Colin Fischer

Colin Fischer is Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz’s foray into young adult fiction, having successfully penned comic book screenplays like X-Men First Class and Thor. The novel was published by Penguin Books in 2013 and reads much like protagonist Colin’s character. It is sparsely narrated in the third person, littered with footnotes and includes excerpts from Colin’s Notebook, its format mirroring the logical, detail-oriented, and obsessive Colin.

Colin Fischer is an intelligent, 14-year-old freshman in high school with functional Asperger's. Being an outsider, he spends much of his time using his notebook, aptly named “Colin’s Notebook,” to help him navigate social situations. In Colin’s Notebook, Colin writes down observations and even has an index of faces to help him identify his peers’ emotions. Colin takes note of small details and is perceptive, much like his idol Sherlock Holmes.



Starting his first day of high school, Colin has opted to leave behind the “shadows” or paraprofessionals that helped him with the difficulties of Asperger's in his previous grades. He encounters the school bully, Wayne Connelly, in the bathroom, and Wayne gives him a swirly. Acting logically rather than emotionally, Colin simply goes home and changes and seems to be undeterred.

Colin introduces us to the social groups in school. There are popular, confident athletes like Eddie, Stan, and Cooper. There are also traditional nerds and those who function somewhere between groups, like Melissa Greer, a former outcast like Colin who remains his friend despite her new-found popularity, and Rudy Moore, a somewhat dubious popular kid with nerd-like intelligence.

Later that day at lunch, the students are celebrating a birthday in the cafeteria when Eddie and his crew decide to give the bully Wayne his comeuppance for picking on Eddie’s girlfriend, Sandy. During the altercation, a gun goes off. Colin, unabashed by the noise and intrigued by the “crime scene,” discovers the gun smeared with cake frosting near a tube of lipstick and some school supplies. Having taken note of the way that Wayne was carefully eating his cake, Colin knows that Wayne cannot have been the messy culprit. Still, the school administration believes Wayne is to blame and suspends him. The police question Colin and he deduces that they suspect Wayne is involved in a gang.



Colin, emulating Sherlock Holmes, goes to meet Wayne after school to investigate. The two discuss their police interviews, and Wayne explains that the police have traced the gun to a gang called “La Familia.” They decide to meet with the gang under the pretense of purchasing a gun. There, they learn that Eddie and Stan had previously been on a similar errand and bought a gun from the gang.  When the gang members realize that Colin and Wayne haven't been entirely honest, the boys make a quick exit to a supermarket where Colin’s father picks him up.

Colin’s parents have learned of his deception and are baffled. It’s unlike Colin to be dishonest. His brother Danny is eager to see him punished since he seems to get special treatment and consumes most of their parents’ attention. When it’s clear Colin won’t be punished, Danny trashes Colin’s room, triggering one of Colin’s Asperger episodes.

Back at school the next day, Eddie confesses to Colin that he did indeed purchase a gun, but wasn’t in the cafeteria when the gun went off. Hearing this, Colin thinks he knows what happened. He believes Sandy, Eddie’s girlfriend, took the gun from Eddie’s locker to keep him from getting in trouble. She had it in her purse, and it must have fallen out, going off during the altercation in the cafeteria. This theory explains why the gun was covered in frosting and was surrounded by what may have been the contents of her purse—school supplies and lipstick. Colin sets up a meeting with the principle, Sandy, and Wayne to expose Sandy.



Wayne is vindicated, Sandy gets expelled and Eddie, unconfirmed as the gun owner, goes unpunished. Eddie and Stan attempt to hassle Colin to avenge Sandy and pay him back for a previous episode Colin had in gym class, but Wayne protects Colin.

During detention, Colin is cleaning a bathroom stall when Eddie and Randy walk in. Colin hides and overhears that Randy was the one who had sent Eddie to purchase the gun. Wayne later confronts him, and the reader is left with the feeling that Colin will be solving yet another mystery off-camera or in a book to come.

The story offers a glimpse into what it’s like living with a disability and how someone with Asperger's thinks. Details like Colin’s distaste for any “mushy” foods, jumping on the trampoline to sort his thoughts, and a mathematical way of playing basketball, flesh out the peculiarities of Colin as a character and expose some of the struggles of Asperger’s.