With The Guggenheim Mystery publication drawing near, I figured it was a good excuse to reread The London Eye Mystery, as it’s eight years since I first discovered Ted Sparks and wanted to reacquaint myself before finding out how life is now…

Ted has just finished his 37th Shreddie when his mum announces a hurricane is in the way, no ordinary hurricane, but Hurricane Gloria, Ted’s Aunty. As an aspiring meteorologist, Ted knows all about hurricanes, but because his brain operates on a different system, he doesn’t understand how his Aunty can be one.

When Aunty Glo and cousin Salim arrive, the one place he wants to go before leaving for New York is for a ride on The London Eye. While the mums sit down for coffee, Ted, Kat and Salim queue for tickets; it’s a long queue. They are offered one ticket for a pod that is just about to board, so Ted and Kat suggest Salim takes it as they’ve both been on the Eye before. At 11.32am, the Sparks watch their cousin board his pod. At 12.02pm, the pod doors reopen to let the passengers out, but there is no Salim. How can he have disappeared from a closed pod? Can Ted and Kat work together to find their cousin?

A real page turner of a mystery that grips you from the very first page and doesn’t let you go. Ted is a refreshingly pure voice guiding us through his and Kat’s determination to discover the truth. He is very open about his syndrome and the differences it creates, in a way that easily enables empathy. Add in a family in crisis who are both heart-wrenching and humorous, plenty of plot twists all woven together beautifully and a pace that builds to a crescendo, and you have a brilliant nail-biter of a book that has you on the edge of your seat.

I can’t wait to see what happens next…

Great for fans of The Goldfish Boy and Murder In Midwinter.