Customer Reviews

The London Eye Mystery

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Good young adult and middle grade mysteries are sometimes hard to come by. THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY by Siobhan Dowd is one you won't want to miss.

It all starts when Ted's cousin, Salim, comes to visit. Salim and his mother are about to move to New York City and have planned a family visit in London before their departure. Of course, what is a visit to London without a ride on the London Eye? That's when the trouble begins.

Ted and his older sister, Kat, haven't seen much of their cousin in the past. The visit starts out on a wrong note because of the unusual sleeping arrangements required by their tiny house. Kat is unhappy about bunking on the couch, and Ted is unhappy with the disruption of his whole routine. As Ted explains, he suffers from a "syndrome," which he defines by stating that his brain runs on "a different operating system" than everyone else. His judgment of other people's emotional responses is a bit off, and his views of the world around him tend to be quite literal. (I'm guessing that he suffers from some form of autism.)

Salim turns out to be quite a pleasant visitor. His only request is to take a ride on the London Eye, a massive ferris wheel attraction in the center of London. When the cousins and their mothers arrive at the Eye, they find the ticket line and actual ride line disappointingly long. Relief comes when a stranger offers one ticket, free of charge, to Salim. Ted and Kat eagerly accept the ticket and pocket the original ticket money from their mother as they rush Salim to the waiting ride.

The mystery begins when Salim doesn't disembark from the London Eye at the conclusion of his ride. Ted and Kat have as many as nine different theories. Was he kidnapped? Did he actually go on the ride at all? How could he have vanished so completely?

Quirky characters, London scenery, and a who-dun-it style combine to make this a sure hit. The late Siobhan Dowd, author of A Swift Pure Cry, outdid herself once again.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

Siobhan Dowd's THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY tells of a boy who mysteriously vanishes from the sealed pod of the London Eye. Even the police are baffled - and it's up to Ted and his older sister to become sleuthing partners, tracing a trail of clues across London in search of an endangered cousin. Add the tensions surrounding their stormy relationship and you have a satisfying mystery powered by changing personal relationships.

"What goes up must come down
Spinning wheel got to go 'round"
--Blood, Sweat & Tears

"Kat and I tracked Salim's capsule as it made its orbit. When it reached its highest point, we both said, 'NOW!' at the same time and Kat laughed and I joined in. That's how we knew we'd been tracking the right one. We saw the people bunch up as the capsule came back down, facing northeast towards the automatic camera for the souvenir photograph. They were just dark bits of jackets, legs, dresses, and sleeves.
"Then the capsule landed. The doors opened and the passengers came out in twos and threes. They walked off in different directions. Their faces were smiling. Their paths never crossed again.
"But Salim wasn't among them.
"We waited for the next capsule and the next and the one after that. He still didn't appear. Somewhere, somehow, in the thirty minutes of riding the Eye, in his sealed capsule, he had vanished off the face of the earth. This is how having a funny brain that runs on a different operating system from other people's helped me to figure out what had happened."

Twelve-year-old Ted's mind does not process like that of the typical person. He is wired in a fashion that causes him to be "very good at thinking about facts and how things work." He is a young man with an obsession with and excellent understanding of weather and weather patterns.

Ted and Kat's cousin Salim and their Aunt Gloria have come visiting them in London, having given up their home in Manchester in preparation for a move to New York City. Ted hasn't seen the likeable Salim in years. When asked what he'd like to do, Salim, who loves a good view, opts for experiencing a spin on the London Eye. Then, when a random stranger offers them a free ticket, Salim snags the freebie, leaves his cousins standing in the lengthy ticket line, boards the Eye, and disappears.

Ted has a "syndrome" that makes it difficult for him to recognize body language, makes it difficult to cope with others touching him, and often causes him to take what is said literally: "He and Aunt Gloria walked up to our front door through our front garden, which Mum says is the size of a postage stamp. In fact, it's three metres by five and I once worked out that it could fit 22,500 stamps."

Nevertheless, Ted -- whose theories and questions are generally ignored by most of the adults around him -- uses his unusually-wired mind to examine the facts from all possible angles in his quest to solve the London Eye Mystery.

"The inspector looked at me without saying anything. The corners of her lips turned up, which meant she was slightly amused. Then she tapped her nose with her interlocked fingers. 'So,' she said. 'You'd allow for a margin of error?'
"'Only a small one,' I said. 'Two per cent.'
"'Two per cent?'
"'In every human observation,' I explained, 'there is a margin of error. This is because our senses are not foolproof. In fact, some people believe that one hundred per cent certainty is impossible to achieve.' I stopped and put my head on one side. 'As humans, we cannot even be sure that the sun will rise the next day. Our assumption that it will do so is arrived at by a process of induction. This is a process where probability based on past observation allows us to predict things like weather patterns--'"

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY is so much fun! Ted is such an engaging and endearing narrator, and it is so interesting to follow his lines of reasoning as we, as readers, try to catch a dropped clue that will give us an edge over the book's characters in figuring out what has actually befallen Salim. This book will surely cause readers to consider with newfound respect those classmates and friends who are wired differently -- and will certainly have some readers thinking about the weather.

A few years ago, Mark Haddon's THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME earned rave reviews, in part for the original voice of its narrator, who has a minor form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome. In THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, Siobhan Dowd just as adeptly introduces younger readers to another narrator with Asperger's. Again, his narrative voice, it turns out, is just as compelling as the mystery that forms the cornerstone of the novel's exciting plot.

Ted's brain works really well --- sometimes too well. He can keep track of facts and figures, knows obscure and complicated weather phenomena, and traces weather patterns and shipping forecasts. But Ted has a hard time reading people, who, in his mind, are much less predictable than the weather. His counselor has given him a chart to help him read and interpret facial expressions, but he still has trouble with small talk and understanding figurative language (like, well, "small talk").

Ted's family is loving and supportive, even if his older sister Kat sometimes gets frustrated with him. When it comes to a crisis, though, no one would think of Ted as the person to solve a life-or-death problem. But, it turns out, that's exactly what happens when Ted and Kat's cousin Salim, stopping by the family's London home en route to his new home in New York City, disappears without a trace. Salim really wants to visit the London Eye, the huge Ferris wheel that has become the United Kingdom's most popular tourist attraction. But when he does so, he somehow manages to disappear between boarding the revolving pod and landing 30 minutes later.

At first, Ted's parents and aunt are convinced there is a simple explanation. Then, as the hours pass and the police are called in, his whole family is thrown into crisis. Ted has plenty of his own theories, but can he get any adults to take him seriously? And can he, with his differently wired brain, really see connections that everyone else has missed?

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY would be a compelling story even without Ted's unusual perspective. Plenty of twists and turns, dead ends and false hopes make for a breathlessly fascinating mystery plot. Dowd also seamlessly introduces some other larger issues, such as the situation of race relations, poverty and prejudice in the United Kingdom, without seeming preachy or off-track.

But what really makes this novel shine, and stick in readers' heads long after the mystery has been solved, is Ted's utterly captivating voice. In telling her story, Dowd demonstrates that a condition that would be viewed by most of the world as a disability can actually be a tremendous asset. Ted's unique way of thinking makes him simultaneously older than his years and vulnerable, and readers will be rooting for him to find his voice and trust his abilities.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

In the book "The London Eye Mystery," by Siobhan Down, Ted is an autistic kid who obsesses with weather patterns. Then Ted's cousin, Salim comes to town. He is visiting because he is moving to New York City and his family is having a last visit with Ted's family. Since they are bored they decide to ride the London Eye. But when they go, a mysterious man approaches them and gives them a free ticket. Ted and Salim are very suspicious. Since Salim has never ridden the London Eye Ted gives the ticket to him. When the pod comes back down, neither Ted nor his sister Kat see him. Read the book and find out how Ted's autistic abilities help find Salim. My opinion of this book is that it is a great page-turner. If you like light mysteries this is definitely the book for you.

Imagine having a relative disappear and you were supposed to be watching them. That is what happened in The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd when Aunt Gloria and her son Salim come to London to visit their relatives (Ted, who has a unique way of thinking, Kat, and the rest of their family). Kat, Ted and Salim go to the London Eye where they receive a ticket from a mysterious man who claimed he was afraid of heights. They decided that Salim should go, because he had never been on it before. When Salim gets to the top of the London Eye, Kat and Ted take their eyes off him for only a few seconds and when the capsule comes down that he was in, Kat and Ted don't see him. So this means that Kat and Ted have to find him.

My first response to this book when I read the first few chapters was wow; this book is really getting me hooked in fast. What I really wanted to find out was: what is going to happen to Salim? There are so many possibilities. He could have been kidnapped, he could have been in a disguise, or according to Ted, he could have spontaneously combusted. I think that it was a great book, and I recommend it to people who like mystery books.

Asa H.
Grade 6
Ms. Kawatachi

This story has Ted and Kat searching for a cousin who disappears from the London Eye Ferris wheel. The two siblings must work together to solve the mystery. What's unique about this tale is how Ted's Asberger's doesn't stand in the way of him being active in solving his cousin's disappearance. The portrayal of Ted is a refreshing change from stereotypical characters in some books.

What goes up must come down - unless you're Ted Sparks' cousin Salim.

Aunt Gloria and her teenage son Salim are preparing to move from Manchester, England to New York City. Before they leave for the United States, Gloria wants to visit her sister and her family in London. Salim has never been to London so his cousins Ted and Katrina are eager to show him the sights.

They decide to visit one of Ted's favorite places, the London Eye. The London Eye, also called the Millennium Wheel, is the tallest ferris wheel in Europe. When they arrive at the Eye, there's a long line for tickets. After a stranger approaches Ted, Kat and Salim to offer his ticket, the kids decide that Salim should take it and "fly the Eye" on his own. Ted and Kat track Salim's capsule during its half hour ride, but when the capsule comes down and people file out, Salim is nowhere in sight. Was he kidnapped? Did he run away? Did he spontaneously combust (one of Ted's eight theories)?

After their parents contact the police, Ted and Kat decide to launch their investigation into their cousin's disappearance. Ted has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism. Since his brain works on a "different operating system", Kat and Ted think they may have an advantage over the police investigators. Can Ted's unique perspective help them find Salim before it's too late?

I found The London Eye Mystery to be an interesting, fast read. It is not without some flaws, however. Ted and Kat withhold vital evidence from their parents and the police (such as Salim's camera and information about the stranger who gave Salim his ticket). I never get past my disbelief that they would withhold so much evidence when their cousin was in a dangerous situation.

Some of the British slang used throughout the book may be challenging for young American readers. I had no trouble with it, but a glossary like the one included in Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicholson series would have been a nice touch for the American edition.

Where The London Eye Mystery really shines, though, is in the character of Ted Sparks. Ted is a fascinating, sympathetic character. His Asperger's Syndrome was well-portrayed and consistent with what I know of Asperger's. Dowd did an effective job of showing how Ted deals with his social challenges. Dowd also showcased the positive aspects of Asperger's Syndrome: Ted is extremely intelligent, honest and free of prejudice. It's obvious that a lot of research was put into his character. The London Eye Mystery was worth reading for Ted's characterization alone.

The London Eye Mystery is a decent little mystery for kids - a boy goes missing between boarding the London Eye and getting off - but that's not really what sets this book apart from others. It's the narrator, a 12-year-old boy Ted, who does that.

I found the beginning a little slow, and to be honest, at first I found Ted irritating. Slow. I wondered how old he was, to not understand some very basic things such as idiomatic expressions, figures of speech, and so on. It only occurred to me a chapter or two into the book (to my credit, before it was spelled out) that no, Ted was certainly not slow - quite the contrary. He was just a little different; a boy who's brain is running on a different operating system, as he put it himself. In other words, although it's never actually explicitly stated in the book, Ted's (most likely) got Asperger's, which sets him at a disadvantage compared to most other people, but in the end, it's his ability to see patterns and put things together that also helps him solve the mystery.

It was an interesting realisation; I don't consider myself an extraordinarily prejudiced person, but noticing my reaction tells me that this is something I should pay more conscious attention to in the future in real life.

There were a few things that didn't quite convince me, like the way Ted adjusted and started doing some things he'd never done before, all over the course of a handful of days, but then again, I don't know enough to say that's impossible (and having a cousin go missing is certainly an important enough event that it could have given him a slight push, I suppose).

Overall, I ended up enjoying this a lot. It's a fast read, but in spite of the relative shortness of the story, I found most of the characters well-rounded and the plot interesting.

I'm 61 and purchased the book in error -- not knowing that it was for "young adults." However, I have to say that it is one of the most enjoyable things that I have read in a while. Character development for Ted was excellent and the plot kept my interest. I just regret that after only 3 days, I am having to look for another mystery -- but, I will definitely look for the same author.