Customer Reviews

The Pythagorean Solution

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an great story told by a person who lived in Greece for some time as an American Army officer and knows Greek language, places, traditions, and the people. I hardly put the book down. Not as long but in the mold of the da Vinci Code. I undertstand this was Badal's first go at a real novel. I also understand he has another recently published about terrorists and the Athens Summer Olympics. This will be my next book for sure. If you want a fast, entertaining read, the Pythagorean Solution is your book!!

P.S. You don't really need to know anything much about geometry to like this story.

While I usually prefer American-set mysteries, skimming ?The Pythagorean Solution? gave me confidence to buy it - and I am glad I did. A distinctive, literate prose style and interesting, diverse characters that continually reveal themselves are what I look for in any book - and Badal delivers on both counts. The mystery itself has a compact, well-told story that never disappoints and has enough twists to keep you going without ever feeling forced. The Greek setting is a big plus; if you have ever visited the Greek Isles, it will bring back memories and if you have not, it will make you want to go. On the dust jacket, Tony Hillerman says he?s looking forward to this novice novelist?s next book. Well, so am I.

I received this book as a gift and so felt obliged to read it. I'm sorry that I did. The plot is both implausible and predictable (that's quite an acheivement, I guess.) The dialogue is unconvincing, and the characters are collections of cliches. Much of the violence is gratuitous, and the pseudo-psychology surrounding the concept of revenge is nonsense. The "solution" to the "riddle" is obvious from the moment it's mentioned, but it takes the characters (one with a doctorate from Oxford) most of the book to figure it out. Finally, the depiction of women (violence against the "good", demonization of the "evil") belongs to an era that deserves to be long gone. If you liked The da Vinci Code, save your money.

Pythagorean Solution is a non-stop thrill ride set in modern day Greece. What I loved about this story is the main character is believeable, not some super human who I couldn't identify with. The story moves you along from one exciitng scene to the next - the story has everything! Lost gold, beautiful Aegean setting, humor, international intrigue, a love story, and a treasure hunt! For a first novel, Badal hit a home run; can't wait for his next thriller. I couldn't put the book down. Enjoy!

A very enjoyable tale, particularly for those who love Greece, though I'm sure any fan of fast-paced thrillers will not be disappointed. There are moments of fairly graphic sex and violence, but don't let it put you off unless you're a really sensitive soul. The descriptions of Samos and Greek life in general only add to the authentic feel.

I loved this book. The plot kept me intrigued and I loved the setting in Greece. It was apparent that the author must love and have experience in Greece.

A fast-paced thriller set in the dangerous and beautiful Aegean. Completely authentic and well-developed characters. WWII sunken treasure, Mediterranean locale, hot pursuit of our hero; watch for the new Harrison Ford and Nicole Kidman blockbuster at a theatre near you.

The author's experiences in Greece and with the Mediterranean Culture makes this suspence story line all the more believable. This book was a fast moving thriller with real life characters.

I'm surprised at the 5 star review. This is not a good book. It's has some merits, but on the whole, I felt it was a waste of money, and a waste of the time I spent reading it. I gave it two stars, because I did read & finish it...

On the plus side: some of the characterizations were plausible & interesting and the overall plot had one or two twists not seen before.

But oh, the negatives. Pedestrian writing. Incoherent in many places. Lots of implausibilities. Cardboard/stock characters or just unbelievable developments (e.g. police inspector & "hero" become fast friends in minutes even though hero was a suspect & has pretty much no attractive qualities that are brought out in the writing). The Nazi collaborationist. The beautiful girl in her mid-30s who is completely available and falls in love with the hero.

I picked it up in Borders from a display suggesting that it was in the Dan Brown mold. Also, Tony Hillerman contributed a positive quote. But there were no real complexities in the "puzzle" and a bunch of silly, not well motivated action sequences. It might make a reasonable movie in the mindless action genre.

It's sad. One of my best friends is a novelist and has written two books which are each much much better than this turkey, yet has had a lot of difficulty getting published. But stuff like this comes out, with just really weak prose, backed by some marketing muscle, and sells ok. Sigh.

Touted as a 'DaVinci Code' type thriller, for me, the Pythagorean Solution succeeds only on the level of beautiful, exotic locale.

Author Badal, sets the story in the sun-drenched Greek Isles--- always a winner with me after enjoying a steady diet of suspense served up by the meister of the genre, popular 70s writer Helen MacInnes and others of her generation -- and attempts to capitalize on the usual formulaic constants utilized in a book revolving around the modern Greeks and their domain: snipets of sunken treasure, Nazis, and archaelogy, all played against a wild unsettled terrain unwittingly teased into being with the discovery of a secret map and an unsolvable riddle by an American businessman and beautiful Greek woman who naturally are haphazardly drawn into a life and death situation that threatens their normal yet flawed existence.


All this sounds about what one would expect from a good suspense story set in the Greek Isles. And this is basically what one receives, if one is looking for an uncomplicated read with plenty of chase scenes and stereotypical Greek characters throwing plates, drinking retsina and passionately emulating emotions of a Euripedean caliber.


Unfortunately, there is nothing compelling about this story. The Teutonic villians wallow in a strange two-dimensional jadedness, the undeveloped protagonists struggle with the author's mediocre 'eureka' moments and the main thrust of the novel--the actual Pythagorean puzzle that stalemates the players for several hundred pages, sadly can be solved within seconds of its intial reading by any middle school mathematician.


However, in good conscience, I cannot ban the book totally. Instead of a seriously complicated MacInnes twister, historically based on the interplay of fascism/communism during and after WW2 or the revelation of a centuries old conspiracy a la the Da Vinci Code entrenched with secret cults of number-loving Pythagoreans and fatalistic Medeas and Antigones, think fun: James Bond American style in a movie-of-the-week travelogue and I don't think you will be that disappointed.