Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton

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. The story is told by his clerk, who happens to be a swashbuckling, pistol-toting rakehell. (Newton was aware that there were plots afoot, and that he might need some protection, you see.)
It's set at the time when Newton was in charge of England's Mint, in the Tower of London, which involved finding and prosecuting forgers. In the course of Newton and his clerk pursuing these duties, a whole bunch of murders happen, there are encoded show more messages, a possible Templar treasure connection, conflicts between Catholics and Protestants, issues with anti-British French Huguenots, opium-addled prostitutes, sword duels and alchemy.
The plot moves along without getting boring, and I thought that Kerr did a good job of making the language feel period-appropriate without it feeling stilted or awkward to read.
After all the action, it ends on a surprisingly (and slightly jarring) philosophical and downbeat note, but I didn't really mind that. But, as I said - you're not really going to learn a lot about Newton that you didn't already know. show less

Phillip Kerr is better known for his Bernie Gunther detective stories especially his Berlin Noir: March Violets; The Pale Criminal; A German Requiem trilogy, but I found Dark Matter to be a thoroughly enjoyable dip into the historical detective genre. Kerr uses Sir Isaac Newton's appointment as Warden of the Royal Mint in 1696 as the takeoff point for a murder mystery that involves the pursuit of counterfeiters and a more serious conspiracy to foment an English Protestant version of the St. Bartholomew's Massacre.

Kerr employs many historical characters and scenes. His narrator is Newton's real-life assistant Christopher Ellis. The seemingly inevitable and overused comparison of any detective duo to Holmes and Watson has some merit here. show more Newton is the idiosyncratic genius and Ellis is the useful aide de snoop (Although it is hard to imagine Watson doing what Ellis does with Newton's niece.).

The Mint is located at the Tower of London and Kerr gives nice description of the Tower's layout in that day as well as the tensions dividing the Royal Mint and the Royal Armoury. Newton and Ellis traverse London's seedier spots such as Newgate Prison, Bedlam, and assorted knocking shops (complete with opium den). The reader meets a number of fascinating historical characters. To name a few: a slippery Daniel Defoe; Cambridge professor, mathematician, and cryptographer John Wallis; the famous diarist Samuel Pepys, and Titus Oates, fabricator of the historical `Popish plot' and freed by a royal pardon, returns in the novel to gin up more anti-Catholic hysteria.

Kerr also examines Newton's anti-Trinitarian Arian religious views, which nearly land him in very deep water (in the novel as well as in real life). Newton's scientific interest in alchemy assists him in uncovering `coiners' as he pursues his duties during the Great Recoinage (the government's attempt to stabilize and normalize the currency).

Pursuing what appear to be four murders related to the Mint, Newton uses his skill and intense labor as a cryptographer to discover that not one, but rather two criminal enterprises are at work. While both crimes are solved, I particularly appreciated the way Kerr wove actual events into his in depiction of the disparate fates of the well-connected and the ordinary criminal. For example, Titus Oates really did receive an unexplained boost in his royal pension from 5 Pounds per annum to 500 Pounds!

Unlike some historical fiction which use a well-known historical event simply as a jumping off point for a routine detective story, Dark Matter makes good use of both large events and historical details, characters colorful and compelling, and a sense of time and place to create a superior historical detective story. In the end, however, Kerr falls short of a five-star effort because he puts too many objects in motion. Perhaps Kerr's momentum could have been better conserved with a little more focus gravity of his subject.

Readers may also be interested in a 2009 work of nonfiction, Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist by Thomas Levenson. show less

Got all excited about this other discussion and forgot to write about the book I just finished [Dark Matter] by [[Phillip Kerr]] -- one of the newish genre of 'historical mysteries' -- this time featuring Sir Isaac Newton in his role as Warden of the Mint in the late 1600's. Murders, ciphers, alchemists, counterfeitin, Templars and other pleasures (and vices) await the reader. It's a lot of fun and nicely done. I can't help, as always, but wonder where the line between research and fancy is drawn (did Isaac Newton really have an office cat named Melchior?) but other tidbits I do seem to remember from other sources -- that he would fall into a kind of trance state, for example, when chewing over a problem. There is violence, but I would show more have to characterize it as being 'appropriate to the time and place' -- people 'enjoyed' witnessing horrible things being done to the condemned and there was a bluntness about sexual matters as well, just be advised. I'm hovering between four and four 1/2 so I'll give it ****1/4! My husband LOVED it, so if you have a mystery/mathy/bit o'history guy reader to buy a present for, this is a good bet. show less

Isaac Newton: crimefighter? Who would have known?

It all comes about because Newton was the warden of England's mint, and counterfeit specie has been found undermining the economy as England wars with France. Such actions could bring the whole country down. If there's not enough good money out there, how will the troops be paid?

Newton is in his fifties and enlists a younger helper, Mr. Ellis, as kind of a protege and bodyguard. And in the course of their investigations, they not only uncover the roots of the counterfeiting conspiracy, but also a more nefarious plot.

Though it occurs a couple hundred years before Conan Doyle's stories, some might consider this novel a Sherlock Holmes ripoff. As is clear from the beginning, when Ellis first show more meets Newton, Newton possesses the same powers of observation as Holmes. He is even fond of reproving Ellis, "You see, but you do not observe!" Ellis serves as Newton's Dr. Watson, albeit with more swashbuckling abilities. And as in the late 17th century London didn't have any police force to speak of, Newton and Ellis are pretty much on their own.

But I am a Holmes fan and I enjoyed this book. I think others would too. show less

In Philip Kerr's Dark Matter, you'll find Isaac Newton as you never knew him before. As a Sherlock Holmes-esque figure (with his trusty Watson by his side in the person of his erstwhile assistant Christopher Ellis), Newton undertakes the investigation of several mysterious murders in the Tower Mint, in the course of which he managers to uncover a deep-rooted, nefarious plot which threatens to upend the British government and put an end to Dr. Newton himself.

Though it is generally well written, I found Dark Matter a bit silly. Between the crime-solving Newton and the rather hackneyed side-plot of cryptographic clues to the "lost treasure of the Templars," I had to roll my eyes a few times in order to get through the book. Good show more diversionary reading, but nothing particularly special.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/08/book-review-dark-matter.html show less

“Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton” starts off quite well with numerous hints of scientific ciphers and dark English societies. However unlike many Philip Kerr novels have in the past, it ends on a rather languid and lethargic note. I liked the play between Mr. Kerr’s main character, Mr. Ellis, and Newton, I enjoyed their journey down the seamy streets and backrooms of London including the Shelocksian discoveries they shared. What I didn’t enjoy was how their journey ended within rather turgid bag of plot lines that seemed to just fizzle out. That it involved yet another, although haphazard, attempt to find the secrets of the Templars’ felt unneeded and disused. Mr. Kerr is a great writer with an incredible show more grasp of the written word; I’ll accept this as a misstep, of sorts. show less

A pretty solid historical mystery. Bit long on romance & sex scenes, a bit short on historical context, but generally well-done. One of Kerr's best non-Gunther outings.