JACOB has Asperger’s syndrome: he’s brilliant, funny – and obsessed with rules. The teenager is also hopeless at making friends. He can’t interpret other people’s unspoken signals, and can’t look anyone in the eye.

When a young woman whose job it was to teach him social skills turns up dead, his odd behaviour makes him the prime suspect – especially as he’s already known to the local Vermont police because of his fascination with crime scenes.

His mum, Emma, can’t believe her son could have killed his tutor. But does she really know him at all?

House Rules is a forensic examination of what it is like to live with someone with Aspergers, by a big novelist famed for tackling difficult issues. But it is also a cracking courtroom thriller, told from multiple perspectives, which will keep you guessing right to the end.