Eye Contact - Softcover

McGovern, Cammie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143038907 ISBN 13: 9780143038900

Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2007

Synopsis

Like The Lovely Bones and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Cammie McGovern’s breakout novel is at once a hypnotic thriller and an affecting portrait of people as real as our next-door neighbors. In Eye Contact, two children vanish in the woods behind their elementary school. Hours later, nine-year-old Adam is found alive, the sole witness to his playmate’s murder. But because Adam has autism, he is a silent witness. Only his mother, Cara, can help decode his behavior for the police. As the suspense ratchets, Eye Contact becomes a heart-stopping exploration of the bond between a mother and a very special child.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"Eye Contact is a page-turner and I tore through it in twenty-four hours. But it’s more than that—it’s also a nuanced, poignant exploration of how all of us, with or without autism, struggle to find our place in the world. Cammie McGovern writes with grace and compassion."
—Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Prep

"Cammie McGovern makes a satisfying marriage between an exploration of one of modern parenthood's greatest frustrations--autism--and murder mystery. Moreover, she displays considerable insight into the complex, often cruel hierarchies of childhood."
—Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin

"Once in a blue moon comes a literary thriller so full of our everyday lives that it rocks you back on your heels. This is it! This book. These sweet, funny, heartbreaking characters--these mothers and sons, broken friends and lovers--including one unforgettable little boy whose last gesture in those deadly, mysterious woods recalls our lost innocence. Eye Contact is a thrilling mystery tautly told, and beautifully realized. In it, Cammie McGovern leads us through the shadowlands of our own hometowns where words break down and paranoias proliferate, even as we yearn for one lost moment of fluency. This is a book of secrets that will change you."
—Michael Paterniti, New York Times bestselling author of Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain

"Twin mysteries lie at the heart of this riveting and unforgettable novel: the identity and motives of a child-killer, and the inscrutable workings of an autistic boy’s mind. Only a writer like McGovern, whose brilliant gift for storytelling keeps pace with her unflinching emotional acuity, could take on both mysteries and succeed with such power and grace."
—Julie Orringer, author of How To Breathe Underwater

"In the tradition of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Cammie McGovern delivers a compelling murder mystery that intrigues as much by what it hides as by what it so deftly reveals--the stark, poignant, deeply intimate moments in the lives of people living with autism and those who love them."
—Patricia Stacey, author of The Boy Who Loved Windows.

About the Author

Cammie McGovern was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and has won numerous awards for her short fiction. She is the author of one previous novel, The Art of Seeing.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0143038907
• ISBN 13: 9780143038900
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 290