Get your appetite ready for a Main Course! In Mark Haddon’s 2003 debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Christopher Boone is a fifteen-year-old boy whom may or may not have autism. Though the diagnosis of his condition isn’t confirmed in the story, it is stated on some book covers, but not all, and is strongly opposed by the autism community. However, Christopher himself claims to be a “mathematician with behavior problems.”

The story begins with Christopher discovering a neighbor’s dead dog named Wellington with a gardening fork coming out of him. This launches Christopher into trying to solve Wellington’s murder and writing a book about it. Through the course of his investigation, family secrets are unearthed, and Christopher’s mental and physical abilities are severely challenged.

I liked this book because it’s different; it had a fresh perspective, an interesting narrator, and uncommon characters. An example of it being different is, the story is told from Christopher’s point of view and as such is put into chapters, not chronologically, but by prime numbers.

Haddon brings the reader into a world most have never seen or experienced before with emotional twists worthy of a truly well-written Mystery novel. The book is funny and shocking, triumphant as well as tender and is two hundred and twenty-six pages long.