The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mark Haddon

There was me thinking I was reading an unheralded future classic in the shape of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and it turns out I am soooo last week. Not only does it make Amazon's Top 50 (the only one I've actually read) but when I click thru I'm instantly buried under 130 readers reviews. Heck, even Al's already read it. Al, don't take that the wrong way, I don't mean that there's any reason you shouldn't be ahead of the game, just that we don't often read the same stuff. Tell us what you thought of it some time.

Anyhow, it was stupid of me to think I had it to myself when it was already half famous for being the first ever children's book to make the Booker Long List. That's if it even is a children's book. Yes it's short, the typeface is big and it's got pictures (hugely enjoyable ones, by the way) but it had plenty of meat to it, the writing is creative and adventurous, and it had plenty to teach 38-year-old me.

It's all told from the point of view of autistic narrator, Christopher. The strength of the story is in the way you are drawn into a world where physical contact is alarming, stepping into an unfamiliar room is over-stimulating and reciting the first 20 prime numbers to yourself is what you do when you are stressed. Interpreting the gestures and everyday speech of the people around you is only possible when delivered vanilla-style: free of nuances, hyperbole or metaphor. And Christopher doesn't just sit around reciting prime numbers. He has a real life genuine murder mystery to solve.

Weird though all this may sound, it's also a great read. It will be high on my top ten for this year. Me and millions of others, it seems.