Smart

4.5 stars

There's been a lot of fiction lately jumping on the autistic (and other disorders) bandwagon, some more successfully than others. Personally, I enjoy this kind of narrator, it's why I love fiction so much - climbing into the shoes and views of someone different to me.

And I can enjoy it if it's well done which this is. There are similarities to The Curious Incident in the Night-time, as the narrator seems to be autistic (though he is never outright called this) and also because the plot involves a murder and investigation.

I would say slightly younger readers could access this, maybe 12+. Kieran is about that age. His mother has moved in with Tony, unemployed and violent, and Tony's lazy teenage son Ryan, happy to follow his father's example and bully Kieran. The book begins when Kieran and his homeless friend Jean discover the drowned body of another homeless man, Colin. The police aren't very interested so Kieran decides he will investigate. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the CSI TV programme, and an uncanny ability to draw and paint, so draws Jean's description of the last man she saw with Colin.

It's a quite moving story. Seeing through Kieran's eyes, his home life is upsetting. He quite innocently describes his mother working two jobs and giving the money to Tony, the shady visitors and money, the dog locked in the shed on wobbly legs... And without him explaining, we work out a lot about him for ourselves when we works with Mrs Crane on social skills at school, and wonders why he doesn't see his grandma anymore.

He's not a pushover though. This is a boy determined to find out what happened to Colin. This drives the plot, and Kieran shows just how smart a young person can be as he tries to solve the mystery, uncovering other secrets along the way.

I was glad that Jean and Colin were both given a backstory though I'd have liked a little moreX especially of Jean as she was quite a likeable character who didn't get as much time to shine as I would have liked. Tony is pretty vile and real, though Ryan is mostly two-dimensional, glued to his computer games. Kieran's mum gets very little time, is quite grating really - she sees her son beaten, is beaten herself and meekly submits to it. Got angry with her

But Kieran is adorable - resourceful, brave and smart. I liked his voice, and his story.

The solution to the mystery comes all of a sudden but it's the other plots coming together that works well, and I hope this leads young readers to appreciate that everyone has their strengths as well as problems and deserves to be taken seriously.

Review of a Netgalley advance copy.