Maths.

Similar to the movie Good Will Hunting, this is a different work of fiction involving complex mathematics where no knowledge of the subject is required. And borrowing from another work, Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder, Isaac Severy has written an equation or proof that predicts future events (there is also a game hunt angle).

The book is pretty good; the writing is good, the characters okay, and being a mystery it takes quite a while for the story to evolve which I found made it slow and sometimes boring. But I am also a sucker for books about books, and that the main character owned a bookstore and knew of and cared about books, for me, gave it a bit of a boost. ( )

I feel like this book was both better than I thought it was, but not quite as good as I expected. The former because my reading was more fractured than I'd like and the book never got a chance to really suck me in; it was always getting interrupted. The latter, because its novel-to-mystery ratio was higher than I'd have wished.

Isaac Severy was a brilliant mathematician whose last act before dying was writing a bombshell of an equation, which he hid away. Days after his death, his granddaughter receives a letter from him with his last wishes: to burn all his work save this equation, which she should delver to one trusted colleague and no one else. But first, she must find the equation using the clues left for her as she goes about fulfilling his final requests.

At the same time, the rest of the Severy family - blessed with brilliance and saddled with dysfunction - is left to pick up the pieces of their lives, re-orienting themselves after they lose their axis and another death unmoors them completely. Hazel's uncle, Philip, is receiving mysterious notes and visits from someone eager to meet up with him and discuss his father's work, someone who was harassing Isaac in his final days.

I ended up caring about most of the characters except Hazel herself. She was pretty unmoored from the start, and never felt like she had much resolve. For me this resulted in the impression that she never took any direction action to find the equation, so much as the clues threw themselves at her in desperation.

Speaking of clues, my biggest annoyance of all was that one of the clues was not only not discovered by Hazel, but the reader didn't got left out too. Both discover the solution after the fact, and it's a letdown.

These are minor grievances though, and I'm not sure I'd have felt the same way about these things had I been able to commit my time and attention to the book as it deserved. Perhaps more focus would have allowed me to connect more with Hazel and the story's mystery. Either way, it was an enjoyable read and kept me entertained, if not deeply invested. ( )

I wanted this to be more mystery-focused and less family-focused but the writing was really strong and there were a few interesting mystery elements. I really like puzzle-based mysteries, which is what I thought I would get here based on the "a novel in clues" subheading. This book didn't really give me that but it wasn't bad by any means. ( )

Comparisons have been made to The Storied Life of AJ Fikry and the title implied this was about mathematics (which made me hope it was along the lines of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore). Alas, it's not so much about a bookstore (there is one, which Hazel walks away from) and while there is the dangerous equation from the title (which is what Hazel is seaching for) it's not about mathematics in general.

What it is, however, is a literary fiction about family, aging, a bit of self-discovery - with a quiet mystery mixed in. This isn't a fast paced mystery novel, but Hazel Severy DOES need to find and destroy the dangerous mathematical formula that Isaac left behind when he died.

Of all the characters, I actually think that Isaac was the most intriguing - and he died in the first chapter. The book hooked me from the first sentence: "On the morning he was to die, the old man woke early and set about making breakfast". While Isaac is no longer alive, his presence is felt throughout the book.

The storyline unfolds slowly and, admittedly, a lot of the characters are pretty unlikable, but as it quietly progressed I found myself drawn in as Hazel searched to find the equation. There are plot twists, betrayals, and surprises. No roller coaster ride here, but a strong debut for author Jacobs. ( )

SPOILERS. I was hoping for a mystery I could solve along with the characters, since it was "a novel in clues," but there was little I could guess on my own; instead, it was seeing the characters figure stuff out. I did not find any of the solutions to the deaths compelling; I especially did not appreciate the way that Isaac died -- it totally undermined his character. And the whole "a woman who was not his wife" bit was clunkily obvious, not to mention the way there are no consequences for him killing Sybil. I mean, the plot was mildly interesting and scenes mostly competently written, but I need more than that to make up for the missteps.

The author referred to two secondary characters as not being white -- otherwise, white was default (in Los Angeles?) and the black character was the magical Negro who worked to save "the Jasmines and Jamals" who figured out what Gregory was doing, and the other a hotel maid who surprisingly! spoke fluent English.

Then there is the cliché of the abused foster children recused by the perfect Severys -- except of course one of the adopted children is permanently damaged. And the rampant affairs, professor-grad student inappropriate relationship, and the it's-ok-they're-not-really-cousins-because-adoption double whammy.

And now let's talk about chronic pain. And how someone with chronic pain is completely villainized and not fleshed out beyond his chronic pain and how poorly he deals with it. We know almost nothing about Tom beyond his pain and how the family tries to help him and then gives up on him because he is not worthy of more help and he is an awful human who abuses children. Why does he abuse them? Because he has chronic pain with makes him an addict -- what more do you need? Ugh. The more I write the less I like the book ... It's a perfect example of poor craft making cross-cultural portrayals/portrayals of people with specific issues not just poor prose but offensive. ( )