The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon

reviewed by Byron Merritt

A 15-year-old boy named Christopher Boone lives and thinks differently than most of us. Being born with a type of autism known as Asperger’s Syndrome, his mind cannot grasp emotions and other relative humanistic traits. But he can grasp math, physics, and the sciences to a degree that would impress Einstein. He loves red things, hates the color yellow (seeing five yellow cars in a row results in a very bad day), and wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.

But today, here in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, he gets to mimic his favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes, after finding the neighbor’s dog impaled with a garden fork.

Christopher is mistakenly believed to have murdered Wellington (the dog) when its owner finds him cradling the animal’s body. He’s arrested but soon released after they realized he didn’t kill the dog.

But Christopher’s mind is set (and once the mind of an Asperger sufferer is set, there’s no going back); he’s going to find out who killed the dog.

Christopher’s journey will take him (and the reader) into realms unknown, digging us into the life of this young boy and his family, showing us that a simple canine murder is the least of his problems.

And how he deals with all of these issues is remarkable, sad, funny, and strangely ironic.

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First-time novelist Mark Haddon mined what all first-time novelists hope for: a bit of literary gold. Putting the story in first person (all from Christopher’s perspective) was sheer genius.

I once heard a writer say that it’s so wonderful to read a book versus watching a movie or television because when an author does it right, he or she can get an internal dialogue going on inside the head of the reader. And this is the biggest strength of the book. Putting us into Christopher’s head, the reader is forced to view the world exactly how he does. Absolutes are comforting, while abstracts make him sick. Colors are vital for day to day functions. Routine is a must. Math is a blessing (each chapter is a prime number, one of Christopher’s favorite computations).

Here’s an example — from “chapter 23" — of the style of writing that awaits the reader:

“When I got to the police station they made me take the laces out of my shoes and empty my pockets at the front desk in case I had anything in them that I could use to kill myself or escape or attack another policeman with.

The sergeant behind the desk had very hairy hands and he had bitten his nails so much that they had bled.

This is what I had in my pockets

1.  A Swiss Army knife with 13 attachments including a wire stripper and a saw and a toothpick and tweezers
2.  A piece of string
3.  A piece of a wooden puzzle which looked like this (drawing of puzzle)
4.  Pellets of rat food for Toby, my rat”

...and the list goes on.

This might sound monotonous to the initial reader, but the narrative cadence becomes comforting very quickly. I found myself becoming so enthralled with what Christopher might do next that I all but zinged through the pages.

This is an entirely different style of writing, one that is sure to place Mr. Haddon amongst some of the greatest breakout writers of our time.