Christopher finds himself in a life or death situation while trying to retrieve Toby from the train tracks. What did you find to be the most frightening or disturbing part of this scene? Why do you think the author included this scene in the novel?

Still scared in the station, Christopher notices that Toby is missing. He looks for him and sees him on the tracks, so he jumps off the platform and follows Toby. A man on the platform tells him to get out but Christopher keeps trying to reach Toby and as he does, he hears the sound of the train. The man helps him on to the platform just in time.

Losing Toby is the climax of the whole story. Although clearly Christopher will survive the jump on to the train tracks (as he is narrating the story), Haddon builds remarkable suspense. It is also notable that despite Christopher's difficulty connecting to other humans, he feels so strongly responsible for his pet rat that he will risk his life to find him. The key, of course, is that Christopher doesn't realize he is risking his life. His thinking is too compartmentalized - all he knows is that Toby is on the tracks, and therefore he should go on to the tracks to fetch him.