Five novels featuring flawed child prodigies

Jeff Macfee is a writer. The Contest, his latest crime novel, is about a former puzzle prodigy who returns to the contest of her youth.

He is also the author of the superhero noir Nine Tenths.

At CrimeReads Macfee tagged five favorite novels featuring flawed child prodigies "struggling with a talent that doesn’t always, or even often, make their lives easier." One title on the list:

Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Haddon’s child protagonist Christopher John Francis Boone is saddled with many names, a superior mathematical mind, and behavioral conditions that make fitting in difficult. When his neighbor’s dog is murdered, his structured brain won’t let him leave the mystery alone. He starts to investigate and uncovers not only a surprising killer but some very uncomfortable truths about his own life. Christopher is an entertainingly unique main character, and a perfect example of a prodigy undone by their very nature.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is among Benjamin Buchholz's five best novels with devilishly unreliable narrators, John Mullan's ten best child narrators, Kim Hood's top ten books with interesting characters who just happen to have a disability, Julia Donaldson's six best books, and Melvyn Burgess's top ten books written for teenagers.

--Marshal Zeringue