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During recess at school, two children, ten-year-old Amelia and nine-year-old Adam, wander into the nearby woods. When the play period is over the teachers can't find the children and call their parents and the police. Eventually Adam is found safe and sound but Amelia is found dead, murdered. The police know that Adam was the only witness but he isn't saying anything. The boy is autistic and has a hard time communicating and understanding situations. The only way the police will catch Amelia's killer is if Adam's mother Cara can somehow help figure out what is going on in Adam's head. Wanting to help solve the murder is 13-year-old Morgan who goes to the nearby middle school. He is part of a special class filled with students who have psychological problems. Morgan believes that if he helps find who killed Amelia he won't be in too much trouble when his own secret is discovered. Morgan had accidentally set fire to the wetlands his lawyer mother is trying to protect. Morgan is the only person Adam will talk to but even so, it is very hard for the authorities to figure out what his few words mean when it comes to identifying the murderer. EYE CONTACT by Cammie McGovern is amazing book. The author takes us into the confused and befuddled mind of autistic Adam as he tries to figure out what happened to his friend and how he can tell his mother and the police what happened. Autism is not the only subject of the book. A large portion of the story also deals with the relationships between mothers and sons. Of course there is the relationship between Adam and his mother Cara, but we also see what goes on between Morgan and his mother and why he set fire to the wetlands. There's also some insight between one of Cara's old childhood friends and how he reacts with his mother. The novel also goes into great detail about how some of the middle school children behave because of bullies. One of Morgan's friends, Chris, has some very real problems because of how he is treated by other students. EYE CONTACT is a superbly-written novel. The author does a fine job in pulling all the characters and plot lines together to give us an exceptional murder mystery while also explaining to the readers the complications and problems of autistic children. Beautifully written with realistic characters, and with a solid murder mystery that has a surprise ending, EYE CONTACT is not to be missed.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, June 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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