In Mark Haddon’s widely acclaimed novel, an unusual and brilliant boy insists on investigating the mysterious death of a neighbour’s dog
Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon caused some head-scratching with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – was it a novel for children or adults? Whichever, said the judges, it was excellent
By 2003, Haddon was an established and successful writer for children whose Agent Z books – which he illustrated himself – had gained him an enthusiastic young following. The Curious Incident, however, was something quite different. It is a mystery novel shot through with poignancy, with a 15-year-old Asperger’s/autistic narrator who tasks himself with solving a crime but who simultaneously has to negotiate adolescence and his parents’ failed marriage. Haddon says he wrote the book for an adult audience but it works just as well as a young adult novel.
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