Review of The Ultimate Detective Story

[Nenye Charles]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Ultimate Detective Story" by W J Hendry.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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Bob and Alec have been best friends since primary school. Their friendship grows over healthy competitions, and they are mostly united by their immense love for golf, a sport they play well into their later years. “The Ultimate Detective Story” by W.J. Henry is a book that centres around deep friendship, golfing activities, and deep discussions about science, including theories and discoveries of great scientific pioneers.

I love how the author integrates these discussions revolving around science while these two friends are playing golf. The book starts as a regular novel but provides research into how scientific laws are formulated. I learned a lot from this book, such as how an agreement was reached that the symbol ‘0’ would be used to represent zero. Here, Alec goes further to explain what will happen if zero does not exist.

I also learned of the origin of Christianity, which morphed from Judaism. Readers will also get to learn about Einstein and Galileo’s law of relativity, which solves some common mysteries, such as how the earth moves, including the invention of Galileo’s pendulum clocks that existed till the 1930s. Theories such as Michael Faraday’s Force Field Equations of Electromagnetism, Max Planck’s quantum mechanics, the 1st law of Thermodynamics, the Big Bang Theory, and so on are discussed in this book.

I noticed some aspects I didn’t like, which I would point out here. The book lacks a preface, which should naturally occur at the beginning. I equally discovered there was no numbering of pages. Another shortcoming in the book is the presence of multiple punctuation and spelling errors. For these negatives mentioned, I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

It is most suitable for readers with proper scientific knowledge, as readers who aren’t science-inclined will find words such as quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, momentum, neutrons, isotopes, optic nerves, and so on strange, making the book look incomprehensible. Again, it is ideal for readers who wish to gain more scientific knowledge, as there are lots of words and concepts to learn.

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The Ultimate Detective Story
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[Mark Lazarus]

The blend of deep friendship, intellectual debates, and a shared passion for golf makes this book sound like an interesting mix of storytelling and education. I like when a novel weaves in real scientific discussions without feeling like a textbook, and it sounds like the conversations between the two friends do just that—making big scientific concepts feel more approachable through their dialogue.

That said, the lack of a preface, missing page numbers, and editing issues might make for a frustrating reading experience. Also, if the book leans too heavily on complex scientific theories without breaking them down in a way that’s engaging for a general audience, it could feel overwhelming rather than enlightening.

I’d probably pick this up if I were in the mood for something that challenges me intellectually, but I’d need to be prepared for a dense read. It seems like it would resonate most with readers who already have a solid grasp of science or a strong interest in learning about it.