I had difficulty getting a copy of London Eye to read. I made the mistake of recommending it to customers at Borders (based on others' recommendations) and sold both copies. Then, there were no more books available. Finally, my school library borrowed one from another school lucky enough to have a copy.
The book is about a sister and brother who take a visiting cousin for a ride on the London Eye--a huge ferris-wheel type ride in London. He is given a ticket by a stranger and goes up alone. They watch him get on, watch his car go around, but he doesn't get out. They wait but he's disappeared. Because the police do not seem to be working hard enough to find their cousin, they decide to solve the mystery.
I loved this book for many reasons. First, I loved hearing the English words and slang. The book is written from the point of view of a child who is on the spectrum--which means he either has Asperger's syndrome or is autistic. Although not a major part of the book (the mystery is), it is very enlightening to read about his life--the challenges he faces trying to interpret people's emotions through facial expressions and body language. He says that because a mouth is upturned, that means that the person must be happy.
It's a hard book to put down once you start it. I would like to read a sequel to this--have the main character solve another mystery. And I don't always like sequels--so that tells you how much I enjoyed the story and the characters.
