Well hello, my readers. Remember me? The girl who writes this blog? Yeah, I’m still here. Just busy-my-freakin’-face-off.
The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez
Read: based on some recommendation on a blog. I can’t remember where now. (MacAdam/Cage, 200 pages)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (finished 5/10/10)
Synopsis: Math and murder mingle in this intriguingly cerebral mystery. When an Argentine math student at Oxford discovers the smothered body of his landlady, conventional wisdom points to a family member with the most prosaic of motives. But then renowned logician Arthur Seldom, author of a book on the mathematics of serial killers, tells of a strange note left in his mailbox indicating the murder is the first of a series linked by a mysterious pattern. More bodies pile up, apparently of natural causes, but each paired with a message bearing a new arcane symbol. Arthur and his student ponder whether the deaths are innocent or the subtle, “imperceptible” homicides of a madman seeking to match wits with the great logician, and they rack their brains to decipher a pattern behind the signs before another corpse turns up.
Overall Impression: Another book that I liked but didn’t love. I think I would have liked it more had I understood the math a little better. For the most part, it was simple and didn’t affect the plot to any degree that made it unintelligible. But there were a few longer sections about mathmatical theory where my brain melted out of my ear and sat in a puddle on the floor, begging me to Stop With The Numbers. The writing was a little dry, but that sort of made sense since the main characters were mathematicians. It clipped right along and, minus the theoretical math parts, was a quick and easy read. The characters were interesting and the mystery around the murders was well plotted. Had I been playing closer attention, I think I would have figured out whodunit. But I didn’t, which made the ending a nice surprise. It wrapped up my favorite way — it made sense, but it was still messy. I just love that.
Pros: Great ending, well-plotted, interesting concept. If I kept telling myself that it was like an episode of Numbers, the math was not too bad.
Cons: Still, it’s math! It burns!
Other books I’ve ready by Guillermo Martinez: none
Other blogger reviews: none. Which makes me wonder where in the world I saw this recommended…
You have been quiet for so long that I was wondering what had happened to you :)
Nice review. I read ‘The Oxford Murders’ a few years back and I really loved it at that time. Glad to know that you liked it. Yes, math could be a bit overwhelming in a novel, but I think it wasn’t too much in this book :) The book was also made into a movie, but unfortunately, I haven’t seen it yet.