From Powells.com
Staff Pick
A routine investigation into what appears to be a suicide turns into something much more complex and sinister. Lagercrantz takes us to 1950s post-war Britain and deep into the lives of Alan Turing and a young detective constable who once aspired to a career in higher mathematics. Recommended By Mary Jo S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Humour as dry as a good sherry, subtle dialogue and a plot that ambles along in its search… David Lagercrantz has written an entertaining novel which fortunately has plenty of serious undertones." Christer Enander, Helsingborgs Dagblad
Review
"This story about the life of Alan Turing is irresistibly dramatic." Lotta Olsson, Dagens Nyheter
Review
"Fall from Grace in Wilmslow is a multilayered, captivating mix of thriller, history of ideas, popular science and psychological novel. It manages to be both educational and exciting. It is also a gripping portrayal of a remarkable era as well as a ringing defence of people’s right to be different – and to think differently.… I wholeheartedly recommend Fall from Grace in Wilmslow. It’s a police thriller that makes its readers a bit smarter and better educated – that sort of thing is all too rare." Eva Johansson, Svenska Dagbladet
Synopsis
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."
About the Author
David Lagercrantz is an acclaimed Swedish journalist and author. He has worked as a crime reporter for Expressen and has written several novels, including the #1 best-selling The Girl in the Spider’s Web. He worked with international soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović on his memoir I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović, which was short-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award and nominated for the August Prize in Sweden.