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EYE CONTACT
by Cammie McGovern
Viking, June 2006
304 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0670037656


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Cara is very scared when the school calls her; her son Adam is lost. This would be scary enough for the parent of any child, but Adam is autistic. The situation only gets worse. Adam is found, safe, but the little girl who was with him is dead. Did Adam stab Amelia? If not Adam, then who?

Cara is a single mom. She isn't sure who Adam's father is, although she can narrow it down to two men. This is relevant, but not until late in the book. Much of what seems trivial turns out not to be, so pay attention!

Adam is soon ruled out as a suspect; he is just not mentally capable of the kind of planning which seems to have gone into this murder. What does become obvious is that Adam was likely a witness to the murder. The problem is finding out what Adam saw, which is difficult, given his autism.

Cara struggles throughout the book with this problem, and with her growing realization that her perception of her own son is skewed. He is changing as he gets older, and she has not been ready to accept or see some of those changes. Most parents can recognize how startling that realization can be, how world-altering accepting those changes is.

EYE CONTACT is probably a classic cozy mystery, although the mystery aspect sometimes seems peripheral to what else is going on in Cara's life. There is an amazing amount of "six degrees of Kevin Bacon" in EYE CONTACT, but McGovern makes those connections in such a way that the implausibility doesn't really stand out until the book is over and one is thinking back on just what exactly took place. And it's not totally impossible that these connections could exist . . . just a little unlikely.

EYE CONTACT is well written, with a plot that hangs together and a cast of characters one grows to care about. The portrayal of Cara and her feelings about Adam are strikingly realistic, with all the angst and worries and care and love that coexist in the parent of a child with a disability. While very different in tone from Jeff Cohen's works, Cammie McGovern's work is just as true. EYE CONTACT brings yet another look at the world inhabited by a person with autism when that world is invaded by something as monumental an event as a murder.

Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, June 2006

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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