It is a dead dog that sets off the chain reaction that leads Christopher Boone to find out the truth about his mother’s disappearance. But this is no usual detective story. Christopher has Asperger's Syndrome: he can recall numbers, will feel safe for a day when he sees three or four or five red cars in a row and he finds emotions near-impossible to unravel. But a dead dog presents the need to understand some complex emotions especially as it also propels Christopher into looking more carefully into his own family and their relationships. Mark Haddon's telling of Christopher's unpredictable response to them is original, kind, disturbing and profoundly moving.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Synopsis
Christopher is 15 and lives in Swindon with his father. He has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. He is obsessed with maths, science and Sherlock Holmes but finds it hard to understand other people. When he discovers a dead dog on a neighbour's lawn he decides to solve the mystery and write a detective thriller about it. As in all good detective stories, however, the more he unearths, the deeper the mystery gets - for both Christopher and the rest of his family.
'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time is an extraordinary novel about a boy with asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism. Like Dustin Hoffman's in Rain Man, the narrator is a simpleton who actually has deeper insights than the rest of us. Beautifully read by a young actor called Ben Tibber in a precise but affecting voice, this is the oddest, most poignant audio book you'll find this year.' Georgia Metcalfe, The Daily Mail
Author
About Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon is an author, illustrator and screen-writer who has written fifteen books for children and won numerous prizes, including two BAFTAs. He lives in Oxford. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time won the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the South Bank Show Book Award, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His poetry collection, The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea was published in 2005. His most recent adult novel, A Spot of Bother, was published in 2006. David Fickling Books is publishing BOOM! in autumn of 2009, a rewrite of his children's book, Gridzbi Spudvetch.