The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time

This novel is written from the point of view of a 15 year old boy with Asperger's Syndrome, called Christopher Boone. Christopher is a genius when it comes to solving mathematical problems or science questions. But when it comes to communicating with people or understanding them, he fails. He absolutely can't stand being touched, he can hardly distinguish between a smiling face and a crying one, he's not able to understand jokes and when he can't handle the incoming information anymore, he crouches on the floor and groans. Thus his life's not a normal one; he attends a special school, has nearly no friends, follows a strict timetable for each day, lives alone with his father because his mother has died and so spends a lot of time watching TV or playing video games.

But his life starts changing when he discovers the dead body of the neighbour's dog, killed with a garden fork. Because he likes dogs, he decides to investigate and to seek out the murderer and to write a book about the whole affair. The result is this novel.

But there are complications: At first, he gets into trouble with the police, because he (accidentally) hits a police officer, then his father tells him to keep his nose out of other people's business. But he keeps going and goes about asking every neighbour about that dog. And what he reveals is a lot more than just the murder of a dog. He gets to know Mrs. Alexander, who tells him unintentionally that his mother, before her death, had an affair with Mr. Shears, the ex-husband of Mrs. Shears, the owner of the dog. When his father secretly reads Christopher's book and finds out that he is still investigating, he loses his temper and the argument ends in a fight. Besides, he takes the book and hides it. A few days later, Christopher starts to look for his book, and what he finds is not just his book, but also a lot of letters from his mother, addressed to him and posted after her alleged death. By reading them, he becomes aware of the fact that his mother never died but has just left him and his father to live with Mr. Shears in London and that his father has been lying to him for two years. When his father comes home, he meets a completely shocked boy who has lost all confidence and who's lying in his own vomit.

His father tries to explain the situation and tells the whole truth: That it was him who had killed the dog, in a rage after he had a row with Mrs. Shears, with whom he had wanted to start a relationship. But Christopher is not able to forgive, and as soon as his father has fallen asleep he takes his rat Toby and hides in the garden. The next morning, after his father has gone to look for him, he comes to the conclusion that the only place he can go to is his mother's home in London. So he sets out forLondon and the journey becomes the biggest adventure and experience of his life, because everything is new, and this nearly overwhelms him, he often can't