The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mark Haddon

It is quite likely that no one who reads The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is going to forget Christopher Boone soon after they put the novel down. Christopher Boone, an autistic (so the blurb from Oliver Sacks on the back tells us; all Christopher lets on is that he goes to a special school with “stupid kids”) teenager, goes across the street one morning to find the neighbor's dog, Wellington, has been killed with a garden fork. He immediately becomes the prime suspect in the murder, as he's caught with body in hand, and figures it is in his best interests to find out who the real killer is. Finding this out uncovers a number of other mysteries, gives us remarkable insight into math and physics, and lets us get to know one of the more engaging narrators in recent fiction.

What makes Curious Incident work as well as it does is Christopher. “Quirky” is an understatement, but then that's to be expected when one is dealing with the mentally challenged. He is incessantly logical at times (the only student from his school to ever sit the maths A-level, as he plans to throughout the book), but incapable of mapping that logic onto many other areas of his life. He gets obsessed with some things and forgets others for hours on end; draws conclusions on certain parts of the investigation at a whim while digs into layer after layer of others.

In general, with the exception of the screaming and moaning fits, he's rather a lot like the rest of us. Add in a cracking mystery, and you've got a fun novel. Don't let its being picked by the Today Show for their book club fool you, this one will please reading snobs and the great unwashed alike.