The Calculations of Rational Men
In The Calculations of Rational Men, 500 British prisoners are caught in a nuclear disaster in December 1962. Forced into a WWII air raid shelter below a prison, they wait for rescue. Among them is Dr. Joseph Marr, imprisoned for the death of a drowning woman. As the crisis deepens, he is their best hope. The prison staff remain distrustful of him, but the military sees him as necessary and looks the other way.
I wanted to like Dr. Marr, but as the story progressed, this became difficult, and by the time of a certain character’s death, I came to the uncomfortable realization that Dr. Marr liked killing, which made me wonder: was he really a victim of misunderstanding, or was he truly a murderer?
In Chapter 16, the author introduces Enola Thompson, who stumbles upon a secret about a prison experiment in 1962 that involves her mother and grandmother, throwing me completely out of the story. I never regained my footing. Her story would have been best served in a second book, as she isn’t given the time needed to evolve and be woven in successfully. Perhaps a developmental edit would have proven useful, and a line edit as well. I also found sentences with extra words or incorrect grammatical structures, such as “He was stood too close” and “her head span around.”
