Book Review: The Truth About Archie and Pye by Jonathan Pinnock

The Truth about Archie and Pye is the first book in Jonathan Pinnock’s Mathematical Mystery series.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. It is hilarious, quirky and informative.

The story starts with Tom Winscombe meeting George Burgess, a ‘renowned’ author who is writing a biography on the Vavasor twins – Archimedes and Pythagoras. It’s been ten years since their murder and yet there are some skeletons that haunt people for the rest of their lives. Burgess even suggests that the twins might have been psychosexual.

Tom finds George’s suitcase in the train. The bugger has probably forgotten to take it before getting down from the train. Tom takes it home and decides to hand it over to George as soon as he finds his address. But before he could do that, George is dead. Tom receives an email from a certain Mr. Rufus Fairbanks. Fairbanks wants to discuss about Burgess and the Vavasor twins.

From Fairbanks, Tom learns that one of the twins were killed by the Bulgarian mafia. And now, some European guy’s been following Tom. After crashing his girlfriend’s car and meeting Dorothy Chan, Tom’s life changes for good.

If there is an award for the funniest book ever then I am pretty sure that this book is going to win!  Every paragraph has something funny to offer to the reader. Dorothy’s explanation of Euler’s formula and Tom’s confusion about the value of pi were hilarious. The story, on the whole, was engaging, interesting and riveting.

Mathematics is one of my favorite subjects and that made me like this book even more. The mystery behind the murder of Vavasor twins was intriguing. The Reimann hypothesis was a nice touch to the story. And how can I not mention the names of the twins – Archimedes and Pythagoras! How cute is that!

My favorite character is Tom. I mean, it has to be him! Funny, a tad bit imbecile-like, and as curious as a cat. The conversations that he had in his head when his ex-girlfriend – Lucy (she’s not his ex when the story begins) was hilarious… and, can I say relatable? When the person sitting in front of you starts a boring conversation then the mind just drifts away to something else and I call it – group discussion with self! And that is what Tom was doing when Lucy was going on and on, yada, yada, yada.

Arkady was another such character that I found funny. Arkady. Is funny. Is Interesting. And Tom’s ‘Neeooo Gegooo’ had me literally ROFL. e (base of natural logarithm) and π as nicknames of Archie and Pye was a very brilliant inclusion by the author. And of course, the passcode for Burgess’ case was a combination of e and π. This is where Euler’s formula comes into picture. (Euler is pronounced as Oiler and not You-ler). But then, our very own Tom, who has no mathematical knowledge whatsoever, finds the correct passcode.

The murder weapon was, no doubt, something related to mathematics. George Burgess was killed with a compass point through his jugular vein while Pye was killed with a set square through his heart.

The PR agency where Tom worked was called mKG.Q*. This again, is a pretty interesting name, though it might not have any mathematical significance. (Correct me if I am wrong.) The story also includes a cat named Mu (µ).

I recommend this book to one and all. You don’t have to be a math lover to like this book. You don’t have to know Euler’s formula either. All you have to do is sit, read and laugh out loud while reading this book.

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I received an ARC from Farrago and NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.