Christopher is a 15 year old boy who apparently suffers from a type of autism. In some areas, (e.g. mathematics, physics), he is a genius, but he is not happy in his body, and is wracked by obsessions, and unable to form relationships. He can only eat food that is red or orange, so he is okay with tomatoes and baked beans, and keeps a little bottle of food colouring to stain his rice with.

One night, Christopher finds the dog of his neighbour dead on the lawn with a garden fork through its chest. He liked this dog and tries to lift it up to take it indoors. The neighbour sees Christopher with the dead dog, and assumes that he is responsible. She screams at him and calls the police. Christopher can not stand to be touched, as the investigating officer learns when the schoolboy hits him in the face. Christopher is rescued from the police station by his fore-bearing father, who is raising the child alone since losing his wife. Mark Haddon's book seems to give an extra-ordinary insight into the mental and emotional processes which go on in the mind of a highly intelligent but mal-adjusted child. Christopher is determined to get to the bottom of the curious incident of the dog in the night time and applies his considerable resourcefulness to the problem. He is lacking in so many social skills, that the world is a threatening and puzzling place to him. He had a tendency to take everything literally... How could anyone really laugh their head off? Or what is meant by "she was the apple of his eye". He is aware that the school that he attends is for kids with special needs, but he thinks that is silly too. "Mr X, wears a hearing aid, so he has special needs too." He has similar difficulty with perceiving facial expressions. In spite of these difficulties, the investigation begins to bear fruit, but much more is uncovered that who killed the dog. Read it... it is great.