Why do I love the concluding volumes of series done by Neal Shusterman? Because by that point in the narrative, so many characters and story threads have been packed in that a single book can hardly hold them. The action bounces back and forth all over the world with such a huge cast of players that one might be skeptical if the author can tie it together meaningfully in the end, but I learned long ago not to doubt Neal Shusterman. The more convoluted the story grows, the better the ultimate payoff, and I've yet to read a series-closing novel where Shusterman didn't wildly surpass reasonable expectations. Much like in Everfound, the third book of the Skinjacker trilogy, the cast of characters in Hawking's Hallway has ballooned so that there were times I had to pause to remember everyone's situation, though Neal Shusterman is so good at this type of writing that those trouble spots never last. The Wizard of Menlo Park himself, Thomas Alva Edison, was revealed to be the founder of the Accelerati at the end of Edison's Alley, and now that he has Nick Slate and all of Nikola Tesla's surreal inventions at his disposal, the world's fate is cast into serious doubt. What happens next will reveal the link between Tesla, Edison, and Nick, and determine whether earth will finally be destroyed by Celestial Object Felicity Bonk, the asteroid orbiting the planet with the power to fry its inhabitants. The battle for survival has begun.
An unwilling guest of Thomas Edison's at Accelerati headquarters, Nick resists helping the one-hundred-seventy-year-old man. He wishes he could disconnect Tesla's wet-cell battery that keeps Edison alive, but watchful Accelerati assure Nick has no such chance. The project is moving forward to reassemble Tesla's supernatural inventions in Shoreham, New York, the old Wardenclyffe Tower that Tesla constructed a century ago in hopes of providing the world with unlimited free energy. His vision for energy independence was dismantled and trampled on by nervous power brokers, and though Edison was no friend of Tesla's, he's ready to give the brilliant inventor's magnum opus another go. His intentions are not as altruistic as Tesla's were, however. Though Nick wants nothing to do with Edison's plan for global domination, he can't seem to stop himself from helping the Accelerati assemble Tesla's F.R.E.E. machine. The man and his inventions have a connection to Nick that no one can explain, but it makes him indispensable to Edison's most ambitious project.
In Colorado Springs, Caitlin and Mitch are aware of Nick's abduction. He's disappeared from all official records, but they aren't letting up the search, sneaking around town together to find some lead on Nick's whereabouts. Across the Atlantic Ocean in Scotland, Vince is being kept alive by his own miracle wet-cell battery, unwilling to relinquish it to complete the F.R.E.E. Another teslanoid object, the transporter globe, is near where Vince is hiding out, but as long as it stays out of reach for Nick and the Accelerati, Vince can keep his battery and stay alive.
Back at Nick's school, Ms. Evangeline Planck is no longer the cafeteria lunch server. Her recent contributions as an undercover Accelerati agent have promoted her to Grand Acceleratus, one position below the immortal Edison himself. Taking over Ms. Planck's old job in the school cafeteria is the disgraced Dr. Alan Jorgenson, whose defeat at Nick's hands has soured Edison on the man once considered his protégé. Furious at the demotion, Jorgenson keeps his eyes open for an opportunity to betray Ms. Planck and manipulate Edison into reinstating him as Grand Acceleratus, but he has little to work with in his current capacity. That is, until he starts colluding with Caitlin and Mitch, who have their own reasons for undermining Ms. Planck. Jorgensen and the two teens don't trust each other, but if they're smart they can leverage themselves back into the big picture forming in Shoreham.
"It wasn't easy being the lone halogen lamp in a crate of energy-saving bulbs."
—Hawking's Hallway, P. 168
Every strand of the complex web is in place, and it slowly tightens as events trigger reactions, leading to bigger, more shocking reactions piling up toward an explosion of action in the last fifty pages. It's awe-inspiring, the result of the co-authors' ingenious planning and story concept. To discuss details would require telling more than I should, but readers who loved the foresight of the trilogy's first two books will be amazed by how everything comes together in a finale worthy of Neal Shusterman, one of the greats of his era just as Tesla was of his own. I've never read anyone better at closing a trilogy than Neal Shusterman, and he doesn't disappoint here.
"Nothing stays wondrous forever. It's human nature to grow accustomed to that which becomes normal, even if it's a new shade of normal."
—Hawking's Hallway, P. 354
I wasn't entirely sold on these books as I began Hawking's Hallway. Tesla's Attic blew me away, but something was missing from Edison's Alley, and I needed a big exclamation point from book three to convince me the trilogy had lived up to its billing. Even three quarters of the way through Hawking's Hallway I feared it might fall short, but Neal Shusterman seizes control and delivers an emotional climax that salvages the story. You don't always recognize that you love a book or series while reading it; on occasion it takes until the last couple of pages, as the plot winds down and you're saying goodbye to characters you've spent significant time with, to realize the loss you feel over never seeing them again. It was only as I read those final bittersweet pages that I knew I loved the Accelerati trilogy. I miss the characters because they're real to me, like friends rather than letters inked on paper. As someone says in Hawking's Hallway (I can't tell you who, to avoid spoilers), "The space between us...It hurts..." It does hurt, but at least I know for sure that I'll reflect on Tesla's Attic, Edison's Alley, and Hawking's Hallway fondly, the way I look back on any series that touches me deeply. That's the magic of Neal Shusterman, and it's why he's one of my favorite authors. His books grab hold of my heart and don't let go.
Hawking's Hallway is a plethora of elaborate reveals that take root during and prior to the trilogy's timeline. If you suspect some weird plot jag can't be reconciled to make sense, think again. The authors have covered every base, and it's great fun to see how all the tangents coalesce by the end. Hawking's Hallway will leave you wanting more of the series, and the good news is, there are plenty of Neal Shusterman titles to choose from that you'll probably love as much or more than this trilogy. I appreciate spending time in the pages of a transcendent writer, and Neal Shusterman is that. I could read only him for the rest of my life and be satisfied, and I certainly feel that way after Hawking's Hallway. I hope others enjoy the gift of this trilogy as much as I have.