Max Mouse continues to wreak havoc in Hurston. Jamal Lenni, and a lot of other kids grades get changed, false alarms go off and a child is nearly killed in a fire because the fire department is responding to a false alarm. Ms. Kelly has had enough. The kids have never seen her so upset. Then there's a new message on the computer but this one looks serious. The team's three suspects are Calvin, Erica and Janice.

Jamal is writing an essay for a high school he wants to get into. Just then, Ghostwriter appears with a warning. Suddenly he is kicked out of the computer. A weird message appears from someone or something called Max Mouse. At the auditorium, the computer teacher informs everyone that a hacker is loose. He warns the students not to use any disks. Strange things start happening: the sports page advertisments for basketball tryouts is changed, and Jasmine is arrested because she is suspected of using stolen credit cards. While Tina was trashing in the computer lab, she finds strange words on a sheet of paper with a wad of gum on it, along with Janice Hall's computer quiz, which was very hard, and she had gotten an A on that quiz. [Why would it be in the trash? --minnymouse35] Then Ghostwriter informs the team that Lenni could be in trouble with the police, and they learn that the words Tina found on the sheet are passwords to get into the school computer.

Jamal suspects that Janice lied about having her own computer. The team challenges Max Mouse to some online games and creates their own screen name and get the phone numbers of their suspects. Then they learn Calvin had another screename: Red Parrot, so they take him off the list. Hector gets some tutoring from Alex on how to face up to a bully. Just then Lenni and Jamal's names and phone numbers appear on the police suspect list.

The team challenges Max Mouse to a game of ghost while Ghostwriter heads through cyberspace to finally catch it. Ghostwriter gets the phone number of Max Mouse, and they learn who she is: Janice. She said she did all of the things because she wanted attention.

Jamal finds out that the code was written by someone named Wise Rita. He tells his friends in New York about the mystery, and they get involved as well.

Jamal, Becky and Sam find out that the bicyclist's real name is Danny Winkler, and Wise Rita is his aunt. Then Becky and Sam discover something...They can see Ghostwriter! Jamal gets captured by Danny Winkler, and they read the Sophie Madison books for clues to solve the mystery.