An Elegant Solution

August 1, 2014
Robertson ("Dark in the City of Light") references a celebrated clan of 18th-century mathematicians in a tale of academic intrigue with Faustian overtones. Leonhard Euler, nearing completion of his doctorate at 18, studies mathematics--"the thing God made that is most like him"--at the prestigious University of Basel in Switzerland. A long association with distinguished professor Johann Bernoulli and his sons heightens Leonhard's intellectual prowess. When the murder of a local coachman generates further-reaching inquiries, Leonhard dutifully elects himself to expose crimes and connivances long obscured by those he most reveres. Narrator Jonathan Todd Ross convincingly transmits both Leonhard's youth and his mature intellect. Contemplative pacing and occasional passages dense with erudition will challenge some listeners' patience, but Robertson memorably conveys the setting and zeitgeist of Basel in the 1700s. VERDICT Many listeners of historical, inspirational, and literary fiction and suspense will enjoy sojourning in this time when academic convocations rivaled the glamour of today's red carpet.--Linda Sappenfield, Round Rock P.L., TX

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