Fall of Main In Wilmslow: Or, The Alan Turing Mystery Without a Mystery

Being a fan of David Lagercrantz's take on the Millenium Series, I was intrigued to see what else he had written. This novel seemed interesting enough: a mystery thriller surrounding Alan Turing's death. Did he really kill himself or was something else at play?

Well, let me tell you, this novel does not really hold up to that. Mystery? Kind of. Thriller? Meh. Any real importance or significance to read about? Mreeeeh. It started off intriguing but quickly went downhill and I think some of that lies in our focus on the main character, a straight white male cop named Leonard Corell. Taking this story from his POV was a choice and it doesn't pay off. And the revelation at the end

Spoiler

gay people are people too! D'oh!

was not a revelation to me or groundbreaking to "discover." Because of that, it left me feeling unsatisfied, bored, and disappointed. With slight adjustments to the main character and overall story, this could've been waaaay more exciting and meaningful.

Fall of Man in Wilmslow, a novel by David Lagercrantz.

Alan Turing, a legend in the field of computer science, was a man not fully-appreciated by Britain post-world war II and wasn’t getting the recognition he deserved due to a number of reasons until in recent decades. Him being a homosexual didn’t help. He may have been abused as a lab rat as he was receiving ‘neutralisation’ of his femininity. On top of that, what he (and the others) did at Bletchley Park remained a secret for many years. The Imitation Game, although a loose adaptation of Alan Turing’s life, is a wonderful film. Give it a watch.

Anyway...
The novel is a page turner, and is easy to read. It’s not a Sherlock Holmes-esque crime / mystery novel, but I feel it’s a rather unique take for a ‘mystery’ novel. One might say the plot of this novel is to unravel the life of a supposedly ordinary mathematician Alan Turing OBE.

The novel starts where Alan Turing dies. A Detective Constable, Leonard Corell, investigates the death of Alan Turing. Alan sounded like an ordinary bloke, until he found notes and oddities in Alan’s house. From there onwards, DC Corell set out to unravel the mystery behind Alan Turing. What did he do to be awarded with an OBE? What do his notes mean? DC Corell will find out what on earth he has got himself into.

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway.

This book didn't move me one way or the other. It felt like 300 pages of fluff story about a police man for the purpose of exploring Alan Turing's life. It felt like the book wanted to be a biography but it got stuck being a mystery novel. It wasn't bad. Just not great.

This was a big no, sorry for the author. I gave up reading it at the very end (last 20 pages), the book was so boring except some parts i found good. I don't feel like I would advise this book to anyone, but if you really want to read, prepare yourself with a lot of patience to get through it.

I wanted to like this book. I thought it was going to be about Alan Turing being possibly murdered but that was a bout 5 percent of the book. It was interesting in parts but a lot more math than I would have liked. I did read a pre pub of this so maybe he changed some of it in the final reading.

Recommend for fans of the Imitation Game! I like how this detective novel mixes fiction and nonfiction.

3.5 stars. As someone who is very interested in Alan Turing, I loved hearing about his life throughout the novel. However, I felt the pacing was very off when the characters began discussing theories and equations. I found I understood the theory early on, and the pages upon pages of explanation was very tedious. The ending monologue was incredibly sweet though.

I want to first thank Quercus Books for sending me this English translation through Netgalley, I was beyond excited to be approved to read and review this book. I have been a great admirer of Alan Turing for this past year and finding a fictional novel surrounding the reasons behind his suicide immediately caught my attention.

We meet Leonard Corell a police detective who is put on the case of Alan Turing's death, he visits Turing's home in Wilmslow and discovers that there are a fast amount of dangerous chemicals in the property. When a post mortem finds traces of potassium cyanide in Turing's body it becomes a clear conclusion that his death was an act of suicide. Corell finds an apple on the floor of Turing's bedroom drenched in the chemical and is reminded of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, where Snow White is too poisoned by an apple. It is said both in this novel and in historical documents that Alan was fond of this film and perhaps found it comforting or like a fairy tale to end his life in this way.

Immediately Corell his fascinated as to why Turing would end his own, he delves into every document he can find concerning Turing and discovers that two years previously he was persecuted for being gay and had been convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to chemical castration.

Corell's investigation doesn't stop there, he explores as much of Turing's world as he could. However he soon realises that Turing wasn't just any normal mathematician but involved in a secret project for the British government during the war. As Corell meets former colleague's and friends of Alan he uncovers matters that no one else could ever know, which becomes a risk for Corell.

What this book conveys very well is the paranoia and tension of the beginning of the Cold War, not only this but the personal struggles the main character has with his views on homosexuality as well as the new discoveries and technological developments of the era and how all of these were viewed by the civilians of that time in history.

I found that the story gave interesting interpretations of how development in technology made those wary like for example, during the war "machines" were seen as damaging and a risk to the security of Britain during a time of paranoia and yet despite the doubt surrounding Alan's abilities he managed to crack the German enigma machine that had a vast impact on the war effort.

How the author dealt with conveying the opposition of homosexuality during this era was very well done. He conveyed the prejudices of those who believed that someone's sexuality could influence them to be a spy against their own country. I see how the rejection of homosexuals in a society could push those away, though it was said that during the war homosexuals were influenced by Stalin due to him welcoming them into Soviet society that would then lead them to being his spies- which we all know is ridiculous! Although despite my dismissal of this from a "modern mind" its not hard to see that during this tense time it wouldn't have been hard to put this idea into someone's head.

I can't fault this novel, it dealt with difficult topics and brought out the difficulties of accepting change, not just in society but in technology too. Perhaps the one dislike I have of this book would be the length, it seemed drag on longer than I expected with events that didn't necessarily need to be in it. Otherwise it's worthy of a four star rating.

Again thank you to Quercus Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this great book!