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Dark Matter: A Novel Audiobook
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(2.99) - 443 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In 1696, Christopher Ellis, a young, hot-tempered gentleman, is sent to the Tower of London, but not as a prisoner. A sudden twist of fate has led him there to assist the renowned scientist Sir Isaac Newton, who as Warden of the Royal Mint has accepted an appointment to hunt down counterfeiters who threaten to topple the shaky, war-weakened economy. Armed with Newton’s superior intellect and Ellis’s skill with a sword, the new partners seem primed to solve the case. But when their investigation leads them to a mysterious coded message on a corpse hidden in the Lion Tower, they realize that something more sinister is afoot. In the heat of their pursuit, Newton and Ellis’s suspicions become all too real as the body count rises and the duo uncovers a menacing far-reaching plot that might lead to the collapse of the government—and cost them their very lives. An extraordinary, suspense-filled, and richly satisfying tale, Dark Matter is an engrossing mystery infused with the volatile mix of politics, science, and religion that characterized life in seventeenth-century London.
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"This book really kept my attention. There were a lot of people to try and keep straight the relationship between them all but it was a very entertaining read. "
— Tobi (4 out of 5 stars)
Dark Matter Listener Reviews
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" Isaac Newton...Detective! A historical mystery, accurate in just about every researchable detail, and according to the author's postscript, even more accurate than I had imagined. It has everything going for it that should have prejudiced me in its favor--set in 17th century London, much of it in the Tower of London, involving codes, cyphers, buried treasure, secrets of the Knights Templar, Arianism versus Trinitarianism and Huguenots versus Catholics, the new scientific outlook versus superstition, bizarre murders, possible ghosts, violence, drugs, explicit sex. What's not to like? And yet I didn't. The characters never came alive. In spite of the technical accuracy, the feel was wrong. There's more historical imagination in two pages of Hilary Mantel. I never really believed the plot. The suspense didn't work. By the time all the bad guys were being rounded up, even the narrator, who has been (metaphorically) kicked in the groin by his beloved, admitted that he no longer cared what happened, and neither did I. And justice was only partially done. Realistic? I guess. Satisfying? No. "
— Jon, 2/16/2014 -
" This book is about Sir Isaac Newton and his work as head of the Mint located in the Tower of London. While the book touches on his many contributions to mathematics and science, it is more correct to call it a murder mystery. "
— Penny, 2/14/2014 -
" Great historical detail and good plotting. A good mystery. "
— Jan, 2/2/2014 -
" A Victorian murder mystery with Isaac Newton and his assistant as the Detectives. The book is written very much in the style of The Name Of The Rose but not as long winded. The story revolves around a string of murders taking place in the Royal Mint. I enjoyed the book and found it to be easy reading. "
— Petra, 2/2/2014 -
" A clever Crichton-esque period piece that blurs history and fiction, but it gets somewhat crude at times and veers in a few random directions "
— Dan, 1/28/2014 -
" Sir Issac Newton must solve the murders, but his reasoning reminds me of Sherlock Holmes. The mystery was good, didn't like the rest of the story or the characters. "
— Jacquelynn, 1/27/2014 -
" I did not like this book as much as I liked Kerr's books based in WWII Berlin. I struggled to finish it. I think it's because I didn't really care for the narrator, "
— Pamela, 1/8/2014 -
" Sir Isaac Newton is a sleuth with a man-of-action sidekick. Fun! "
— Dan, 12/10/2013 -
" I really enjoy Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels. This one, not so much. "
— Mckenziewall, 11/13/2013 -
" I'm beginning to dislike mystery novels that feature real people but this one sucked less than most. Got me to read more books by Philip Kerr. "
— Captain, 6/15/2012 -
" Newton as head of the treasury and investigating a murder. Fascinating if only for the history of alchemy, and why it was punishable by death. "
— Christine, 5/3/2012 -
" This book really kept my attention. There were a lot of people to try and keep straight the relationship between them all but it was a very entertaining read. "
— Tobi, 12/30/2011 -
" This book was quite dry. Sherlock Holmes is a bit too obviously the model for Isaac Newton in this book. I found the similarities in style distracting. "
— Lynne, 10/12/2011 -
" Sir Issac Newton must solve the murders, but his reasoning reminds me of Sherlock Holmes. The mystery was good, didn't like the rest of the story or the characters. "
— Jacquelynn, 3/12/2011 -
" Kerr is one of the best authors around. Another winner. "
— Gatorman, 7/8/2010 -
" This book was quite dry. Sherlock Holmes is a bit too obviously the model for Isaac Newton in this book. I found the similarities in style distracting. "
— Lynne, 2/28/2009 -
" A clever Crichton-esque period piece that blurs history and fiction, but it gets somewhat crude at times and veers in a few random directions "
— Dan, 5/3/2008 -
" I really loved this author's trilogy, "Berlin Noir." But this book, a fictional story involving Sir Isaac Newton, though well-written, dragged. "
— Sue, 2/17/2008
About Philip Kerr
Philip Kerr (1956–2018) was the New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Bernie Gunther novels, three of which—Field Gray, The Lady from Zagreb, and Prussian Blue—were finalists for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. Kerr also won several Shamus Awards and the British Crime Writers’ Association Ellis Peters Award for Historical Crime Fiction. In 2009, If the Dead Rise Not won the world’s most lucrative crime fiction award, the RBA International Prize for Crime Writing worth €125,000. The book also won the 2009 British Crime Writers’ Association’s Ellis Peters Historic Crime Award. In 2018, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Writing as P. B. Kerr, he was the author of the much-loved young-adult fantasy series Children of the Lamp.
About John Lee
John Lee is the winner of numerous Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration. He has twice won acclaim as AudioFile’s Best Voice in Fiction & Classics. He also narrates video games, does voice-over work, and writes plays. He is an accomplished stage actor and has written and coproduced the feature films Breathing Hard and Forfeit. He played Alydon in the 1963–64 Doctor Who serial The Daleks.