The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: Promising start, Disappointing plot

If you’ve read my book reviews before, it’s usually positive and good things about the authors. But similar to anything in life, there is a good side and a bad side. This book turned out to be on the bad side. Initially recommended to me as a murder mystery, it was a frustrating read with the book taking a completely different direction than what was suggested to me. I began the book, and it started with a scene of 15 year old Christopher Boone seeing his neighbour’s dog dead, and he sets off to find who killed the dog. A typical story, which is what I expected from the genres this book was listed under, would be an investigation with plot twists, with a riveting buildup to the satisfying finish. That is not what unfolded. I do not want to give spoilers, but instead of focusing on the murder, it focuses on the boy, who is autistic, and it deals with him and his separated parents. There is a train ride to meet his mom, a fight between the mom and the stepdad, hidden letters from the mom, but nothing about the murder past a third of the book. That is what made me dislike the book. I’m not against the plot, but by specifying it as a murder mystery, it attracts a wider audience than it needs to and not many of the wider audience would like it either. Overall, it is a subpar read with a poor but touching plot that is severely underdeveloped and more importantly, dreadfully marketed.

Of Course, you may end up liking the book. This is entirely my opinion, so feel free to pick up the book.

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“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.” Audible.com, 2025, www.audible.com/pd/The-Curious-Incident-of-the-Dog-in-the-Night-Time-Audiobook/B002V8H5PW. Accessed 4 Jan. 2025.