Gillian Cross: Pictures in the Dark

I picked this up from the youth section in the library because I had this idea that I'd read something by Gillian Cross for adults, so it'd be interesting to see how she wrote for kids. But I must have been confusing Gillian Slovo and Amanda Cross or something... Anyway, this is quite good I thought, bar that Charlie, our hero, is maybe a little too good - gets a tad one-dimensional. Charlie loves photography and gets very excited when he thinks an otter lives in the river. If he could get photos of the otter it'd be quite a scoop. But why is the otter so closely connected to the bullied, strange boy, Peter - so closely that it seems to come from Peter's family's garden? And how crazy is Peter's father becoming over this, and is Peter in real danger? Etc. Quite readable. Checking out Gillian Cross's homepage I realise that I have seen The Demon Headmaster on the telly, so maybe that's where I recognized her from? Anyway, I was interested enough by this to borrow the other book that the library had, but it's for even younger kids so I might return it. On the other hand I might need it after finishing Beloved.