Fall of Man in Wilmslow

De: David Lagercrantz

Narrado por: John Lee

From the author of the #1 best seller The Girl in the Spider’s Web—an electrifying thriller that begins with Alan Turing’s suicide and plunges into a post-war Britain of immeasurable repression, conformity and fear

June 8, 1954. Several English nationals have defected to the USSR, while a witch hunt for homosexuals rages across Britain. In these circumstances, no one is surprised when a mathematician by the name of Alan Turing is found dead in his home in the sleepy suburb of Wilmslow. It is widely assumed that he has committed suicide, unable to cope with the humiliation of a criminal conviction for gross indecency. But a young detective constable, Leonard Corell, who once dreamed of a career in higher mathematics, suspects greater forces are involved.

In the face of opposition from his superiors, he begins to assemble the pieces of a puzzle that lead him to one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war: the Bletchley Park operation to crack the Nazis’ Enigma encryption code. Stumbling across evidence of Turing’s genius, and sensing an escape from a narrow life, Corell begins to dig deeper. But in the paranoid, febrile atmosphere of the Cold War, loose cannons cannot be tolerated and Corell soon realizes he has much to learn about the dangers of forbidden knowledge.

He is also about to be rocked by two startling developments in his own life, one of which will find him targeted as a threat to national security.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Absorbing. . . . Gets the synapses sparking.” —The Sunday Telegraph (London)

“Illuminating . . . a rewarding book to read.” —The Washington Times

“Lagercrantz has the lingo, the mood and the place down pat.” —The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

“Winning. . . . A police procedural in which a dogged copper tries to crack a mystery in the teeth of bloody-minded intransigence.” —The Independent (London)

“Lagercrantz (The Girl in the Spider's Web) proves that he can succeed with wholly original work in this multifaceted look at the death of British mathematician Alan Turing in 1954. . . . Memorable prose . . . enhances the complex plot.” —Publishers Weekly

“Turing's life and death have become popular subjects, but this novel by a well-known Swedish writer offers an interesting and fresh angle. . . . A persuasive evocation of Turing's genius and of a Britain still suffering under rationing and repression.” —The Daily Mail (London)

“Lagercrantz neatly intertwines the facts of Turing's life with the fiction of Corell's quest for knowledge to create an unsettling story of state secrets and sexual hypocrisy.” —The Sunday Times (London)

“[A] pensive meditation on the life and death of the mathematician Alan Turing . . . [and a] quietly suggestive depiction of how the investigation affects the investigator. . . . Full of psychological insight.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[Lagercrantz] has the faintest whiff of W.G. Sebald; haunted characters determined to pull others down into turbid, oppressive currents of memory and ideas. You are willingly drawn down with them.” —The Spectator (London)

“Lagercrantz’s fictional variations on this true story make it seem fresh and even more appalling.” —The Star (Toronto)

a bit slow for my liking, and shallow.

Seems like the author found a death by questionable circumstances to be fertile ground for a societal commentary. no alternatives were explored or even tracked.

Terrific character study!

i was hesitant to buy this based on the other reviews. I saw it only because I'd read "The Girl Who Died Twice" the latest GwtDT book by Lagercrantz. As a character study, it's fantastic. As a story surrounding Turing, it's fantastic. (If you liked "The Imitation Game", you like this.) As historical fiction, it's great as well. It does take a bit to get to the payoff, but as stories go, it's worth it. If you're familiar with the work of Lagercrantz elsewhere, this is definitely worth a go.

Took hours & hours to get to crux of story.

It took many hours to get to the crux of the story if you didn’t know the story and history in advance. I had to look up Alan Turing to find out what he was all about. But as it got to the last hour all the pieces fell into place

Tedious

Interesting subject and story but found the book tedious as far as listening. Do enjoy Simon Vance as a narrator.

Detailed review of Turing’s life

Detailed review of Turing’s life. I felt I had a better understanding of Turing’s life. I had known of his suicide and the tragedy of his abandonment alter the war. I don’t believe I knew he filled himself with a poison apple.