The Strange Attractor

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on Waterstones
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 30 Jan 2015 | Archive Date 15 Jun 2023

Talking about this book? Use #TheStrangeAttractor #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

Winner of the Sunday Times' Best Crime novel of the year, Desmond Cory returns with a near-perfect mystery novel , written with intelligence and laced with wit.

For John Dobie, absent-minded maths professor, the death of a student provokes bewilderment, but little else. Who was Sammy Cantwell, after all?

But being drugged, tied up and made witness to another murder forces his usually dormant curiosity, especially when the murdered woman turns out to be his errant wife.

With the discovery of a second murdered woman in his bed in the space of a few hours, it is obvious he needs help. The police? No, help from someone with sense. Who better than the ex-student's agreeable landlady, pathologist Kate Coyle, to mould him, albeit unwillingly, into amateur sleuth?

Winner of the Sunday Times' Best Crime novel of the year, Desmond Cory returns with a near-perfect mystery novel , written with intelligence and laced with wit.

For John Dobie, absent-minded maths...


Advance Praise

""Rich in wonders of computers and intangibles. Wry, scatty with a decisive byte"" SUNDAY TIMES


""A gas - even for high-tech dunces"" THE GUARDIAN


""Cory goes in for complex plots, but the joy of the book lies in the wit of its writing"" TABLET"

""Rich in wonders of computers and intangibles. Wry, scatty with a decisive byte"" SUNDAY TIMES


""A gas - even for high-tech dunces"" THE GUARDIAN


""Cory goes in for complex plots, but the joy of the...


Available Editions

ISBN 9780330319386
PRICE US$0.99 (USD)
PAGES 192

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (EPUB)
Send to Kindle (EPUB)
Download (EPUB)

Average rating from 10 members


Featured Reviews

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.

Was this review helpful?

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.

Was this review helpful?

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

Was this review helpful?

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.

Was this review helpful?

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.

Was this review helpful?

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.

Was this review helpful?

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

Was this review helpful?

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.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: