Review: Colin Fischer

by Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz

I read and reviewed this a while ago but I've been re-watching the TV programme Elementary, which for those who don't know, is a modern incarnation of the literary Holmes and Watson dream team, and I always think fondly of the eponymous Colin Fischer whenever Sherlock Holmes pops up, so I thought I'd put it up here.

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'Colin Fischer cannot stand to be touched. He does not like the color blue. He needs index cards to recognize facial expressions.

But when a gun is found in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate’s birthday celebration, Colin is the only for the investigation. It’s up to him to prove that Wayne Connelly, the school bully and Colin’s frequent tormenter, didn’t bring the gun to school. After all, Wayne didn’t have frosting on his hands, and there was white chocolate frosting found on the grip of the smoking gun…'

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Colin Fischer is marketed at a 10+ readership but I think older readers are really going to enjoy this book too. It’s been compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which vaulted over the Young Adult barrier and became a hit with teens and adults alike, and I don’t think it would be remiss to place it alongside the likes of Wonder, which has had similar success.

Comparisons to Curious Incident… were inevitable – perhaps even encouraged – with a main character with Asperger’s Syndrome and a who-dun-it plot, but what I really appreciated about this book was that it didn’t feel like a who-dun-it story from the off. Of course the synopsis was pretty explicit that this was the main plot point but the co-authors were in no hurry to get there.

I really enjoyed getting to know Colin and experiencing his world. There is so much fodder for great storytelling in a high school setting and Colin is ideally placed due to the nature of his condition to be a keen and honest observer. In this way the reader is able to grasp the dispassionate facts as Colin does, whilst simultaneously understanding the ‘obvious’ everyday aspects of life that are beyond his comprehension – perfect opportunities for comedy moments that make you chuckle.

The reader is introduced to a host of characters that are interesting enough in their interactions and responses to Colin alone to be able to offer the material for a great story. Then a gun goes off in the school and the who-dun-it starts in earnest, kicking it up a notch. When Colin first fixates on finding out who shot the gun I got a delicious thrill thinking that I could already be in possession of all the facts I needed – a great list of suspects and motives. Very Holmes-esqe. Colin would approve.

I thought Colin’s red notebook entries at the start of each chapter provided great insight into his thought process and were a really clever way of pulling plot points later in the chapters together. Why is Colin writing about sharks? Probably because he likes sharks. [Reads rest of chapter] Oh, I get it! Great stuff.

The use of a different font to highlight facial expressions that Colin identifies, or attempts to identify, was a clever way of reminding the reader that this is not natural for Colin. I also took my time looking at all the different faces over the cover of the book – I do not envy Colin for having to negotiate through those!

The footnotes – not often seen in works of fiction, particularly children's – explaining small points of fact or providing a context to Collin’s environment enhanced the overall flow of the narrative rather then detracted from it. I confess that I have found myself sharing some of the more interesting points with people subsequently.

This was a real pleasure to read, and I think there's potential for more Colin Fischer books - our budding detective has so much more to give.

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If you'd like to find out more about Asperger's syndrome, the condition Colin has, the National Autistic Society is an excellent place to start.