The London Eye Mystery (original 2007; udgave 2008)

Just perfect for me--engaging throughout with nary a misstep (normally even my favourite book has a chapter, character, or passage I could do without, but not this one--consistently good!), and moving to boot, tears in my eyes, as it hurried toward its conclusion.

I suppose for most people it's an unusual narrator (unless you've read the similar Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time or the like), but for me Ted's thinking is closer to my way of thinking than the other members of his family, and I could relate. (I'm not to his extent--my Mom insists, like Young Sheldon, I've been tested, I'm fine--but I know I can't read people and grew up lacking what everyone else called common sense and am exceedingly literal. I learned how to behave by reading and watching tv and film (terrible ways to learn) and eventual reconciled them with observed behaviour around me, so I can pass.)

Loved it.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )

Ted and Kay's cousin Salim gets on board the London Eye....and disappears. Has he been kidnapped, run away, or spontaneously combusted? Can Ted, whose brain runs on a unique operating system (aka autism!), and his sister Kat, overcome their differences and team up for once to solve the mystery? ( )

Not an incredibly original main character, true, but a heart-warming and funny story with great writing. I was also impressed by the author having the guts to put in a dead body. (Maybe guts wasn't such a good word to use in that sentence...) ( )

If not for The Big Bang Theory, I would have liked this a lot better. The kid in this book has what appears to be the same condition, and treats it seriously (in that he actually suffers consequences for it.) And the author should get credit for that. But when I read, I hear that stupid laugh track.

All right, trying to get Jim Parsons and Chuck Lorre out of my head, this is a good book. It’s comparable to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Out of My Mind, but less mature content than the first and more mature content than the second. Just as fun to read too. The main character’s affliction is never named, but he has some kind of half-Sheldon Cooper, half-Rainman thing going on. It’s heart-warming and gives you insight into a misunderstood disorder. It fits John Green’s maxim of what books should do — imagine humans complexly.

And it’s an entertaining mystery to boot, with a satisfying reader experience. The beginning may seem sludgy as it needs to set up everything (and it has to do so through someone with a mental condition). If you can make it through that, I think you’ll be satisfied too. ( )

Ted and Kat take their cousin to the London Eye. A stranger gives them a ticket. Salim gets in and never gets out. Ted and Kat, siblings with a love-hate relationship, take on the case. The family dynamic is interesting, Ted is the narrator and through his voice, thoughts, and interactions with others, readers see how his brain works differently helping to position him to put the pieces together. ( )