Being the new kid at school is bad enough - but when you've got a dumb name like 'Robert Roberts' you're just walking target practice! And the school bully, Kev Jones, is spoiling for a fight.
When Robert comes home with a bleeding nose, his slightly weird grandmother decides that it's time he learnt to defend himself. If the family has passed on a liability like his name, it can also pass on a marvellous asset: the secret of the freezing eye.
Robert gets to freeze anything in his way for fifteen seconds. There are rules: he mustn't freeze anyone in a dangerous position, like the middle of a busy highway, for example. And he absolutely has to keep it a secret. Apart from that, he can go for it.
Robert has a go at the vicious dog next door, and then his dream comes true. He gets to humiliate the school bully in a way that every Hotshots reader will love, and when a sporting trophy is stolen and Jones tries to set Robert up, Robert uses the freezing eye to make Jones incriminate himself, and he and his school mates are free.
'Hotshots' books have short chapters and lots of black-and-white illustrations, perfect for emerging readers.