Not to be missed

Jasper is 13. He is autistic, has synaesthesia (his late mother is a beautiful and lively bright blue), and is also ‘face blind’ (a condition known to neurologists as prosopagnosia. On witnessing the murder of his neighbour Bee Larkham, can he work out who the killer is if he hasn’t recognised their face?

Jasper is at first convinced that he has committed the murder, and that his dad helped to conceal the crime and removed the body. But this belief is slowly eroded as the novel progresses and Jasper’s story becomes enmeshed with the neighbours he is surrounded by and their complicated pasts.

Harris’s empathic understanding and visceral portrayal of Jasper’s synaesthetic, face-blind, autistic world is compelling. A novel not to be missed.

- Reviewed by Eloise, a DPhil student