Book Review: The Last Equation of Isaac Severy by Nova Jacobs

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Literature & Fiction

Publisher: Touchstone

Publication Date: March 6, 2018

Disclaimer: Thank you to Touchstone for an ARC copy of this. What follows are my honest, unbiased (and sometimes random?) thoughts.

Remember that class you hated in high school? Well, this is a whole book full of it, written to make math not only accessible to the average person but also turning it into a high-stakes clue hunt that has the possibility to either save or destroy the future, depending on which side cracks the code first.

Isaac Severy is a renowned mathematician that believes in not only numbers but the fact that everything in the universe is eventually knowable. Or he did, up until the day he died from an apparent suicide.

Hazel takes the news of her grandfather’s passing hard enough. This was the man who had taken her in and loved her as a child, saving her from her traumatic childhood, and she can’t help but think she must have missed some signs along the way about his own need for saving. That is, until a final letter from Isaac Severy turns up for her, hinting that his death was a homicide. With very little clues to go on, the only thing Hazel can cling to is the belief that her grandfather has entrusted her with something of the utmost importance, and she doesn’t want to let him down. All she has to go on is a brief typewritten letter, her grandfather’s final message: The equation itself you must keep. (I leave it with the family member they would least suspect.)

Like Hazel, her brother, Gregory, is also distraught over the death of their adopted grandfather, but he doesn’t have much time to mourn, with too many other pressing issues hanging over his head. As a police officer, he’s no stranger to death. It hits a little too close to home, though, as a second Severy dies, and this death feels like a greater loss. Even worse, a man from his and Hazel’s past has resurfaced, and with him, all the nightmares from their childhood.

But Hazel is far from the only person looking for Isaac’s final equation. His son, Philip, is now being dogged by the GSR, Government-Scholar Relations, who insists that Isaac was working with them and about to turn over his life’s work before his unfortunate demise. Stuck in a bind himself as far as his beloved string theory is concerned, and reeling from the loss of a man he so fiercely looked up to, Philip can’t imagine why his father wouldn’t tell his own son what he was working on. The feeling of betrayal becomes overwhelming—from his father, who committed suicide and left him alone; from his distant wife; from his wholly average and unremarkable children; and from his own inability to move forward with his work. Philip’s left wondering what he’s doing it all for and if a simple math equation can really solve his problems.

☙ I hate mathematics with the passion of a dying supernova, but this book made it really accessible and kind of … dare I say … fun? I mean, as fun as people dying can be, but still, who doesn’t love a good mystery? The equations are there, and maybe mathy people would find fault in them, but given my aversion to equations of any sort, I didn’t. It was easy to follow along, but not so dumbed down that I couldn’t see an actual mathematician saying it. There is one really lovely chapter from Philip’s point of view where he describes his area of expertise, string theory, in an extended metaphor which I thought was FANTASTIC. Basically, it’s like being in a house, and each mathematician is in a separate room. We know the room exists, but until you find the light switch, you can’t see what’s in the room. All you know is what you feel as you stumble along blindly, making assumptions on what that object is based on what you know about it (am I touching a lamp? A curtain? A table?). Okay, so, I don’t explain it as well as he does, which is all the more reason you should read the book.

☙ The three perspective characters (Hazel, Gregory, and Philip) all have extremely compelling and fulfilling arcs that end up tying into the overall plot all neat and tidy. Now, I’m not shy about saying that I’m not often a big fan of a bunch of point of views, because I usually find they’re a waste of space and annoying. At first, I thought that would be the case here, too, because Philip was a pathetic character (this is important for his growth … and yes, there is growth) and Gregory’s perspective didn’t seem to add anything to the overall Severy mystery. Well, until it did. Overall, this is one of the best uses of point of view I’ve read recently, because everything really started to pull together midway through and I could start seeing where it was going, and by the end, it made perfect sense. The ending wouldn’t have been even half as strong if there wasn’t the three alternating perspectives.

☙ I’m sort of in love with the idea of Humane Hunting and wish it were a thing. That’s humane hunting, with an e, not human hunting which I originally wrote, which also might be fun but is highly illegal. Anyway, imagine the thrill of the hunt—tracking the prey, staking a spot, unwavering patience, and the final adrenaline rush when your target’s in your crosshairs—except without the, well, death. Instead, the animal is hit with what amounts to a long-distance taser, and then a special camera takes a 3D image of the animal head to replicate so that it can be hung on the wall as a trophy. I mean, it’s highly unrealistic, idealist, and totally never going to happen, but what’s the point of reading if we can’t dream?

☙ This is so much more to this than a book about math. And thank goodness for that, because who wants to read a whole book on math? Except mathematicians, and who can trust their judgment, because they willing choose to work with equations every day. Who does that? This book actually raises a whole slew of moral and ethical questions, and I LOVE IT. It doesn’t just take mathematics as a study in and of itself, but ties it to the larger world, to society, to people, and not only shows that it has a place, and an important one at that, but exactly how significant its use—or misuse, however the case may be—is to civilization. There was actually so much depth, especially in the ending, that I was very pleasantly surprised.

☙ I actually … didn’t see that coming? Like, any of it. I tend to be pretty good at figuring out how books will end, but I had no idea going into this. Not even an inkling. I mean, I tried to pay special attention and was so sure I’d spot it and figure it out, but no, not even close. By halfway through, I had figured out some pretty pivotal things to the plot and a couple characters, but not the whole thing, and some of the characters surprised me, too. I like being surprised, especially since they all made sense, and looking back now, of course it turned out that way, but I’m a fan of any book that guards its secrets well.

☙ The book starts incredibly slow, and it builds like a slow burn to what is a worthwhile middle and conclusion—if you can hold on that long. I did, and I’m glad, because I got very caught up and enjoyed the book. There are some minor mysteries in the beginning. I mean, it opens with Isaac Severy waiting for his assassin, and even having the manners to cook him breakfast, so it wasn’t completely dull. But it was slow, and there were times when I wondered if there was going to be a payoff for it (there was).
☙ Who the heck are all these people?! I mean, by the end, I had a good grasp on all the characters, but for probably the first third of the book, I was constantly flipping back to remember who the heck each person was and how they related to each other. It felt like the entirety of the Severy family was just dumped out into my lap and I had to make some sort of sense of this jumbled pile of names. It made the first part of the book difficult to get through, until the characters actually became more fleshed out and it was more obvious who was who.

Math and I have a very love/hate relationship, in case you couldn’t tell, so why did I pick up a book that revolved around math and people who love it? Well, I might be a teensy bit of a masochist, but mostly, the mystery seemed charming and I was curious how it would be pulled off. That being said, I actually love the way it was executed. While it takes a while for the plot to warm up, it does indeed eventually, and what at first seem like three disjointed and unrelated points of view do become entwined to the point where the impact would be lost without even just one of them. I thought the whole thing was masterfully crafted, from the clues to the characters to the overall commentary it makes about society and life in general. I would highly recommend reading it.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with or involved in this giveaway. I am merely passing on some handy information, because who wouldn’t want a copy of this book? Look at that pretty cover (despite my awful attempt at a picture).

The author, Nova Jacobs, is giving away 10 print copies of The Last Equation of Isaac Severy over at Goodreads so stop over there and check it out if you want your shot at winning a paperback copy. The giveaway ends on March 10, 2018, and is only available to US residents.