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Reviews

From The Sunday Times, June 10, 2007

BOOK OF THE WEEK: Dowd's story grips the reader from the opening chapter, in which Ted and his sister watch their cousin Salim enter a pod on the London Eye and follow its progress round the wheel; when the pod empties, Salim does not come out.  The book recounts, with humour, insight and clarity, the events that lead up to and follow Salim's disappearance and the compelling progress towards an explanation.  Dowd's first book, A Swift Pure Cry, was a deservedly acclaimed young adult novel.  This second book, which is aimed at younger readers, demonstrates her versatility. -- Nicolette Jones

From www.LoveReading4Kids

This may only be Siobhan Dowd’s second novel but it’s clear her talent as a superb storyteller is beyond question.  Her first novel A Swift Pure Cry was shortlisted for nearly all the major awards last year and although this second novel is very different it has that same page-turner feeling to it.  It’s a beautifully written mystery set in Manchester and London and featuring two young boys, one of whom disappears on the London Eye shortly before he’s due to emigrate to the US with his mother.

From The Times, June 16 2007

Siobhan Dowd’s grim tale of a teenage pregnancy in Ireland, A Swift Pure Cry, won numerous prizes last year, but I much prefer The London Eye Mystery, not least for its tender comic ebullience... Obsessed with the weather, Ted teams up with his sister Kat to solve a mystery that has police baffled and saves Salim’s life. Ted is also intrigued by the oddity of words (pointing out that “eavesdropping” is strange because the only thing that drops from eaves is rain)....  As in Fiona Dunbar’s enchanting Toonhead, Dowd transforms disability into a gift, and Ted’s family, with their robust charm, are especially well realised. 

From The Times Educational Supplement, June 2007 

Clever and compelling…  In this tale of an ordinary family going through an extraordinary crisis, tension never lets up... The assured and stylish first novel, A Swift Pure Cry, made an immediate impact and is shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.  This book is every bit as good, moving from rural Ireland to south London and exchanging a harrowing tale of unwanted teenage pregnancy for a story which combines mystery with good humour, accurate observation and direct writing style in which every word rings true. -- Nicholas Tucker 

From www.The Bookbag.co.uk, June 2007