Dark Matter, Philip Kerr
Dark Matter, Philip Kerr
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Dark Matter

Author: Philip Kerr

Narrator: Byron Jennings

Abridged: 5 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/01/2002


Synopsis

I swore not to tell this story while Newton was still alive.

1696, young Christopher Ellis is sent to the Tower of London, but not as a prisoner. Though Ellis is notoriously hotheaded and was caught fighting an illegal duel, he arrives at the Tower as assistant to the renowned scientist Sir Isaac Newton. Newton is Warden of the Royal Mint, which resides within the Tower walls, and he has accepted an appointment from the King of England and Parliament to investigate and prosecute counterfeiters whose false coins threaten to bring down the shaky, war-weakened economy. Ellis may lack Newton’s scholarly mind, but he is quick with a pistol and proves himself to be an invaluable sidekick and devoted apprentice to Newton as they zealously pursue these criminals.

While Newton and Ellis investigate a counterfeiting ring, they come upon a mysterious coded message on the body of a man killed in the Lion Tower, as well as alchemical symbols that indicate this was more than just a random murder. Despite Newton’s formidable intellect, he is unable to decipher the cryptic message or any of the others he and Ellis find as the body count increases within the Tower complex. As they are drawn into a wild pursuit of the counterfeiters that takes them from the madhouse of Bedlam to the squalid confines of Newgate prison and back to the Tower itself, Newton and Ellis discover that the counterfeiting is only a small part of a larger, more dangerous plot, one that reaches to the highest echelons of power and nobility and threatens much more than the collapse of the economy.

Dark Matter is the lastest masterwork of suspense from Philip Kerr, the internationally bestselling and brilliantly innovative thriller writer who has dazzled readers with his imaginative, fast-paced novels. Like An Instance of the Fingerpost, The Name of the Rose, and Kerr’s own Berlin Noir trilogy, Dark Matter is historical mystery at its finest, an extraordinary, suspense-filled journey through the shadowy streets and back alleys of London with the brilliant Newton and his faithful protégé. The haunted Tower with its bloody history is the perfect backdrop for this richly satisfying tale, one that introduces an engrossing mystery into the volatile mix of politics, science, and religion that characterized life in seventeenth-century London.

About The Author

Philip Kerr is the author of The Grid, Esau, the Berlin Noir trilogy, A Philosophical Investigation, and many other books. He and his wife live in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Althea on March 08, 2012

If you are interested in finding a book to read with the goal of learning more about Isaac Newton... read another book. If, on the other hand, you are interested in a reasonably entertaining historical murder mystery - check this out. The Newton we meet here is more Sherlock Holmes than, well, Newton......more

Goodreads review by John on August 09, 2015

Isaac Newton as Sherlock Holmes? Written by the author of the Bernie Gunther/Berlin Noir trilogy, which on the whole I liked? This seemed just the sort of thing for me, so in I jumped. Well, it sounded a lot more fun than it proved in fact to be. Which isn't to say that it's altogether a bad or boring......more

Goodreads review by Alberto on June 23, 2021

Entretenido libro en el que Sir Isaac Newton se transforma en Sherlock Holmes para descubrir los autores de una serie de asesinatos que ocultan algo más grande aún. Philip Kerr abandona a sus detectives habituales y se sumerge en la novela histórica con bastante éxito, aunque sin abandonar la serie......more

Goodreads review by Zandra on December 13, 2020

Odd to say, I found the pile up of dead bodies in this book quite boring. I felt the author was just showing off his own liking for gruesome detail. Sir Isaac Newton as Sherlock Holmes didn't ring true for me, I don't think Newton would have taken such a keen interest in the lives of those who are p......more

Goodreads review by MAPS - Booktube on March 20, 2018

Donc, un livre ardu à commencer, qui le devient de moins en moins à force d’entrer dans l’histoire. Le thriller prend une grande partie malgré le caractère historique ce qui donne une meilleure vitesse à la lecture. Le personnage de Newton est tout simplement incroyable. Il fait d’ailleurs pensé un......more


Quotes

Praise for Philip Kerr
“[A] sly and serious writer.”
The New York Times Book Review

“Kerr has the talent to convey the big idea and to take you
places you have never been.”
The Washington Post Book World

“A brilliantly innovative thriller writer.”
—Salman Rushdie

“[Kerr] makes the brain cells as well as the hairs on
the back of the neck tingle.”
GQ magazine

“One of the best crime novelists in the world.”
The Globe and Mail (London)