Story about boy who can control magnetism

Question

This is a book that I read as in late elementary/middle school (around mid 1990s). It was a paperback (mass market) novel of my aunt's and it seemed like it could have been published in the 80s to early 90s.

It is set in a fairly modern world. They referred to cars, desktop computers, telephones, etc. I recall that the premise is a boy (somewhere in the 10-15 age range) that discovers that he has a bit of control over magnetism. I think he is newly orphaned and is now living with someone new that he doesn't know very well.

A few details that I remember is when he is starting to learn about his powers, he practices lifting paperclips and having them stick to his finger (like to a magnetized screwdriver). For some reason I think his name starts with an "M".

I also recall a scene towards the end of the book, where the protagonist is crouching behind/under a desk and watching the antagonists as they are doing something. He ends up using his magnetism to save the day in a somewhat spectacular fashion, but couldn't say specifically how.

This is not a young Magneto, though.

Does anyone know what this could be?

Answer 1

This may be The Secret Life of Dilly McBean, published in 1986.

From Amazon:

After being orphaned at an early age and spending years in boarding schools, Dilly begins a new life in a real house in a small town, developing secret magnetic powers under the tutelage of a kindly professor, until he is kidnapped by a madman who plans to control the world with a computer.Twelve-year-old Dilloway McBean, a wealthy orphan with strange magnetic powers, puts his magnetism to work as he matches wits with the dastardly Dr. Keenwit, a computer whiz out to steal Dilly's money and seize world power He's kidnapped by an evil/mad scientist, who wants to use his powers for evil.

While I don't have a specific quote, I remember from reading it that it ends with him using his magnetism to erase all of the antagonist's data, which is stored on magnetic discs. I think he also magnetically controls a bulldozer to destroy the antagonist's base, though that memory is a bit more vague.