THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

THE STORY SO FAR

Chapter 2

Christopher discovers that Mrs. Shear’s poodle, Wellington, has been killed brutally in her garden. He
decides to find out what happened and who killed him.

Chapter 3

Christopher introduces himself to us. He is no ordinary boy: he knows all the prime numbers up to
7,507 but he cannot know how other people are feeling. Christopher has Asperger’s syndrome (like
Greta Thunberg). With every chapter, we learn a little more about Christopher and about how he
sees and experiences the world. It is Christopher’s detective story that we are reading, and he has
only used prime numbers for his chapters.

Chapter 5

We are back on Mrs. Shear’s lawn. Christopher is hugging bleeding Wellington because he is sad: he
likes dogs and understands what they are thinking. Mrs. Shear’s runs out of the house and starts
shouting because she thinks Christopher has killed her dog. The shouting and screaming frightens
Christopher and he curls up into a ball on her lawn.

Chapter 7

Christopher tells us why he began to write this murder mystery. His teacher Siobhan encouraged him
to write something he would want to read himself. Christopher likes murder mysteries because they
are puzzles you can solve. Siobhan tells him that people are usually the victims in murder mysteries
because readers care more about people than dogs but Christopher replies “some dogs are cleverer
and more interesting than some people” and he cares about dogs because they are faithful and
honest. Also he wants to write about something real. His logic is convincing, in my opinion.

Chapter 11

We return to the night Christopher discovered Wellington’s body. The police arrive and one
policeman questions Christopher. This is stressful and he can’t process all the information. He starts
groaning on the lawn. He wants to block out all the noise from the outside world so that he feels safe
again. The policeman lifts Christopher up but he does not like people touching him, so he hits the
policeman!

Chapter 13

Christopher explains that there are no jokes in this book because he doesn’t understand them. In fact
there are many amusing scenes and funny lines in the book due to the way Christopher sees the
world – without delusions and pretence – which exposes and challenges the adults in the story.

Chapter 17

Christopher is arrested and taken to the police station. When he hears the words “I am arresting you
for assaulting a police officer” he feels calmer because he knows this sentence from TV dramas. He
knows how he should respond, so he goes to the police car and gets in.

On the way to the police station he looks up at the sky and sees the Milky Way. He explains that the
sky is dark at night because the universe is expanding and the stars are all rushing away from us,
sometimes faster than the speed of light. But when the universe stops exploding, the stars will slow
down and will begin to fall towards us, and in theory we should then see them all, but we will know
that the world is going to end. Christopher believes that in reality no-one will then be alive to see the
full wonder of billions of stars finally visible in the night sky.

What was Christopher feeling at this point? Was he feeling that his world was about to end, and was
he scared, or was he calmly observing and thinking about the place of humans in the universe,
reasoning that finally we are not in control of life, so he would also accept his fate at the hands of the
police?

Chapter 19

Christopher now has time to explain what prime numbers are and how they are used. “Prime
numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like
life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time
thinking about them.” Do you agree?

Chapter 23

In detail Christopher explains what happens to him at the police station. He sees it as an interesting
experience, even an adventure. “It was nice in the police cell. It was almost a perfect cube, 2 metres
long by 2 metres wide by 2 metres high…. I wondered how I would escape if I were in a story.” Then
he works out a funny escape plan. He wonders if Mrs. Shears had told the police that he had killed
Wellington. Would she go to prison too when the police found out that was a lie?

Chapter 29

Christopher tells us he finds people confusing and explains why. There are two main reasons: one
that people do a lot of talking just with their facial expressions (Mimik) but there are many variables
so this is complicated to analyse. Secondly people often talk using metaphors, e.g. “I laughed my
socks off.” Christopher’s thinking is too literal to appreciate metaphors. He sees them as lies.

Chapter 31

Back to the police station. Christopher’s father arrives. They greet each other by spreading the
fingers of their right hands out like a fan and carefully letting their fingers and thumbs touch.
Christopher does not like hugging people, so he does this instead.

A police inspector now interviews Christopher. His questioning is firm but clear and patient. Finally
the inspector decides to give Christopher a caution (like a warning). It means that if he gets into more
trouble, the police will “take things more seriously next time”.

Chapter 37

The policeman had asked him if he was telling the truth, so Christopher opens this chapter by stating
“I do not tell lies.” He goes on: “It is not because I am a good person. It is because I can’t tell lies.”
Telling lies is stressful for him: “And if I think about something which didn’t happen I start thinking
about all the other things which didn’t happen….

This is another reason why I don’t like proper novels, because they are lies about things which didn’t
happen and they make me feel shaky and scared.

And this is why everything I have written here is true.”

SUMMARY FROM CH. 41 ONWARDS

Chapter 41

Journey home with Father in the car

On the way home, Christopher tells his father that he wants to find out who killed Wellington, but his
father tells him not to get involved in “other people’s business” and to stay out of trouble. From Mr.
Boone’s gestures and tone of voice, Christopher knows he is angry. After arriving home, he goes
straight to his room and plays a computer game. Going down to the kitchen in the middle of the
night, he sees his father crying and drinking whisky. Christopher asks him if he is sad about
Wellington and his father replies that he could “very well say that”. (Only much later in the book do
we understand what he means.) We learn that Christopher’s mother died two years ago from a heart
attack. She had been in hospital but he hadn’t been allowed to visit her. Christopher tells us he was
surprised because she was only 38 years old and had a healthy lifestyle. After her death, Mrs. Shears
often came and looked after him and his father. Christopher also tells us about good days, black days
and super good days: it’s all down to the number of cars he sees on the way to school and what
colour they are. He decided to find out who killed Wellington when he passed 4 red cars in a row,
which made it a day for starting projects. His teacher Siobhan also suggested he write about it. That’s
how he started writing the book.

Christopher the Detective, Chs. 59-83

Summary of the plot

Christopher decides to carry on with his detective work even though his father has told him to “stay
out of other people’s business” – which he doesn’t understand. First of all, he goes to see Mrs.
Shears, who is not pleased to see him. When she shuts the door on him, he sneaks into the garden,
where he sees a garden fork like the one used to stab Wellington. The next day he visits other
neighbours – a brave thing to do as he doesn’t like talking to strangers because he finds it hard to
understand them. Nobody can help him, although Mrs. Alexander, an elderly lady, offers to bring him
some orange squash and biscuits. On his way home, he decides that the prime suspect in the murder
mystery must be Mr. Shears (P. 54). The reader realizes that Mrs. Shears and Christopher’s father
must have been having an affair (since she stays overnight in their house and clasps his father to her
breasts to comfort him). The reader also learns that Mr. Shears had left his wife at the same time as
Christopher’s mother “was taken to hospital”. When Christopher arrives home, his father is angry
that he has been continuing his detective work.

In between the action, Christopher digresses (abschweift) to discuss other topics like
believing in heaven, talking to strangers, his behavioural problems, wanting to become an astronaut

Christopher as a storyteller

He is unable to tell lies, so he should be a reliable narrator, but he has Asperger syndrom. This means
that he finds it difficult to understand the deeper meaning behind people’s words. The reader finds
out exactly what people say but doesn’t receive Christopher’s opinion of it. We are therefore forced
to read between the lines and interpret what we read.

Example: “That man is evil” (Mr. Boone, P. 63) – does this mean “I’m sure he killed Wellington”, “You
don’t know what that man did to me” or “I told you to keep out of other people’s business because it
is dangerous”?
Mrs. Alexander Chs. 89 – 97

Summary of the plot

One week later Christopher has a Super Good Day and decides to continue with his detective work,
especially after he meets Mrs. Alexander in the corner shop. He overcomes his fears and goes for a
walk with her in the park, where she tells him that Mr. Shears and his mother had been having an
affair.

Mrs. Alexander wants to help Christopher by telling him the truth so that he won’t make his father
upset by asking him questions about Mr. Shears.

Do you think it was right of her to tell him?

What do you think Christopher might be feeling and thinking after this?

The Monty Hall Problem and The Hound of the Baskervilles, Chs. 101 - 107

These are two digressions (Excurs) from the story, they have nothing to do with the plot. If you are
not interested in them, you don’t have to read them, but these parts of the book will tell you more
about Christopher.

When Christopher tells us about the game show presented by Monty Hall and the choice the people
on the show had to make, he analyses it in a mathematical way. He explains to us how logic triumphs
over intuition; this is always his approach to life.

Ch. 107 is about Christopher’s favourite book. If you like the character Sherlock Holmes, perhaps you
will be interested to find out about his most famous case. As a detective Christopher would like to
model himself on Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps Sherlock also had Asperger’s syndrome because
Christopher gives us the following quote (Zitat):
Sherlock Holmes had, in a very remarkable degree, the power of detaching his mind at will.
“And this is like me”, he writes. His power of concentration is so great that he can continue doing
something while others lose interest and become distracted. This means that he often wins at chess.

Chs. 109 – 113

If we read up to P. 97, we find out more about Christopher’s emotional life. His teacher Siobhan
reads his book and asks him if he is upset that his mother had an affair with Mr. Shears. She also
wants to find out if he will tell his father. Christopher replies “No” to both questions. He says that his
mother and Mr. Shears are not around anymore, so it is like their affair isn’t real.

What do you think about his reaction?

In the next chapter he explains how his memory works: it is like when you press Rewind, Fast
Forward and Pause on a DVD player. And then he gives us a memory of his mother from when he was
9 years old and they were on holiday.

What information does this give us about his mother’s personality and what she was like with
Christopher? (P. 94-95). Is it a memory that comforts him?

Finally he tells us that he only has pictures in his head of things that really happened. But other
people have pictures of things in their heads which aren’t real and didn’t happen. He then tells us
about the daydreams of his mother and Siobhan.

We now know that Christopher cannot fantasize or daydream. Does this make him calmer and more
accepting of life or more frustrated?