Dark Matter

Rating:
Summary: What Do You Know of Newton
Review: "Dark Matter", by Philip Kerr is primarily based upon the person of Sir Isaac Newton, and includes moments with the likes of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Pepys, and Christopher Ellis, all of who lived during late 17th Century London. The book is well written and if the final twenty pages were representative of the entire book, it would have been brilliant.

Sir Newton is hardly a historical enigma, so why Mr. Kerr chose to portray him as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous character Sherlock Holmes is not only a mystery, it makes little sense. For the Sir Newton of this historical novel bears little resemblance to the Newton that history has recorded and many biographers have documented. And Christopher Wallis bears even less resemblance to the famous Dr. Watson. The novel did not need to lean so heavily upon these other characters to work, and I have no idea why an author of Kerr's talent decided to use them.

The background players that give the story its excellent ending are The Knights Templar, and I kept hoping they would play a larger role in the book, for they essentially were the consummation at the book's close. For when the book collects itself and defines itself, it is Christianity and the faith that upholds it that are the real story in this novel. The Knights were a fascinating historical group and they deserved more prominence in the tale.

I enjoyed the book but only to a point as I have read biographies of Sir Newton. Kerr's portrayal is so far from the historical personage that it was hard to forget who the real man was, and accept this version of Newton as super sleuth. Newton was a brilliant detective of matters scientific; portraying him as a 17th Century Holmes was too derivative and unworthy of the stature of Sir Newton.

Rating:
Summary: The model for Sherlock Holmes
Review: I have only read this book in German, where it is called Newton's Schatten (Newton's Shadow) and can't answer for the English edition, but I really enjoyed this novel very much. It is a mystery very much in the same tradition as The Name of the Rose, only a little more accessible. I also read An Instanz of the Fingerpost and did not like that nearly as much as this one. I loved Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy - possibly the hardboiled best detective stories written since Chandler - and I would say that this is his best book in a long time. Kerr seems to be suggesting almost that Newton was a model for Sherlock Holmes: after all, he invented the same scientific method beloved of Holmes; and in this he is most persuasive. If I have a criticism it is that the style seems occasionally too authentically 17th century. But that may be the German of course. (Generally speaking it is a most elegantly written story.) Otherwise it is a first class novel, really, and I shall be giving the book to many friends this Christmas. Wunderbar.

Rating:
Summary: A mystery novel with a difference: a brain
Review: I've read Richard Westfall's bio of Newton - a real monster - and I thought Kerr got him pretty well right. The point is that Newton was a very hard man to get to know, a real mystery. One of these other reviews grumbles that Kerr's portrait of Newton is less than inaccurate. Which part? Newton not being a heretic? He was. Newton not being an alchemist? He was. Newton not believing in the divinity of Jesus Christ? He didn't. Newton not working at the Royal Mint? He did. Newton caring very little for other people? He didn't. Newton being obsessed with empirical method? He was. If anything I got a better impression of Newton the man, than was to be found in Westfall's bio. Frankly if I had a criticism of this book it is that it seemed a little too accurate, sometimes at the expense of making the hero - Newton - seem rather unheroic. I guess this is what happens when you spend so much time with math. It turns you into a cold fish. The other reviewers got it right. This is a classic mystery novel. Best of all, it's beautifully written and easy to read.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting...but had some shortcomings
Review: The book, Dark Matter: The Privet Life of Sir. Isaac Newton was a very interesting book. I read through the first 250 odd pages with excitement and enjoyment. However, once the book reached page 300, it felt like the author realized he had to finish it and then quickly tied up all the lose ends almost to neatly. My other main problem with the book is something, which I encounter with the vast majority of modern fiction, and that is sex. There seems to be this idea that a book must have at least one scene during which people must engage in the act, now I understand that on occasion this is important to the plot or the character development, however, must we actually be subjected to a detailed analysis of the actions preformed? This book would have been better, and the characters as well developed had we not been 'privileged' to their sexual activities. Still on the whole, it was an enjoyable book, with strong characters, and an interesting plot.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Seem Like Newton to Me
Review: This is the first novel by Philip Kerr that I have read. I was attracted to this book by the subtitle: "The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton." As a teacher of math and physics, how could I resist a book that uses one of my heroes as a main character? Of course, I should have remembered the old adage about the disappointment in meeting your heroes.

In this novel we find Isaac Newton as the Warden of the Royal Mint. The story is told through the eyes of Christopher Ellis, Newton's assistant. The two men are investigating illegeal coining which leads them to a plot to overthrow the government. Needless to say, they save the day.

The storyline of this novel is filled with murders and intrigue--interesting enough for an easy-to-read thriller. And Kerr does a good enough job giving us a sense of London at the close of the seventeenth century. What was missing, for me, was Newton.

In many ways, despite the subtitle, Newton is a secondary character in this novel after Ellis. This is fine, on one level, but when Newton does appear he comes off as more of a poor man's Sherlock Holmes than a unique character. Perhaps I have studied histories of Newton too much to be an objective reader, but the Newton Kerr brings forth in his novel is difficult for me to reconcile with what I have always imagined Newton was like. Not that Kerr gets facts wrong, he doesn't. It just feels wrong to me. And so it was difficult for me to enjoy this novel.