The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon
★ Top 10 book of 2003 · #7 on Best Books of 2003
Christopher, a boy who cannot lie and dislikes strangers, certain colours and being touched, sets out to learn who killed a neighbour's dog. His knowledge of countries and prime numbers meets a mystery that grows far trickier than expected.
Best for: Readers who enjoy mysteries told through an unusual and distinctive narrator
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is #7 on BookWard's Best Books of 2003, out of 52 2003 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is about
Christopher Boone is fifteen, lives in Swindon with his father, and is brilliant at mathematics. One night he finds the neighbour's dog, Wellington, dead with a garden fork through him. Christopher decides to find out who did it and to write a book about his investigation, even though his father tells him to leave it alone.
Christopher narrates the story himself, in a deadpan, precise voice that is often funny and sometimes very moving. Through his eyes, ordinary things such as crowds, strangers and half-truths become puzzles to be solved. As he follows the clues, he begins to question what the people closest to him have told him. Author Mark Haddon has said the novel is about difference and being an outsider, rather than about any one diagnosis. It won the Whitbread Book of the Year award.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on the Best Books of 2003
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time came out in 2003. Of the 52 books first published in 2003 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #7 on our Best Books of 2003 list.
Why it made the list: 1,767 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (242 ratings); 93 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Being read right now.
Nearby on the 2003 list
- A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson, #5
- The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown, #6
- The Tale of Despereaux Kate DiCamillo, #8
- The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger, #9
See all Best Books of 2003 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2002 Best Books of 2004.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 1,323 want to read it, 93 are reading it now and 351 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.9 out of 5 from 242 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 94 | 55% |
| Reader love | 44 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 94 | 20% |
Questions about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
When was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time published?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon was first published in 2003.
Was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time one of the best books of 2003?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is #7 on BookWard's Best Books of 2003, out of 52 2003 books that cleared our data bar. 1,767 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (242 ratings); 93 are reading it right now.
Why is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on the Best Books of 2003 list?
1,767 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (242 ratings); 93 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 2003
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling, #1
- Into the Wild Erin Hunter, #2
- The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini, #3
- Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Mo Willems, #4
- A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson, #5
- The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown, #6
See the full Best Books of 2003, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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