The concept is interesting: narrating the novel through the POV of an autistic boy. The chapters are cleverly numbered by prime numbers, which ties in with the novel. It has interesting illustrations and diagrams to look at. However, I would not recommend this because it disappointed me and I couldn't, in good conscience, tell anyone to read a book I was disappointed in.

I guess my disappointment lies in the fact that not only did my book club tout this as a mystery novel but also many of the literary reviews I read as well. What I was expecting was an exciting roller coaster ride mystery about an autistic boy trying to find the killer of his neighbor's dog and, as he slowly sleuths out the killer, finds himself embroiled in dangerous life threatening situations. Kind of like Tartt's The Little Friend told from an autistic POV.

However, The Curious Incident... is not a mystery in any way, shape or form and because of this, the autistic POV begins to wear thin by the second half of the novel remaining sometimes fascinating yet sometimes tedious. Instead, you get a novel that starts off as a promising murder mystery. At the first half of the novel, the mystery is solved. Or rather we're unceremoniously told who is the murderer of the dog. From that point, the second half of the novel hugely focuses on Christopher attempting to travel to London by himself. A difficult task considering Christopher is autistic, hates crowds and can't stand to be touched by people. I won't tell who the murderer is or why Christopher takes off to London, as these are the only two real surprises of the novel. I will say overall this was a huge disappointment to me. I thought I was getting an exciting murder mystery and instead I got a highly readable family melodrama. Perhaps if this was not pushed as a murder mystery I would have enjoyed it much more.

An interesting read but I wouldn't recommend it.

Another member on Goodreads told me to read this book - I meant to, but didn't until she got annoyed with me for taking so long and sent me a copy. It is a remarkable book - the only thing I can think that is similar to it is perhaps that short story, Flowers for Algernon.

My older sister is intellectually disabled, I grew up a science nerd and my daughter is a Sherlock Holmes nut. While I was reading it the central character seemed a strange fusion of the three of us. This book has so many resonances for me that when I get old and dotty I may even think that I wrote it. (if I thought I could get away with it I would start claiming this now...)

If you haven't read this book and have been put off because you think it's a children's book or it sounds a bit silly - don't put it off any longer. It is a beautifully written story that is moving without playing any cheap games with you as a reader.

Look, it is a delight. Read it.

Our review regarding the handling of the main character's autism can be found on the Disability in Kidlit website.

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The main character has an unspecified condition that's widely interpreted as autism (although the author has stated it's not). Many in the autism community dislike the portrayal of the main character's condition, finding it exaggerated and unrealistic.

Here's an article about the novel and the author's research. It sharply distinguishes between Asperger's and autism, but is a relevant read aside from that. It's written by the non-autistic father of an autistic child, but does quote some autistic people: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-ol...