58 pages • 1 hour read
The London Eye Mystery
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Themes
Solving Problems Without Parental Guidance
Ted and Kat want to find Salim, but their parents have no clue where he is, feel too stressed to be of much help, and try to prevent them from participating in the search. The siblings find a way around the adults and overcome their own tense relationship to solve the mystery and save their cousin.
When Salim disappears, Ted and Kat at first blame themselves: He disappears while with them, and they fear he’s gotten lost. Soon enough, though, they realize that he either ran away or was kidnapped.
They try to figure out what happened, and they want to discuss it with their parents and Aunt Gloria. Though the adults inform the police, they otherwise have no ideas for locating Salim and focus instead on their emotional distress. Salim’s mother, Gloria, feels especially distraught, and Faith and Ben focus much of their attention on taking care of her. Kat and Ted manage to talk their father into taking them again to the London Eye, where they prove that Salim couldn’t have stayed in his capsule for an extra ride. Beyond that, though, Kat and Ted are on their own.
As they try to figure out what happened to Salim, Kat treats Ted abruptly and with disrespect at times. Soon, though, she realizes that he’s smarter than she thought and has much to contribute: “Ted—can’t stand to say it, but you’re a genius” (171). Ted, meanwhile, notices that some of his behaviors irritate his sister, and he begins to moderate himself.
The rules of the Spark house restrict the children’s movements and hinder their ability to make progress in the search for Salim. Kat has few qualms about breaking those rules: Once she realizes her parents aren’t much help with the Salim mystery, she takes matters into her own hands. Kat leaves the house without permission so she can track down an important lead. Ted follows Kat, and tells his first lie in the process, and they begin to gather clues and take risks on behalf of their cousin.
When his parents are continually dismissive toward him and his insight, Ted contacts Detective Inspector Pearce directly and informs her of the solution to Salim’s disappearance—and Marcus corroborates Ted’s ideas. However, Salim remains missing, so again Ted and Kat work together to reason out Salim’s path after he disappeared. When they realize where he is, Kat must shout an alarm to get their parents’ attention. The adults assist in rescuing Salim from his accidental captivity after the siblings have deduced his location on their own. During their collaboration, Kat and Ted learn to collaborate and respect each other’s abilities. With very little support from their parents, they take on the risks and responsibilities of searching for their cousin, and they resolve a dire situation that their parents are unable to tackle.
The Benefits of Neurodiversity
In Chapter 34, Ted remarks that “[w]hen you try to talk to people in the middle of a storm, they can’t hear” (250). The “storm” is Salim’s disappearance and the emotional hurricane his disappearance has caused. Ted finds the answer to Salim’s disappearance, but he’s quickly dismissed by his family as he appeals to logic as opposed to their emotion. Armed with intelligence and persistence, Ted presses forward until his ideas begin to make a difference and lead to Salim’s rescue.
Reading from Ted’s point of view, his comments and conversation with Salim about his “syndrome thing” (35) imply that he has autism. Ted’s autism manifests most notably within his social interactions and his high level of intelligence. This combination causes his family to often dismiss him in the moment when he holds the very key to Salim’s homecoming. Ted wants to discuss ideas about Salim’s disappearance, and his family, already distracted by the crisis, ignores him.
Ted is greatly persistent in his mission to reunite Salim with his family, and this allows him to tolerate his sister’s constant disrespect. Ted perseveres through his theories about Salim’s disappearance until Kat recognizes his useful abilities. As the siblings work together to discover their cousins’ location, Ted also uses Kat’s strengths to his advantage. Kat has no trouble confronting people out in the world, and this gives Ted an ally who can put him in front of witnesses and clues.
Ted uses his intense attention to detail and logical mind to determine what happened the day Salim disappeared. Where Ted’s family members plummet into feeling helpless and paralyzed by their emotions, Ted persists in thinking about the case. His long interest in weather science helps him notice small details and analyze their connection to other things; his love of Sherlock Holmes mysteries teaches him to think logically and systematically. The sheer pressure of his mental effort pushes through to an insight that solves the mystery.
When Ted finally solves what happened to Salim, his family is quick to dismiss his efforts to speak his solution aloud. Instead of becoming emotional himself, Ted quickly contacts Detective Inspector Pearce, focused on the solution he has discovered. After Marcus confesses to his role in Salim’s scheme to remain in England, Ted continues to doggedly pursue his cousin in a manner that only he can accomplish with his unique neurodiversity.
Ted rehashes Salim’s likely steps and deduces his cousin’s current location. Using Kat’s emotional appeal to their family to his advantage, Ted steps back and lets his sister inspire the adults of the family to rise to the occasion and help locate and rescue Salim. Ted thus takes advantage of the intellectual strengths of his neurodiversity and quickly determines his cousin’s location while his family focuses more on their emotions instead of a solution. He demonstrates that his autism can be a tool to help those around him.
The Importance of Family in a Crisis
Ted and his family endure a harrowing crisis when Ted’s cousin Salim disappears. Each family member anxiously turns inward, but they realize through the course of the novel that they need each other’s help to bring Salim home. This realization brings them closer, and it helps them resolve problems that caused the crisis in the first place.
Salim’s disappearance affects his mother, Gloria, the most. She cries out in agony and focuses on her own pain. Ted’s mother and Gloria’s sister, Faith, tries to help her, but the two of them experience such intense anxiety that it makes problem solving difficult. Salim’s father, Rashid, visits the Sparks, and he and Gloria reinforce their conflicts before uniting to make a televised statement about their concern for Salim.
Kat also reacts in a strongly emotional manner and displays anger in stressful situations. She rebels against social constraints and takes out her frustrations on Ted, whose behaviors she initially makes little effort to understand. Kat leaves home without permission to chase down a lead, and the resulting confrontation with her mother nearly turns violent.
Ben tries to be the calm in the storm, and largely he succeeds, but his discomfort with Gloria keeps him sidelined and his main concern is for his wife, Faith. In the process, his relationship with Ted begins to suffer as he prioritizes his wife and shrugs off Ted’s attempts to provide a logical solution to the family’s problems.
Ted feels uncomfortable around others, making it harder for him to contribute to the family in a way they feel appropriate. His best efforts are intellectual, but his family’s emotional unreceptivity to him hinders his ability to communicate effectively with them.
While Ted calmly deduces Salim’s location, the rest of the family requires further development to understand the dynamics that led to Salim’s disappearance. Gloria realizes that her self-involvement is what Salim is running away from, while Rashid registers his son’s desire for his father’s involvement in his life.
Outside of Salim’s immediate family, Faith realizes she can’t protect her children from every risk, and that trying to do so pushes them away from her and toward danger. She discovers that her love and respect for them are a better protection than a set of rules, and she learns to trust that, despite making mistakes, her kids can learn from experience and grow stronger by taking on more responsibility. Kat feels more respected, and this helps her more fully express her love for her parents and to be less rebellious.
Ted learns to be more patient when interacting with others, and he practices moderating the behavioral quirks that irritate them. He also pays closer attention to the social cues of those around him to connect on a deeper level, laughing when they laugh and working more quietly while sharing a room with Kat.
Salim’s disappearance forces the whole family to rethink their relationships and to better appreciate the importance of family and the value of closeness. By the time they learn where Salim is, their relationships have improved. They hurry to the Barracks together, search for Salim, and bring him home, all without any conflict. When Gloria and Salim leave for New York, everyone feels much closer, and there are many hugs and good wishes. By learning to cooperate with one another during a crisis, Ted’s family members grow to care about one another in ways that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible.
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