Reality and the supernatural collide when an expert puzzle maker is thrust into an ancient mystery—one with explosive consequences for the fate of humanity—in this suspenseful thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Angelology.
All the world is a puzzle, and Mike Brink—a celebrated and ingenious puzzle constructor—understands its patterns like no one else. Once a promising Midwestern football star, Brink was transformed by a traumatic brain injury that caused a rare medical condition: acquired savant syndrome. The injury left him with a mental superpower—he can solve puzzles in ways ordinary people can’t. But it also left him deeply isolated, unable to fully connect with other people.
Everything changes after Brink meets Jess Price, a woman serving thirty years in prison for murder who hasn’t spoken a word since her arrest five years before. When Price draws a perplexing puzzle, her psychiatrist believes it will explain her crime and calls Brink to solve it. What begins as a desire to crack an alluring cipher quickly morphs into an obsession with Price herself. She soon reveals that there is something more urgent, and more dangerous, behind her silence, thrusting Brink into a hunt for the truth.
The quest takes Brink through a series of interlocking enigmas, but the heart of the mystery is the God Puzzle, a cryptic ancient prayer circle created by the thirteenth-century Jewish mystic Abraham Abulafia. As Brink navigates a maze of clues, and his emotional entanglement with Price becomes more intense, he realizes that there are powerful forces at work that he cannot escape.
Ranging from an upstate New York women’s prison to nineteenth-century Prague to the secret rooms of the Pierpont Morgan Library, The Puzzle Master is a tantalizing, addictive thriller in which humankind, technology, and the future of the universe itself are at stake.
The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni was released June 13th, 2023 by Random House.
My Thoughts:
There's a lot going on in this book. From puzzles of different kinds, historical happenings, haunted dolls and golems, and quantum computers and cryptocurrency, there is so much covered in this book. But, the author manages to pull it off. I have to admit, my eyes glazed over a little at some points because of the amount of detail. At those points I skimmed a little to get the gist of what was happening. There weren't many parts like that though.
I also skimmed ahead a little reading some of the parts with the dog. I was worried for the dog and needed to know what would happen to it before I could go back and read what all was going on with the people. The inclusion of the dog seemed to do two things. It helped to humanize Mike Brink. And it ratcheted up tension a little. Frankly, I could have done without the inclusion of the dog, no matter how cute the name Conundrum is for a puzzle master's dog. Honestly, I had to look ahead because I was on the verge of DNF'ing the book because of the inclusion of the dog. But, because of the way things worked out, I was able to go on and finish and enjoy the book.
My favorite characters in the book were the lead character Mike Brink and the Kabbalah expert. The rest of the characters were ok. Cam Putney and Jameson Sedge played good villains.
Generally, the book moved along at a decent pace. Things were explained along the way as part of what was going on.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. I would recommend it to people who enjoy thrillers with both a supernatural and technical aspect. The supernatural aspect appealed more to me than the technical parts.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley.
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