All About Middle Grade Review: The London Eye Mystery

The London Eye Mystery (London Eye Mystery, 1) by Siobhan Dowd, June 7, 2007. 333 pages. Published by David Fickling Books. Source: Borrowed from Library.

Monday, 24 May, 11.32 a.m. Ted and Kat watch their cousin Salim get on board the London Eye. He turns and waves and the pod rises from the ground.

Monday, 24 May, 12.02 p.m. The pod lands and the doors open. People exit in all shapes and sizes – but where is Salim?

Ted and his older sister Kat become sleuthing partners since the police are having no luck. Despite their prickly relationship, they overcome their differences to follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin. And ultimately it comes down to Ted, whose brain runs on its own unique operating system, to find the key to the mystery.

First Sentence

My favourite thing to do in London is to fly the Eye. 

While I did not love The London Eye Mystery half as much as I had hoped, it was still a fairly enjoyable read. Let's see why!

• I came across the second book in the series, written by a different author a decade later, and decided to give book one a chance since my library had a copy. While it was not as good as I was hoping, it was fairly interesting. I particularly enjoyed reading about Ted and the way he saw the world; that and the fluctuating relationship between him and his sister Kat. 

• What really disappointed me with this book was the mystery. It was just so flat and predictable. For me, the clues were just too out there from the beginning; it made the mystery aspect of the book no fun at all for me. I'll tell you this, he hadn't even disappeared and I already knew what was going to happen and the outcome. Sometimes I feel like Sherlock declining a case as it's not enough to hold his interest. sadly though, this is not the first, nor likely the last, mystery that has not been, well, mysterious or hard to crack.

• While the mystery was not very interesting, I thought the characters were better. When I say characters, I mean more than just Ted and Kat, I liked the craziness of the entire clan. Yet, the one aspect of the book that really flew off the pages was how well Siobhan Dowd captured the fear and anguish that everyone felt after Salim vanished. She really excelled at capturing the various emotions that can run through a person's mind during any kind of tragedy. 

Final Verdict: The London Eye Mystery- The mystery was lackluster, but the characters emotions were really well done. 

A copy of this book was borrowed from the library. All thoughts are my own.