The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time

I love reading. I mean, I really love reading. Ever since I first learned to read, I've had my nose in a book. Rather like Lily Bollinger and her champagne, I read to cheer myself up when I'm sad, to celebrate when I'm happy, to clear my head when I'm confused or to entertain myself when I'm bored. It suddenly occurred to me that, as a result of this, I have read a very large number of books. Not all great quality, by any means, but I've certainly achieved quantity.

Now, I don't know about you, but before I embark on a novel, even an acknowledged classic such as "War and Peace" (in view of its length, especially before a classic such as "War and Peace"), I want a clear idea of what I'm getting myself into. So, that is what I hope to provide - I intend to write informal reviews of all the books I read, more or less as I read them.

I want to start with the last book I read (not "War and Peace". In the interests of strict honesty, I should tell you that, not having read a definite opinion, I haven't yet attempted "War and Peace"), which is "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time".

I had, as I'm sure you have, heard a lot about it. The writing-as-an-autistic-kid gimmick definitely helped sales for that one! What I wasn't sure about was whether the hype would turn out to be justified. Having read it, I'm still not sure. On the one hand, our narrator is very likeable, his quest rather sweet and the twist, though not entirely unexpected, perfectly acceptable for this kind of novel. The author, having built us up to expect some sort of mystery novel, rather neatly turns it around into a different kind of novel altogether (though I'm not sure I could classify it - a family troubles novel? Maybe?).

I liked the way Christopher sets about his investigation and some of the characters were very appealing (I warmed to Siobhan). Saying that though, I don't think it really works. The first issue I had was with the resolution of Christopher's mystery (Spoiler alert - I'm going to tell you whodunit...).

Christopher's father is presented to us as a calm man, who doesn't get agitated and is much better at dealing with his son than the boy's mother is. Would a man like that be rash enough and, not to put too fine a point on it, psychotic enough to stab his ex-girlfriend's dog to death because she left him? I can absolutely understand why Christopher is scared of him. I would be, wouldn't you?

And yet Christopher's fear is presented to us as though it were a result of his condition, not the natural reaction to discovering that your father, who recently hit you, is a kind of male Glenn Close (in Fatal Attraction, obviously. Not just Glenn Close. That would be a bit harsh). I also found the police's reaction to this a bit odd. If I told the police that my ex had gone crazy and stabbed my dog with a fork, I'd expect more than "Oh? Ok, fair enough. Anything else?"

My verdict then, was that this was an entertaining read, with a narrator to whom I warmed and some interesting ideas. However, the plot holes and inconsistencies bothered me, and I felt that an awful lot of its reputation had come from the person narrating it, rather than an appraisal of the novel itself.