The London Eye Mystery By Siobhan Dowd Published by David Fickling Books ISBN 978 0 385 61266 1 Standing 135 metres tall on the south bank of the River Thames and looking like a gigantic bicycle wheel with thirty-two pods attached to the rim, the London Eye is a magnificent structure. Riding the Eye is breath-taking. You climb into one of the glass pods and rise over the London skyline. What goes up must come down, so half an hour later you climb back out. But what if someone got into a pod and didn't come out again? Could someone vanish over the rooftops of London in full view of a podful of other people? This is the intriguing idea at the centre of Siobhan Dowd's The London Eye Mystery. Like all good whodunit novels, Dowd gives her story a slow and unconventional start to make sure her readers are hooked when the mystery kicks into place. Aunt Gloria and cousin Salim come to London to stay with teenager Ted and his family before emigrating to America. Mum, Aunt Gloria, Salim, Ted and his sister Kat decide to visit the London Eye before Salim flies off to his new life. So far, so ordinary. While Mum and Aunt Gloria have a cup of coffee, the three youngsters join the long queue to buy the tickets. A man comes up to them and offers them a free ticket. He explains he's afraid of heights and has decided at the last minute not to risk the ride. They decide that Salim should take the ticket and get straight on. It's May 24, 11.32 am. Kat and Ted watch their cousin get into a capsule. He turns and waves at them, and the pod rises from the ground. At 12.02pm, the pod lands and the passengers get out. But Salim is nowhere to be seen. Ted and Kat call the police, but Salim's disappearance is a mystery. How can someone ride the London Eye and not come down again? Salim seems to have vanished into thin air, and the police find no clues about what has happened to him. The London Eye Mystery is a cracking good read from a storyteller who knows exactly what she is doing. At the centre of the story is Ted, a boy with autism whose brain has its own operating system. Ted has problems with life, but when Salim disappears he summons up all his courage, and starts his own investigation into the seemingly unsolvable mystery. Ted is a superb creation, and it is his personality and uniqueness that pull the novel together. Nobody reading The this could fail to be inspired by Dowd's wonderfully drawn hero. Ted makes this intriguing novel something special that stands out from the rest. The London Eye Mystery, packed with humour, insight and suspense, is a first-rate read. John Millen can be contacted on MillenBookshelf@aol.com