'Curious Incident' is a curiously good read

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is the stellar first novel from Mark Haddon. A murder mystery unlike any other, it focuses on the would-be Sherlock Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old Briton who has a form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome and the personality quirks that accompany the disorder. Haddon, who worked with children who are afflicted with the different types of autism before turning into a novelist, crafts with care an independent character with goals and drive, just no concept of emotion.\nBlessed -- and cursed -- with a superbly logical brain, Christopher cannot comprehend human emotion or the subtle nuances of ordinary speech. He takes everything at face value, from metaphors to hyperbole. He hates the colors brown and yellow and decides whether or not it's a good day by patterns on the way to school. He's never been further than the end of his street on his own, but the death of Wellington, his neighbor's poodle, changes everything.\nWhen Christopher encounters the slain Wellington on one of his late-night walks, his carefully ordered world tumbles down. Initially blamed for the death of the dog, Christopher vows to find the real killer. Despite his father's protests he begins questioning neighbors about the death. Some regard his odd behavior with suspicion, while others try to help in their own ways.\nDuring his investigations, Christopher finds out more than he bargained for. He long believed his mother suffered a sudden heart attack and is dead. However, while looking for clues for Wellington's murder, he finds stacks of letters addressed to him from his mother. Confronting his father, he finds out that his mother just left after being unable to handle Christopher's difficult moods. His father, unable to explain it to his son, lied instead.\nAfter finding out his father's deceit, Christopher leaves his home -- no small task for a person who has a fear of crowds, public places and the unknown. He makes it to his mother's love nest in London only to return back to his father's home after his mother has a bitter confrontation with her new lover.\n"The Curious Incident" is admittedly an odd book, with an unusual choice of hero and murder victim. It is also a triumph of storytelling; using Christopher as a narrator gives the story a clean, unemotional perspective. This is one of the first books I have ever read in which the author doesn't try to tell you what to feel. Instead, Christopher simply states things the way they are, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions.\nAt first the extremely simple prose is a bit off-putting, but after a few chapters it is simply part of the story itself. Although it is a tad on the unusual side, "The Curious Incident" is worth the read for the sheer delight of the storytelling.\nHaddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" is available at www.amazon.com for $9.60.