Fly the Eye - Rated 
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.
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.
An appealing read - Rated 
My eldest daugther persuaded me to read this book. Having done so I recommend it to anyone who will listen to me! Both adults and children will enjoy this book. It is both witty and moving. The main characters are a brother and sister who usually don't get along too well. They are forced to work together to solve the mystery of the disapperance of their cousin, who went missing on the London Eye. Although the book is intended for a much younger audience I found it to be a very entertaining and poignant read.
I loved it! - Rated
I loved this book i'm 11 and it's one of the favorite books i've ever read(i say that but i'm not a bookworm!!). I find some books quite boring but i must say i liked this book very much. I'm just about to read it again, I loved it!!
tense and exiting - Rated
The first chapter had me gripped, I had asked my mum to help me find a book that was more thrilling and mysterious than the books I have been reading lately. I am an eight year-old girl - and this book did deliver exactly what I'd asked for.
It's about a perfectly ordinary family - apart from the boy called Ted who is autistic. His sister, Kat, is a teenager who finds her brother a bit mad in the head. Ted's fantasic at facts like predicting the weather, he wants to be a meteorologist, but he's not so good at understanding feelings.
When Ted's cousin Salim and aunty Glo come to stay with them in London to say a last goodbye before they go to live in America, they all decide to go for a lovely outing on the London Eye. When the kids are queuing for tickets, a mysterious man gives his ticket to them saying that he's claustrophobic. But when Salim is on the London Eye he disappears. The police look for him - they think that he could be the boy in the morgue. But Ted has theories of his own and, with Kat's help, could they be the ones who'll discover what's really happening to their cousin?
I think this book is nerve-wracking, I really worried about where Salim had got to. But it was also really interesting to see how an autistic boy is able to be better at working things out than the rest of his family, and the police.
I'm not going to tell you the ending, but I'll tell you that it's anything but boring.
I read this book over a weekend because I couldn't put it down. Secretly I took it to bed and read when my mum thought I was asleep. I can't wait to see what Siobhan Dowd will come up with if she writes a second book for children.
Courtesy of Teens Read Too - Rated
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"
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