Latest Articles
The Autistic Detective:
A Murder Mystery of the
Uncommon Kind
By April Jones
Book: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Author : Mark Haddon
Vintage Books, Random House, New York 2003
Many things in life are a mystery to Christopher John Francis Boone. Time, which he thinks “is a mystery and not even a thing (p.158).” People, who he finds confusing and scary, because they do “a lot of talking without using any words’ and who killed Wellington, his neighbor’s dog.
Christopher’s investigation takes him on a journey uncovering more secrets than he bargained for in The curious incident of the dog in the night-time, a mystery story-within-a story written from Christopher point of view. He narrates the story along with his inner dialogue of somewhat useful information.
Christopher is a 15-year old young man who lives in England. He knows many things. He knows math. He likes order and prime numbers, so much that he uses them to number the chapters in the book. He has a great memory for numbers, dates and moments and experiences.
Although he believes in logic he is far more emotional and in touch with the emotional side of himself than he thinks. Seeing a certain number and color of cars on the road can mean either a good or bad day.
Although Christopher doesn’t’ like new people he seems to want a closer relationship with his absent mother and patient father. He is aware that he used to have “Behavioral Problems” and thought he would cause his parents to divorce over the stress. “Sometimes Father would say ‘Christopher if you do not behave I swear I shall knock the living daylights out of you,’” explains Boone.
Haddon does a good job bringing Christopher to life. Like most people Christopher has random thoughts stuck in his head but at times it was hard to stay focused on the text because Boone goes off on such a tangent with his thoughts which are very stream of conscious in nature.
Haddon includes visual elements to give the reader further insight into Christopher’s thought process, including the advanced math equations, timetables and maps he creates in his mind. In one passage Christopher is lost and looks around for a sign which he groups together into a blob of a paragraph. But within a few seconds the sign transforms from block text to a mix of text and symbols.
In a way the story actually serves two audiences; readers who know someone like Christopher and readers who share some of his traits. Haddon created a character that who’s courage is inspiring and knows in the end he can do anything.