Thank you Books Go Social and Netgalley.
Weird, eccentric, and everything along those lines.
This was my first read by Desmond and hopefully not my last.
A brilliant murder mystery with a good plot and a great cast of characters.
Highly recommend.

2.25/5 stars! This book was an example of when the author wanted to show the audience how smart they are. The use of vocabulary didn't really add to the story at all. It felt pedantic and I quickly fell out of paying attention. There was some enjoyable humor but it didn't balance it out enough for me.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

First read with author and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm not a big fan of math (ask anyone who knows me), but it wasn't so bad here. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Eccentric, Eclectic…
The death of a student gives Professor John Dobie much cause for consternation. He is genuinely perplexed. The mathematician can give no further thought to the matter than that - at least, for a short while, as things are about to drastically change. A nigh on perfect murder mystery with a complex and confounding plot laced with dry wit and populated with an eccentric and eclectic cast of colourful characters. A great deal of fun and beautifully done.

Much as I despise mathematics, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. In mathematics terms, a strange attractor is an unknown factor that pulls things out of the pattern. It's something that cannot be included in the original equation and need to be chased down and identified in order to solve the equation.

In terms of this novel, quirky, distracted Welsh professor of mathematics, John Dobie, strives to find that stranger attractor that would explain the suspected suicide of one of his mathematics students, the not one - but two - dead women found in his bed.

Dobie is definitely an acquired taste, and it took me a while to fully get into this novel, but once there I was captivated by the richly detailed plot, the character development of a wide range of strange folks, the unlikely start of a romance between Dobie and Dr. Kate Coyle, and the ultimate solution which indeed was a strange attractor. 5 stars.

This is one of the strangest mystery stories I have ever read a professor dough be finds out one of his students who he doesn’t even remember committed suicide he becomes curious about the case and one thing leads to another his wife gets murdered but she wasn’t the only one in danger and no one can really get the story straight especially Professor Dovey. I know this isn’t the greatest summary but you must read the spot this is one crazy smartly done humorous mystery. I absolutely couldn’t wait to read it and what I started found it hard to put down a definite five star read and a must read for mystery fans. I absolutely love this book! I receive it from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes I am blind and dictate my review.

Everything from the flow of the story to the writing style in this book was off-putting. Maybe it's just not my personal cup of tea.

A great read, the passion for the story really came through. Very intelligent without showing off. Would enjoy read8ng this again

The Strange Attractor by Desmond Cory

This was a great book! The author is clearly highly intelligent and did a large amount of research on mathematics. You can tell that a lot of thought and hard work went into writing this.

Dobie was a very interesting character and far from the typical murder-mystery character. He was witty and I very much enjoyed the way the author wrote about his erratic thoughts and the way he saw life through a mathematical viewpoint. I also very much enjoyed Kate as a character.

The plot line was intriguing and kept me on my toes the entire time. I kept guessing how the book would end but I was still surprised by the ending.

My only negative feedback would be that I thought the action may have taken longer than necessary to begin and that I got very lost in all the math/physics talk at the very start. I found that the first 30% of the book dragged on a little, but as soon as the plot began to pick up I deeply enjoyed this.

Overall I rated this book a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC.

It is obvious how much the author enjoyed writing this book. His lightness of touch, his literary confidence and his towering intellect permeates every page. Desmond Cory wrote during the Indian summer of the golden age of British thriller writers and it is time all his books were brought back into print for a new generation of readers.
There's plenty of wit, and homage is paid to the great fictional detectives and their authors in a deliciously academic tease (including naming the murderer Agatha Christie!)
It's all great fun to read and Prof. John Dobie is a fabulous creation with his mathematician's logic and unique crime solving skills. I can't recommend this mystery thriller highly enough. It really is a literary gem.