Genius series by Catherine Jinks. This book is also filled with the same dark and sarcastic humor found in the earlier books. Like most such humor, though, it covers over the reality behind Oliver's actions.

At first, I had a hard time handling Oliver and his perspective. He may be super-smart, but he is terribly cruel and quite the jerk. It is a little bit shocking. I did find myself pulled into the story, which is accompanied by no shortage of potty humor and a collection of quirky, interesting characters. The book settles into a very funny tone that has you cheering for those Oliver is working against.

Besides telling the stories, the book includes a number of photographs of people and items from the tale, as well as snarky footnotes with comments from Oliver himself, to help explain what really happened to us feeble-minded readers. I think middle schoolers, particularly boys, are going to flock to this one.