Evil Genius

A brilliant boy and budding sociopath, Cadel Piggot confronts the dark forces controlling him in Catherine Jinks’s 2005 young adult thriller, Evil Genius. Cadel lost his parents long ago and was adopted by Stuart and Lanna Piggot, who, though they provide a comfortable material life for him in Sydney, Australia, are too self-absorbed to offer affection. Alienated from other kids by his towering intellect, Cadel amuses himself pursuing his particular fascination: breaching and sabotaging complex systems. Lacking solid social and moral guideposts, he seems destined to apply his mighty IQ to anarchic ends. Then he befriends another social outsider and starts to suspect that malevolent powers are secretly directing his life.

Seven-year-old Cadel hacks into computer systems with ease. Although innocent curiosity drives his actions more than criminal intent, the police intervene and require him to attend counseling. The Piggots forbid their son to use a computer again and take him to psychoanalyst Thaddeus Roth. Thus begins Cadel’s schooling in the art of cyber villainy. When the Piggots leave Roth’s office, he offers Cadel computer access with the admonition, “Next time […] don’t get caught.” During the following months and years, Roth cultivates Cadel’s exceptional affinity for systems, coaching him in criminal activity. Cadel quickly becomes skilled at identifying the weakest point in a system, deftly causing the collapse of the Sydney rail and traffic networks.

Roth, it turns out, is an agent for criminal mastermind Phineas Darkkon; Darkkon, Roth claims, is Cadel’s father. A genius himself, Darrkon built a financial empire capitalizing on his research in genetics before he was imprisoned for threatening to unleash a “retrovirus” that would wipe out humans carrying “junk” DNA. Although he is behind bars, he is still actively pursuing his ambition to rid the human race of inferior genes, creating a ruling class of intellectual powerhouses. Darrkon uses a DNA transmitter, cleverly hidden in his cell toilet, to communicate with Roth. The diabolical duo has been grooming Cadel for much of his life to become the “evil genius” who will actualize Darrkon’s dreams of a new world order. First, they hired the Piggots to adopt Cadel, and now Roth advises him to enroll at Axis Institute.



Darrkon created Axis Institute to advance Cadel’s education in criminality, specifically, and as a school for exceptional students to earn degrees in World Dominion, generally. The course offerings include computer science (infiltration), cultural appreciation (forgery), and psychology (manipulation), among others. Cadel speeds through high school, where he and the other students share a mutual dislike. Because people puzzle him, eleven-year-old Cadel designs a computer program that predicts human behaviors. “Partner Post” is a spin-off program he launches for profit. Billed as a matchmaking service, Cadel actually matches subscribers with fake perfect partners. When he is fourteen, Cadel enrolls at Axis.

Axis, a school for evil, is an unpleasant place. The institute prizes deception and ruthlessness, and its creed, as articulated by the “philosophy” professor, is akin to survival of the fittest. The faculty members are, accordingly, mean-spirited and abusive. Although mistrust and malevolence infect the student body, Cadel forms alliances with classmates Jemima and Niobe, twin sisters who are gifted in shoplifting and telepathy, and with Gazo Kovacs. Although intellectually unremarkable, Gazo was admitted to Axis on the strength of his odor, which is so potent he is required to wear a protective suit. This idiosyncrasy makes him a worthy research subject for Darrkon. To Cadel’s dismay, Gazo latches on to him, but Gazo’s friendliness – rare in Cadel’s world – wins Cadel over.

Kay-Lee McDougall becomes the most significant figure in Cadel’s life. Cadel meets Kay-Lee when she subscribes to his scam Partner Post service, and the two develop a rapport due to their respective prodigious smarts. In his correspondence with Kay-Lee, Cadel, who is petite and “girlish,” identifies himself as a thirty-something Canadian math professor, while Kay-Lee claims to be a twenty-five-year-old nurse. She excels in math and cryptography, so they often write one another using a code based on the periodic table. Their relationship soon goes beyond intellectual amusements, and they share their feelings of loneliness and insecurity.



Because Axis purposefully promotes backstabbing and provides lessons in poisoning and explosives, it is hardly surprising that students start dying from freakish causes, such as combustion. However, the mounting death toll alarms Cadel, as does the sudden silence from Kay-Lee. When he seeks her out, he discovers she is a young girl with cerebral palsy. Her real name is Sonja Pirovic, and she has been using her nurse’s name online. More shocking still is the revelation that Stuart Piggot has visited Sonja to thwart their friendship. Cadel realizes he has been under surveillance, strengthening his emerging sense of entrapment.

Cadel and Sonja accept one another for who they really are, and their friendship resumes. Moreover, the caring feelings Cadel has for Sonja, who is not one of the “fittest,” run counter to the cold-hearted agenda of the Axis Institute. Cadel wants out of Axis and plots his escape. He hacks into the faculty’s email accounts and, using a combination of blackmail and bank fraud, creates such upheaval among the professors that several kill each other. During the chaos, Cadel dons his “girl” disguise (from “personal presentation” class) and slips off, but is kidnapped by Max de Litto, the philosophy professor, who suspects Cadel is trying to sabotage the school. Cadel sets a mattress ablaze to escape behind the smokescreen and is rescued by Roth’s secretary, Wilfreda.

Roth now claims he is Cadel’s real father and abducts him. When police surround Roth’s house, Cadel escapes once again, and Roth soon surrenders. It is revealed that Roth’s actual name is Prosper English. Cadel emails Sonja about his adventures, and she replies in periodic code, “I need to see you.”



In an interview from the archives of readingaustralia.com, Catherine Jinks comments, “Certainly ‘belonging’ is a major theme in [Evil Genius], partly because it’s all about finding some sort of family.” Cadel’s search for belonging continues in Genius Squad (2008) and Genius Wars (2009).