25. Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern

From the back cover:   Two children disappear into the woods behind Woodside Elementary School.  Hours later one of them, nine-year-old Adam, is found alive, the sole witness to his playmate's murder.  But Adam is autistic and can say nothing about what he saw.  Only his mother, Cara, has the power to penetrate his silence.  When another child goes missing and Cara's unsettling past emerges from the shadows, she has to ask herself whether her efforts to protect her son have exposed him to unimaginable danger. 

I really enjoyed the main story of this book, that of the murder mystery and trying to get facts from Adam, who can't understand what has happened and what is wanted from him.  McGovern, who is the mother of an autistic child, does a fantastic job of depicting Adam's world and his mother's struggles to protect her child as well as helping him to learn and grow and also accepting him for who he is.  It is a riveting look inside this disorder.  I found the side story of Cara's past and its eventual resolution to be a mixed bag.  She is an odd character to me except for her fierce protection of Adam which I totally understood.  The conclusion of the mystery itself was unsatisfactory to me probably because there were facts withheld until the end of the story.  Alongside the autistic storyline, Cara's past friendships and hopeful future, there is a side story which deals with bullying and the angst of being an outsider in the preteen world.  This book is just filled with people who don't quite fit in and would be great reading for young adults.  I plan to share it with a friend of mine who has two autistic children because I think Cara's struggles with coming to terms with Adam's autism are something whe can really relate to.  I receommend this book, it's well-written, and deals with some interesting issues. 

Rating:  4

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