The London Eye Mystery

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Ted says that he has “a funny brain that runs on a different operating system from other people’s”.  His whole life this has been something of a liability, but now that his cousin Salim has disappeared into thin air, Ted may be the only one capable of puzzling out what happened.

Ted, Kat and their cousin Salim were supposed to all go on the London Eye together.  But when Salim lucks into a free ticket from a stranger, they send him on his own.  The problem is that although Salim goes up, he never comes down.  The family is heartbroken and immediately involve the police, but Ted and Kat are frustrated when they are ignored by adults and take matters into their own hands. They’re determined that Ted’s smarts may hold the key to finding out what happened to their cousin.  The children make some decisions that are pretty questionable such as withholding evidence from the police and trying to track down the stranger who gave them the ticket without adult help.  To some degree though, they do what they do because of how the adults are handling the situation which often includes shutting the kids out. While there is certainly some tension throughout, as we are dealing with the disappearance of a child, I didn’t find the book to be too scary or creepy.  Anyone who needs a spoiler about the end, just drop me an e-mail, I’d be happy to oblige.

What I love about this book is that it’s a great story.  It’s not just a great story about a kid with ASD, it’s a great story period.  The narrator just happens to have “a syndrome” (if I were guessing I’d say Ted has Asperger’s).  I think it’s also a really positive portrayal of someone on the spectrum.  Although he doesn’t have peer friendships, Ted does get along well with his cousin, and throughout the book becomes closer to his sister (and more distanced from his mother who he’s always perceived to be the one who understood him).  The author also name drops some famous people who it’s been speculated may have had Asperger’s Syndrome.

This book is filled with words and expressions in British English which may be difficult for American readers to understand, although they are often able to be defined from context:
adverts – advertisements
backchat – talking back
biro – ballpoint pen
bunk off – play hooky, skip school
chemist – pharmacy
fags – cigarettes
geroff – slang for get off me or leave me alone
kerb – curb
lilo – air mattress
post – mail
programme – tv show
queue – line

Sex, Nudity, Dating – Dad kisses Mom on the forehead.  Ted overhears two people kissing (real kissing, with tongues) and is incredibly grossed out by it even though he knows lots of people do it.  There are some girls clad in bikinis and a woman wearing a shirt advertising “Fragile Goods: Handle with Care” over her ample chest.  The real reason I wouldn’t hand this book to most younger kids is that while thinking about Salim’s disappearance Kat worries that he might have been taken for “sex stuff.”  While it’s certainly something that adults are aware of, it’s pretty disturbing.
Profanity – “get stuffed,” “bloody” is used numerous times, “hell” is used numerous times, “Paki-boy” is used as a racist epithet referring to Indians, “God Almighty”, “damn,” “Mother of God,” “bloody hell,” “go to hell,” and “burn in hell”
Death, Violence and Gore – Salim says that at his school there were lots of fights and one kid brought a knife.  A dead boy is pulled out of the river.  As Ted speculates about what may have happened to Salim he thinks of various murders and disappearances.  Ted ponders Dr. Death, a man who killed his patients just because he wanted to.  At one point Mom raises her hand to slap Kat.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Cigarettes play a fairly large part in the story.  Aunt Gloria smokes throughout.  Dad mentions cutting school to smoke when he was a teen and teenage Kat admits to smoking and various strangers smoke.  A local apartment building is slated for demolition and there is discussion about how drugs were used by its residents.  The adults drink throughout, and drink more under the strain of Salim’s disappearance.  Wine, beer, brandy and scotch are consumed by adults.  Kat tries to give herself a wine glass at dinner but is rebuffed. Dad seems to have a hangover at one point. Another adult character drinks in a pub. Aunt Gloria is given a sleeping pill.
Frightening or Intense Things – As we’re dealing the the disappearance of a young teen, various parts of this are likely to be intense for some readers.  It’s overall handled in a non-sensationalist way, but obviously as they try to piece together what happened, the family must fact the possibility that something very bad has happened.  Salim’s mother laments “what have they done with you” and “supposing some terrible gang abducted you.” They also have to deal with the possibility that Salim met with an accident or possibly drowned.  Ted in particular is unable to get the image of a dead boy on a slab out of his head and it reappears throughout the book.

There are also two references to suicide: once in regards to the people that lived in the condemned apartment complex as having been suicidal and once when someone is devastated about Salim’s disappearance says that he thought about pinching some chemicals and swallowing them.

Finally, as Salim’s parents are divorced, there is a loud argument between them.