The Numbers Game

by Miles Watson, Michael Dell (Illustrator), Matthew Greaves (Editor)

The Battle of Britain rages. London is in flames, and civilization itself totters on the brink. Does Pilot Officer Maurice Mickelwhite care? Not one damn. He may be one of the better fighter pilots in the Royal Air Force, but it's not by choice. Maurice is a mathematical genius, who, if not for Hitler, would be happily teaching algebra and calculus at university. To hell with the war! Maurice just wants his numbers.

Trouble is...the numbers also want him.

Genres: Historical Fiction

43 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 3, 2019

About the author

Miles Watson was born in Evanston, Illinois. The son of a prominent Chicago journalist, he took an early interest in writing and published his first short story at 17. He holds undergraduate degrees in Criminal Justice and History and served as a law enforcement officer for nearly ten years before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked on television shows like HEROES, CSI: NEW YORK, TRUE BLOOD, THE WALKING DEAD and THE ORVILLE. In 2012 he graduated from Seton Hill University with an Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction, and was the recipient of that program's first-ever Endowed Scholarship. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed CAGE LIFE series of novels, whose first volume was recently named Zealot Script's Best Indie Book of 2016, and won the 2018 Best Indie Book Award in the category of Mystery/Suspense. The sequel, KNUCKLE DOWN, was given an Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest Awards for Genre Fiction and won the Best Indie Book Award for Suspense in 2019. His short story collection, DEVILS YOU KNOW, is an Eric Hoffer Award Finalist for 2019. "The Numbers Game," his WW2 novella, won the Pinnacle Achievement Award, as did his novelette "Nosferatu." SINNER'S CROSS, his third novel, took the Best Indie Book Award for Historical Fiction, the Literary Titan Gold Medal and the Book Excellence Award. It was also named a Finalist in the Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards.

Reviews

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maurice is an English pilot and mathematician during WW2. In the worst moments of the brutal war, Maurice & his fellow soldiers watch as men they've known for years die in what seems like random acts of chance.

But Maurice know otherwise.

Maurice knows that numbers do not lie, and statistically every fighter in the Royal Air Force will inevitably meet doom. His story is one of obsession with logic and certainty in a world of chaos and chance.

Drawn in by the allure and the stability of numbers - Maurice becomes convinced he has empirical proof of the probability and timing of an individual pilot's death. The ruthless churning of the war machine seems to prove him right - except for one variable - himself.

The Numbers Game is the story of a world torn asunder by war and the lives brutally sacrificed in the game of empires. It is a story about coming to terms with inevitable death and a warning about the incredibly taxing toll of the dread of that waiting.

[anakdenesor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess you can't separate a man from his addiction. In this case, numbers. You can't take away numbers from Maurice. He always has a method how to calculate how near he is to die and somehow that's the reason why he become so addicted to numbers.

Numbers are the reason how he survives every attack. He calculates and always comes out with a solution how to survive the attack from the enemy. The main question in this book is, will his theory save him next or not.

A short story with 41 pages only. The Numbers game is an adult book with a strong possession of death. That's is an unhealthy obsession with death that I guess is not for me. A lot of math theories that being used in this book to calculate the odd chance of survival of Maurice from war. Meanwhile, I kinda hate math. LOL which, makes me difficult to understand the way that he used to count the chances.

This book is not for me. ⭐⭐only.

[Carly Rheilan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this mesmerising novella, set in the Battle of Britain in World War II, Miles Watson confronts head-on the human cost of war.

It’s not a book for everyone. To value this book, the reader has to be open to a little history. Don’t read this book if what you want is an episode of Dad’s Army, or a gung-ho adventure with cartoon heroes in a frenzy of derring-do. Don’t read this book if you want war sugar-coated, with the lie of a happy ending for the characters who matter and any intervening deaths being rare, sanitised, and either well-deserved or glorious.

The Battle of Britain wasn’t like that. War isn’t like that. And this is a serious book, albeit written in light, clever, occasionally amusing prose, skipping through the weeks of one pilot’s history with a brevity that carries you along, almost intoxicated.
It’s still serious.

Take stock.
The Battle of Britain, fought by Britain and its allies after Hitler's defeat of mainland Europe, was a defensive military campaign waged entirely by air forces, to defend the mainland of Britain from invasion. The human cost of this air defence was vast. The average life expectancy of a spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain was just four weeks. Most fighter pilots were boys in their early twenties. Many hundreds were killed, brutally, painfully, generally without achieving anything at all.

(Yes. These facts are gruelling. Like most facts about war, you may find them ‘depressing’. If you can’t take this, you really don’t need to start this book: it’s not going to get any better. Go elsewhere for your war stories. Plenty of comics are available.)

Against the real background of the Battle of Britain (Watson’s research is as always meticulous) his fictional hero is an ordinary man, in civilian life a mathematics teacher, who is deployed as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot. Mission after mission he sees his friends and companions head out and not return, and with punctilious care he calculates the odds of his own survival for each mission that he flies. They aren’t good. They only get worse.

The calculation of probability becomes an obsession. Somewhere in his nightmare journey from mission to mission, through the orgy of military and personal loss that occurs around all him, the obsession spirals from reason to unreason. The numbers take over. They assume an almost magical significance, imbued with a devastating drive which spills over into intentionality. The numbers are out to get him. He has nothing to hold onto except the inexorable certainty of his calculations – to the extent that he would perhaps prefer to be dead than disproved.

The characterisation is extraordinary, extreme, and yet impeccably believable. American though he is, Watson captures a British voice and sensibility that is utterly compelling. And beneath the unique, the personal, the fanatical preoccupation of his hero, there are more universal questions being asked. Watson isn’t an author who spoonfeeds his reader. If you’ve got this far, go read the novella. It’s only 40 pages, though you could give yourself a few months to think about it. 8 months perhaps - enough time for the Battle of Britain to run its course. Then answer the questions for yourself.

[Grace J Reviewerlady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be a short read – but it certainly packs a punch!

Maurice Mickelwhite is one of the brave lads who climbs into his fighter plane each time the call comes and races to defend his country. Seemingly fearless, the truth is that Maurice just doesn’t care about the so called odds of returning as he is a mathematical genius who works out his own chances via the numbers game, and he knows that his time isn’t up – yet.

During World War Two, the British pilots were a different breed of men (and boys). Knowing that they faced death each time they roared into the skies, they relished the opportunity – even though they were aware than not all who took off would land again. Maurice Mickelwhite’s story is written in an exciting, rip-roaring manner (I can now understand why legions of lads idolised the Biggles tales!) and is thrilling to read. As his fellow pilots fall by the wayside, Maurice continues to take to the skies, fighting the enemy with gusto. But, surely, one day the numbers game will show that his luck has run out – or will it? You’ll have to read to find out all for yourself! A wonderfully enthralling story of the derring-do by the RAF officers during a war which would have had such a different outcome had it not been for their selflessness, beautifully written and one I’m happy to recommend. 4.5*.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maurice Mickelwhite is a member of the Royal Air Force, tasked with flying his Hurricane to protect his homeland from the impending danger of the German army. In order to find solace within the unpredictability of war, Maurice focuses on probability and mathematics to come to terms with the otherwise soul crushing realities of losing his comrades. As the years go by, Maurice watches his companions come and go, the numbers ultimately catching up to them. When the time finally comes for Maurice’s own Zero Point, he must come to terms with the fact that his own mortality is dictated by the numbers he loves so well. Compellingly written, this short story embeds readers into the frightening and seemingly interminable days of World War II England. Through beautifully descriptive language and colloquial dialogue, this tale focuses on the realities of war from the perspective of a man who utilizes what he knows in order to make order from chaos. Throughout the story, references are made to specific characters and moments from World War II along with battle terminology related to that time frame. The story itself is succinct and well-executed, giving readers a tangible glimpse into one man’s perspective of war. This is a dramatic and memorable short story that is a good fit for mature young adult and adult readers alike who appreciate both World War II and investigating the many human reactions to conflict and mortality.

I received a copy of this book from Blackthorn Book Tours and I chose to leave this review.

[Anni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and thin, but full of action = you won't get bored with this delicious little piece of literature.

I loved the protagonist Maurice: He's such a multi-faceted character and the author kept a close eye on all the details. On the one hand, you see the brave soldier risking his life in the 2nd WW and on the other hand, there's this somehow fragile and passionate mathematician who just wants to do his research. Whatever he does, the numbers are always at his side.

The language is in its own way so lively, vivid, pulse-making (call it what you want) that your own pulse rises with every single action. Drama, war, a little bit of horror and this short-story-atmosphere go hand in hand. I mean: The author makes his character feel real within just 41 pages. You need to read this story, no discussion.

Only disadvantage: It's too short. I wanna read more with this writing style.

[Eddy Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very intense novella that focuses on the mathematics of probability of survival during the WWII. Realistic portrayal of the battle scenes and the nerve wrecking aftermath of pilot loss afterwards. How the surviving pilots recover is yet another heart pulling vivid scene. During the last few ears of the war, Maurice is sent to different departments of the war machine, yet which each assignment, he brings his maths around, calculative at all time. At one time, he even mailed Winston Churchill. An excellent read not to be missed.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Numbers Game
Life can surround you by thought and ideas hoping that a solution will come but in this case as Maurice relates throughout the novella, the solution is in NUMBERS. The Battle of Britain is the setting and London is in trouble as it goes up in flames and Pilot Officer Maurice Micklewhite does he care, or does he have his own solution for staying alive? Each character within is platoon or that he works with has his own perspective of the war and how it will proceed. As each flight or mission is about to happen Maurice calculates how many will live and how many will die. Due to the variable involved with flying and now excluding the experience, the weather, mechanical failure, pilot fatigue , being host at my one’s own side you can reverse ehginere4 our way to a more precise figure. Taking the 30th root of .03, you arrive at the average single sortie loss fate of 2.3 percent which spread over 25 mission’s fifty percent survival probability. If you fly enough you will read zero point where statistical probability becomes statistical certainty. Throughout the novella Maurice deals in numbers, others refuse to believe his thoughts and yet her finds himself in curious limbo at times between affect and affect, and the terror of exhaustion were real but somehow not important. He calculates that on any given day it might destroy him inevitably but within the fear lay the cold, soothing logic of numbers. He continues throughout telling his comrades and readers about the probability clock.
Thinking about all of his mission pushes the hands along but by getting pinged he believed he turned then back a way. Dealing with the odds of a horrific events, he was getting uncomfortable but now he had his little disaster but did not relieve the pressure? Thirty missions go by in a flash, when the Jerries were launching raids from dawn till dusk again. The fear must be there, but Maurice focuses on something in a roulette wheel and a game of change. Will you encounter a double serios on your first spin rather than your last? Maurice states some of these wheels have memories they know who uses up chancres and who did not. And the roulette wheel of aerial combat has the longest memory of all!
The tensions rise and the death counts rise to as many men that he works with, and officers fall prey to the bullets and grenades of the Germans. Hoping that the war will end will that save him? each time replacements came and each time they lost lives. The trainee pilots looked like children the accident rate was as bad as the fighting and combat. The emotional upheavals had to be great and the possibility that intruders pounded on them equally as great. He was defined to finish the final calculus which would determine the end of his life. Men died as in 1943 the Honorable Phillip Green caught in a nasty tailwind. The death rate rises, and the war and deaths no know ranking. No one was immune and the author describes the man’s end and demise. Maurice real a slight sense of vindication a feeling of elevated relive when just hours later he was assigned to the new school for test pilots. Everything was about numbers. Read page 25 and learn more about how he calculates and how numbe4rs have fought up with everyone else and why. When he wanted to be really noticed he sent a missive with a formulate to Churchill explaining the solution and his superior was not happy about this but on page 30 he reveals equation and the solution but hear what his superior answers.
As time passes and rain turn to snow and antiaircraft guns of very type bristling for the swinging arms of dockyard cranes and more, then January 1945 and the squadron lumber with heavy rockers and the Jerries were not experienced and the result you won’t believe. Just when he thinks it is all over he is commanded one more last mission. They had one more order and one more flight. Combat air patrol in case some disgruntled Jerry is still at it. They have no choice and Maurice pulled on his flying helmet and what you witness and how the numbers are there to help decide the outcome you will have to read for yourself. Will the books finally be balanced? Is this the way his life will end? Counting the numbers what will his fate be? Told in the voice of Maurice and the author shares the horrors of war this book deals with one man’s passion and his goal to say that to live you need to play THE NUMBERS GAME.
A well document book with research and referring to why he wrote this in the acknowledgments this is one fast read with many messages letting us know in the present the dangers that are men face in the now as they did in the past.
Fran Lewis: Just reviews

[Julie Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miles Watson's novella, The Numbers Game is a tight, suspenseful, and character driven book about a WWII pilot with a unique gift that helps him survive but could overpower him.

Pilot Officer Maurice Mickelwhite is a mathematical genius. (Fun Fact: Maurice Mickelwhite is also the real name of actor Michael Caine. This appears to be a coincidence.)
His potential life of teaching calculus and algebra while living only for numbers is interrupted by the War. As he participates in the Battle of Britain, Maurice is able to use his talent for numbers to calculate the probabilities of survival, not only for him but the other members of his squadron. He knows the likelihood in which each pilot is going to die and is quite often right. Unfortunately, his own numbers are very close to coming up.

The Numbers Game is a brilliant character study about someone who goes to war but doesn't really want to.
Maurice is not exactly a flag waving jingoist ready to die for King and Country.
In fact, he had dreams of teaching math in school and being left to "his numbers, his tobacco, and his copy of the Journal of the London Mathematical Society.
Instead, he got the war."
Maurice wouldn't have minded using his mathematical genius to work in the London office but instead he is in the RAF as a pilot. (There was even a rumor that the RAF refused "as a matter of principle" to let anyone do anything that they showed an interest or talent in.)
This attitude is counter to the popular culture image that RAF's were brave heroic patriotic fliers with their own colorful language and daringness to kick the German fighters out of England.
The Numbers Game shows that it was often made up of men who were there by force and would rather be doing anything else.

In many ways, Maurice is similar to characters like Yossarian from Catch 22 or Hawkeye Pierce in MASH. He gets through the madness of war by holding onto a sardonic sense of humor. He scoffs at those who insist that skill and abilities are factors in determining when someone is going to die. He thinks, "The numbers formed a path which you were doomed to walk-a path ending in a scaffold….The more you flew, the greater your risk of dying. It was just that simple."

Because of his certainty about death, Maurice has a very fatalistic behavior when his fellow pilots die. Even when others disagree with him and die anyway, he is neither grief stricken nor smug about being proven right. He is matter of fact because he saw it coming. He comes across as cold at times, but Maurice is almost like someone with precognitive abilities. They have a tremendous talent that allows them to see what is to come so they are not surprised when it happens. The events just confirm what he already knew.

Since the narrative is short, there isn't a whole lot of time to focus on Maurice's character but that adds to the suspense. The brief length allows tension to build as the pilots approach the end of the short novel and their lives. Every moment is quick as the Reader waits for the inevitable conclusion.

The Numbers Game reveals that war is not always defined by victories or ideologies, sometimes it is just a matter of numbers.

[Amy Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s one way I define a terrific writer - someone who writes so well that I will read their works no matter what the subject. I read Watson’s The Brute earlier this year and was so impressed with his writing that I enjoyed a wartime story. Even more - I wanted to read anything else he wrote about wartime because of how vividly he could word-paint his setting and characters.

The Numbers Game is about Maurice Mickelwhite, a math geek who would rather be home teaching mathematics and calculating numbers than flying for the Royal Air Force. The numbers told him that the more he flew, the less likely he’d survive. Not only had he calculated the numbers, but he could explain to his fellow pilots how to interpret them. Maurice knew that there was a point where a pilot could reach the fatal number, but he didn’t want to calculate his own, given all of the missions he had already flown.

Maurice was frustrated about how others reacted when he tried to share his calculations - the other pilots, the authority figures, and the mathematical community. He was obsessed with calculating his numbers and being the smartest guy in the room. HIs hubris turned into contempt for anyone who wasn’t worshipping at the throne of his mathematics. Was Maurice delusional? An awkward introvert with poor social skills? Both?

Once again, I admired Watson’s gift of presenting a tight, compelling, and complete novella. I was quickly invested in the novella, since my great-uncle was in the RAF during World War II and died when his plane was shot down. Watson  drew me into the story, characterization, and inevitable conclusion. 

I don’t know if I’ll ever be a wartime genre fan. I do know that I appreciate Miles Watson’s fabulous writing and plan to keep reading his novellas and short stories.

I received this book from Black Coffee Book Tours with a request for an honest review.

[Kayla C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Realistic and riveting, The Numbers Game is perfect for fans of historical fiction set in World War II, especially those who have a passion for mathematics and World War II aircraft. Cynical and weary, Maurice wasn't the stereotypical RAF pilot. I liked that because it made him more original and even more relatable in certain ways. Maurice's predictions kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the read. I was worried the mathematical focus of the story would mellow down my experience, but that wasn't quite the case. I loved the way the numbers almost became antagonists in their own right. If you’re looking for a short, hair-raising World War II tale, you should check out The Numbers Game by Miles Watson.

(Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this work from Black Coffee Book Tours for review purposes. All opinions in this review are my own and are honest and unbiased.)

Trigger Warning: This work includes some disturbing material, including violence.

[Archana Maroo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an e-copy from blackthorn book tours with a request for an honest review, so here it is.
Maurice Mickelwhite is a mathematical genius. He would rather be surrounded by equations and math problems but fate has something else in store for him. There’s a war raging and the nation needs to be defended from Hitler and his troops. Ideally, he would be of great help putting his understanding of numbers to use but he said that - “the RAF refused as a matter of principle to let anyone do anything at which he’d shown the slightest interest or ability.“ So, he is flying fighter planes instead but his fascination for numbers don’t let go of him. He becomes obsessed with calculating the odds of his survival and that of his fellow pilots.

This novella is crisp with a good feel of the war. It is engaging too. The reason I give it ⭐️⭐️💫 is the unhealthy obsession with death that the protagonist harbours was a bit too morbid for me. A detailed depiction of the various ways in which his comrades finally succumb to their fate and yet his cold, unempathetic take on their death didn’t go down well with me.

[S Bodier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Maurice Mickelwhit during WW2, a pilot of the Air Force obsessed with numbers and constantly calculating the odds of survival for his comrades and eventually for himself.
The statistics tell Maurice that the greater the number of missions the lower the chances of survival, so its only a matter of time before one reaches that x number of missions where the odds of survival are close to nil.

[Mandy Walkden-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gritty and very realistic.

Incredibly deft writing to pack so much into a short novella that rings with authenticity of the circumstances, both physical and psychological, experienced by pilots of the Battle of Britain.

Well worth reading and I’d suggest checking out this author!!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short story and I don't want to give anything away, but it felt like an episode of the Twilight Zone. Where things feel normal...until they're not. Honestly, the best way I can describe the story without any spoilers.

[Jenny McClinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a gifted E-Book copy of ‘The Numbers Game’ by Miles Watson from in return for my honest review.
This short story follows Maurice, a man in the RAF during the war.

Maurice loves his numbers and throughout his time in the RAF uses his knowledge of numbers to make predictions through probability.

The further he goes through the war and the more men that don’t return from their missions the more he works on his algorithm.

Will his predictions come to be true?

Although this is quite a sad story in some ways, I found it interesting how Maurice’s out take on the situation was so different to everyone else’s. In some ways I found that his numbers distracted him a little from the situation, even with the scary probabilities he predicts.

I haven’t read many books about the war, but this gave me an insight to some of the situations these men had to go through. It was heart-breaking to think about what people had to deal with and consider as normal at this time.

Overall, a different and emotional short story about the RAF, Wartime and the use of numbers.

[L.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maurice Mickelwhite never expected to be a pilot when he joined up to the Air Force; he thought his mathematical genius would see him placed in some other role, but that was not the norm, especially during wartime.

You can take the man out the numbers game, but you can’t take numbers away from the man. It was Maurice’s nature to assess and analyse the probability of death in the skies. He wasn’t wrong, as the odds naturally decreased over time. The more outings a pilot took, the more chances there were of him being shot down. When would his own number be up? Surely he would know?

His analysis set him apart from his fellow pilots, and there were elements of mockery and derision aimed at his “predictions”, but nothing deterred him from number-crunching. Even so, the camaraderie of the flying units and their determined efforts to beat adversity shone through, and Maurice was visibly moved by the deaths of some of his longer term colleagues.

The story is concise yet complete in its endeavours to reflect a different slant on war and its inevitable impact on mortality. My only bugbear was the use of American English to tell Maurice’s story. Nonetheless, an interesting and thought-provoking short read. 4 stars from me.

[Selena | Beauty's Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5/5

Oh man… This was intense. This was my second story by Watson going into this, so I knew to expect something morbid. And this did not disappoint.

We follow a mathematician who’s been drafted into the military for WWII. Now a pilot, the only thing keeping him sane, to himself at least, are numbers. Or more specifically, the numbers game - the probability of his chance of survival, of anyone’s survival really.

This was such a unique read. I’ve read several historical fictions set around WWII, but none of them were quite like this. The others, while never truly sugarcoating the horrors that were faced, they weren’t as morbid as this was. Being set in our pilot’s perspective, we see him a bit detached to death. It was hard at times to read through the amount of death he would see during his missions. Often coming across callous. Yet, at the same time, I understood it. He mentally prepared himself for his own death.

And while I did not find the ending surprising, it definitely broke my heart. I don’t tend to cry at books. But this one brought me very close to tears. The ending was truly heartbreaking.

I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction set around war, or specifically WWII. And doesn’t mind a few more gruesome details.