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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

By Mark Haddon

This is the story of Christopher John Francis Boone, an autistic 15-yr-old who discovers his neighbor's dog murdered with of a pitchfork and then decides to investigate the crime in the model of his fictional hero Sherlock Holmes. On the surface, this novel echoes stories of unlikely detectives such as the obsessive-compulsive TV dective Monk or Jonathan Lethem's Tourette's-afflicted Lionel Essrog. In this book, however, the plot is focussed more on the detective of the story rather than the mystery that needs to be solved.

The novel is told from Christopher's perspective in such a way that we can't help but see the world through his eyes. His is a view totally lacking any kind of filter. He can only process the information he is given and that he processes fully. Where you are I may see a pasture of cows, Christopher sees a pasture containing 19 Holstein cows, which is filled with 65% grass, 15% buttercups, 5% trees, and 5% water, the water being contained in a pond in the northwest corner of the field, with a farmhouse (painted light blue with red trim, with one of those porch swings twisting idly in the wind), etc. If asked to describe the third cow from the left, Christopher would be able to draw a picture of the cow, accurately depicting the pattern of black and white spots.

The book isn't written like this, but we are given enough of a taste to understand how difficult it must be for Christopher to be able to function at all in our society where, all too often, too much can be said and too much held back. Additionally, since Christopher cannot accurately communicate emotion, he provides the reader an oddly straightforward and gripping account of the most emotionally wrenching scenes. As we track Christopher's progress, we learn to appreciate the depths of his heroism as he suffers setbacks and achieves success not only in his pursuit of the case, but also in his growth as a person.

(Plus, for those still unconvinced, he provides a definitive solution to the Monte Hall Puzzle.)

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