The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Author	Mark Haddon
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Mystery novel
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	2003
Media type	Print (hardback and paperback)
Pages	226
ISBN	0-09-945025-9
OCLC Number	59267481

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a 2003 novel by British writer Mark Haddon. It won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year^[1] and the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book.^[2] Its title is a quotation of a remark made by the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1894 short story "Silver Blaze".

The story is written in the first-person perspective of Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy with special needs living in Swindon, Wiltshire. Although Christopher's condition within the autism spectrum is not stated explicitly within the novel, the summary on the book's inside cover or back cover (depending on the edition) describes it as Asperger syndrome, high-functioning autism, or savant syndrome.

[edit] Characters

• Christopher Boone: the story's protagonist, who investigates the murder of Mrs Shears' poodle.
• Ed Boone: Christopher's father, who is a heating engineer. Up to the beginning of the story, he has been living with Christopher as a single parent for two years. He is usually very patient and understanding with Christopher, but gradually becomes cross with his son's investigation.
• Judy Boone: Christopher's mother. Christopher is told by his father that she died of a heart attack before the start of the book. Not much of an initial description is given, but Christopher describes more about her as the story proceeds.
• Siobhan: Christopher's teacher, friend, and mentor. She teaches him how society works and how to behave within its complex guidelines.
• Roger Shears (Mr Shears): he lived near the Boones but has left his wife before the story begins.
• Eileen Shears (Mrs Shears): one of the neighbours, who attempts to console Ed for a time after Christopher learns of his mother's death.
• Mrs Alexander: one of Christopher's neighbours, who tries to help him.
• Wellington: Mrs Shears' large black poodle, which Christopher finds dead in her front yard.
• Reverend Peters: the reverend of Christopher's school. He also invigilates Christopher's examination.
• Toby: Christopher's pet rat. It accompanies him during his investigation.

[edit] Plot

Christopher, an autistic fifteen-year-old boy lives with his father; his mother supposedly died two years before. He discovers the dead body of Wellington, his neighbour's dog, speared by a garden fork. Mrs Shears, Wellington's owner, calls the police, and Christopher comes under suspicion. When a policeman touches him, he hits the policeman, and is arrested, then released with a caution. He decides to investigate the dog's death, despite his father's orders to stay out of other people's business. However, he is severely limited by his fears and difficulties when interpreting the world around him. Throughout his adventures, Christopher records his experiences in a book: a "murder mystery novel". During his investigation, Christopher meets people whom he has never before encountered, even though they live on the same street, including the elderly Mrs Alexander, who informs Christopher that his mother had an affair with Mr Shears.

Ed, his father, discovers the book and confiscates it from Christopher, after a brief fight between them. While searching for the confiscated book, Christopher uncovers a trove of letters which his mother wrote to him, dated after her supposed death, which his father has also hidden. He is so thoroughly shocked by his father lying about his mother's death that he is unable to move, curls up on the bed, vomits and groans for several hours until his father returns home.

Ed realises that Christopher has read the letters and cleans him up. He then confesses that he had indeed lied about Judy's "death" and also that it was he who killed Wellington, stating that it was a mistake resulting from his anger after a heated argument with Mrs Shears.

Christopher, having lost all trust in his father and fearing that Ed may try to kill him since he had already killed the dog, runs away. Guided by his mother's address from the letters, he embarks on an adventurous trip to London, where his mother lives with Mr Shears.

After a long and event-filled journey, evading policemen, and feeling ill from the overwhelmingly large amount of information and stimuli from the trains and crowds around him, he finally finds his way to his mother and Mr Shears' home, and waits outside until they arrive.

His mother, Judy, is delighted that Christopher has come to her; she cannot believe that Ed would tell Christopher that she was dead. Mr Shears doesn't want Christopher living with them and never did. Moreover, very soon after arriving, Christopher wants to return to Swindon in order to take his mathematics A-level. His mother leaves Mr Shears, their relationship having broken down because of the conflict over Christopher.

She then moves into a rented room in Swindon, and after an argument with Ed, agrees to let Ed meet Christopher for daily brief visits. However, at this stage, Christopher remains terrified of his father and makes repeated attempts to prevent him from talking. He hopes Ed will be imprisoned for killing Wellington. The story ends with Ed getting Christopher a pet dog, because Toby, Christopher's pet rat, had died, and promising that he will rebuild trust with Christopher slowly, "no matter how long it takes". Christopher asserts that he will take further A-level exams and attend university. He completes his first mathematics A-level with top grades and, despite previously wanting to be an astronaut, his ultimate goal is to become a scientist.

The book closes with Christopher optimistic about his future, having solved the mystery of the murdered dog, gone to London on his own, found his mother, written a book, and got an A in his A-level maths exam.

[edit] Literary techniques

Christopher, the book's narrator, is gifted at and focused on mathematics: this is reflected by his inclusion of several famous puzzles of maths and logic. The book's appendix is a reproduction of a question from Christopher's A-level examination, with annotated answers.

Christopher's mathematical interests are reflected in his numbering his chapters strictly with prime numbers, skipping 1 and composite numbers such as 4 and 6. So the first is Chapter 2, followed by 3, then 5, 7, 11, and so on, up to the last chapter, 233. In addition, the contents in consecutive chapters alternate: Chapter 2 is about the unfolding story; Chapter 3 explores some aspects of the narrator's inner life not necessarily directly relevant to the immediate action; Chapter 5 returns to the narrative. This alternation continues throughout the book with the story often digressing into seemingly unconnected subjects such as Christopher's atheism and the Cottingley Fairies.

[edit] Reception

The book was joint winner of the 2004 Boeke Prize.

[edit] Film adaptation

A film adaptation has been written by Steve Kloves, who will also direct it. It is to be produced by Warner Bros. in association with Heyday Films and Plan B Entertainment. However, its current production status is unknown.^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Many reviews
• Salon book review
• Plus Magazine book review
• Mathematical Association of America book review
• Powell's interview with author Mark Haddon