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Summary and Reviews of The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

The London Eye Mystery

by Siobhan Dowd
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  • Critics' Consensus:
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  • First Published:
  • Feb 12, 2008, 336 pages
  • Paperback:
  • May 2009, 336 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

When Salim mysteriously disappears from a sealed pod on the London Eye, everyone is frantic. Even the police are baffled. Ted, whose brain runs on its own unique operating system, and his older sister, Kat, overcome their prickly relationship to become sleuthing partners. They follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin, while time ticks dangerously by .... For ages 9+.

Ted and Kat watched their cousin Salim board the London Eye. But after half an hour it landed and everyone trooped off – except Salim. Where could he have gone? How on earth could he have disappeared into thin air? 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 works in its own very unique way, to find the key to the mystery. This is an unput-downable spine-tingling thriller–a race against time.

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

On a clear day you can see for twenty-five miles in all directions because you are in the largest observation wheel ever built. You are sealed into one of the thirty-two capsules with the strangers who were next to you in the queue, and when they close the doors, the sound of the city is cut off. You begin to rise. The capsules are made of glass and steel and are hung from the rim of the wheel. As the wheel turns, the capsules use the force of gravity to stay upright. It takes thirty minutes to go a full circle.

From the top of the ride, Kat says London looks like toy-town and the cars on the roads below look like abacus beads going from left and right and stopping and starting. I think London looks like London and the cars like cars, only smaller.

The best thing to see from up there is the river Thames. You can see how it loops and curves but when you are on the ground you think it is straight.

The...

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Reviews

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

A boy's spectacular and mystifying into-thin-air disappearance from a sealed chamber high above London launches this determined and thoughtful page-turner for middle-grade readers .... While the mysterious disappearance is intriguing, what Ted must do to understand it is truly exciting: To discover how and why his cousin vanished from a sealed pod, Ted breaches the closed chamber of his psyche and invites the world and the reader in...continued

Full Review Members Only (312 words)

(Reviewed by Jo Perry).

Media Reviews

The Times (London) - Nicolette Jones
Fans of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime may dislike this novel for being too similar .... But the echoes have to be forgiven because Dowd’s story grips the reader from the opening chapter,

Booklist
Starred Review. Everything rings true here, the family relationships, the quirky connections of Ted’s mental circuitry, and, perhaps most surprisingly, the mystery.

Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. This is a well-constructed puzzle, and mystery lovers will delight in connecting the clues.

Publishers Weekly
Starred review. Grabs readers from the beginning and doesn't let go.

School Library Journal
Starred Review. A dense mystery tied together with fully fleshed out characters and a unique narrator.

Reader Reviews

Riley

Amazing
This book is amazing. I would love to read the whole thing. The author has done an good job.
Bookclub77NY

The London eye mystery
A great book with a unique ending that I adored. The characters themselves couldn't have been better! Thanks to Ted I know a lot of new facts! I suggest reading this book!
bob

The London Eye Mystery
Do you like a good mystery if yes this is the book for you! It is exiting and you can not stop reading! This is the best mystery I have ever read. You should read!
Boggie B

The london eye mystery
Very page-turning and very compulsive.

Write your own review!

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Beyond the Book



Interesting facts about the London Eye

The London Eye, the fantastic and graceful Millennium structure that dominates the skyline of 21st century London, is as much a character in the novel as Ted, his sister and the mystery.

  • It took seven years and the skills of hundreds of people from five countries to make the London Eye a reality.
  • Since opening in 2000, The London Eye has welcomed an average of 3.5 million passengers every year, making it the UK's most popular visitor attraction.
  • The height of the London Eye is 135m/147 yards (equivalent to 64 red telephone boxes piled on top of each other) making it the fourth tallest structure in London.
  • Instead of being suspended under gravity, the capsules turn within circular mounting rings fixed to the ...

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Read-Alikes

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