The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

- MARK HADDON

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Born on September 26, 1962, in Northampton, England, Mark Haddon was raised by an architect. He received his early education from Uppingham School and then went on to major in English Literature at the Merton College, Oxford. Upon completion of his studies, he became a caretaker for disabled people in Scotland. His experience of taking care of patients with multiple sclerosis and autism would later influence his literary writing. In addition to that, he did a variety of jobs, including at a theater box office, mailing office and as a cartoonist and illustrator. His works were illustrated in numerous periodicals and in a cartoon strip, “Men—A User’s Guide”.

Subsequently, Haddon relocated to Boston, Massachusetts and stayed there with his wife. A year later they moved back to England where he took up his passion for abstract painting and sold his art. Afterwards, he began writing as a children’s author. Before producing any major work, he illustrated children’s books and wrote for popular television shows for kids. He published his first children’s book, titled Gilbert’s Gobstopper, in 1987. It was followed by several books which he self-illustrated.

In 1993, Haddon wrote the first book in his famous comical children’s book series, Agent Z Meets the Masked Crusader. The Agent Z series is set in the present day fictional city of Britain. Agent Z is not an actual character in the series but secret identity adopted by three schoolboys when they play pranks on unsuspecting and bored people. Ben, Barney and Jenks call themselves Crane Grove Crew and their mission is to fight boredom by unleashing Agent Z. The comical series contains four books and one of the titles, Agent Z and the Penguin from Mars, has been adapted into Children’s BBC sitcom, in 1996.

Haddon wrote his first adult mystery, entitled The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, published in 2003. It is titled after a quote from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story, “Silver Blaze”. The story is narrated from the first-person perspective of a 15-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone. He suffers from high-functioning autism, something Haddon had witnessed first-hand while caretaking patients. According to the author, the focus of the book is not the Asperger’s syndrome itself but the difference it creates in the sufferer’s life. The novel alludes to the refreshing outlook of a person with this syndrome and how their every experience has a surprising and revealing quality. Haddon’s second adult novel, A Spot of Bother, appeared in 2006.

SYNOPSIS:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.

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