This is not my typical genre, but I do love a good puzzle. This story takes you on a fast paced, heart racing journey with elements that stimulate the mind and the nerves: eerie dolls, the practice and traditions of Kabbalah, brain injury and other realms. It didn't keep me awake at night give me bad dreams, but it did make me jump - I did lose some sleep just trying to see what would happen next..

If you're looking for a book that features mystery, murder, cryptic codes, and more, check out The Puzzle Master. This definitely reminds me of Dan Brown's books, especially with the various elements surrounding older manuscripts, missing objects, signs and symbols, and even some various religious aspects.

I thought the characters were really interesting and well-developed. The story is fast-paced and I was really sucked into it and couldn't wait to see what happened next. Things got a little futuristic at times, but it still made for a really good book. And, with that ending, I hope this will be turning into a series! I'd like to read more adventures with Mike Brink!

Overall, a fun adventurous read.
Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the eARC!

This was an intense book. There’s lots going on. Parts are even a little spooky feeling. It’s a strange book all around. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

Mike Brink suffered a brain injury in a high school football game leaving him a brilliant puzzle master. Fast forward a few years and he is sent a puzzle that sends him to a most unlikely source, a prison. We encounter creepy dolls, ancient puzzles from the past, and a power hungry rich man who will stop at nothing to obtain the power to change the world.

Things I liked about the book. The plot summary drew me in right away. I do love a story with a creepy doll. I also really enjoyed the history provided with the history of the doll, it's maker, and the puzzle that holds all the secrets. My favorite character was the dog, a dachshund named Conundrum, also known as Connie. She was my favorite and should have had a bigger role in the story.

What I didn't like about the book. The pace in the first half was very uneven. Started out great and I got pulled into the story. But after about 50 pages the pace slowed and I considered stopping. I forced myself to continue and about halfway through I found myself sucked back in to the story. I love the portion that gave us the history of the porcelain doll and who had commissioned her. Then after we returned to the present I got lost. The story got really technical and quite hosnestly, over my head. I stil don't understand why they wanted the doll. Overall, I would give it 2.5 stars. I would like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion. My opinion, pass it up.

THE PUZZLE MASTER is a brilliantly written and irresistible tale. Trussoni created a book that brings together complex characters, intricate puzzles, and murder in a way that is impossible to put down.

Throughout the pages of this book, there is so much going on. Yet, it all works seamlessly together to send the reader on a thrill ride not to be missed. It has layers of suspense which are enhanced by the interactions of the various players in this dangerous game of cat and mouse. Then, you have the pieces of the mystery of what happened to Jess Price woven together with a puzzle that has unfathomable ramifications. And finally, you have Brink, a man pulled into this web of murder, duplicity, and mystical ideology. What more can you want?

Ever since I picked up ANGELOLOGY, Danielle Trussoni has been one of my favorite authors. Since then, I have read each of her books in awe of the unique talent she has for developing compelling and well-crafted tales. Trust me when I say this. Read THE PUZZLE MASTER. It is the best book I have read this year and in the top five from the last several years.

So much fun! Very interesting mash up of genres that I think could go wrong for people who may have liked sone of the comps, but I really enjoyed how unique this was! The touch of horror was perfect.

“The Puzzle Master,” by Danielle Trussoni, Random House, 384 pages, June 13, 2023.

Mike Brink was once a promising football star. He suffered a traumatic brain injury in a game that caused a rare medical condition: acquired savant syndrome. The injury left him able to solve puzzles in ways other people can’t. But it also left him isolated.

Dr. Thessaly Moses, head psychologist at New York State Correctional Facility, an all-women’s prison, asks him to come to the prison. An inmate has drawn a perplexing puzzle.

Jess Price, a well-known writer, is serving 30 years in prison for murdering Noah Cooke, her boyfriend, while they were house-sitting a Gothic mansion. Jess hasn’t spoken a word since her arrest five years before. When she draws a puzzle, Moses believes it will explain her crime and asks Brink to solve it.

What begins as a desire to crack a cipher quickly morphs into an obsession with Price herself. Brink begins to dream about Jess. 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. The Gothic mansion and a creepy doll collection factor in. 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. 

This is a mystery and a thriller with a supernatural element. The characters and dialogue are good, but the novel is an odd mix. The horror and supernatural elements take it off on a strange tangent. It is fast-moving and there were sections that kept me engrossed, but also sections that I had to push myself to get through.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Just like the title, this book is an actual puzzle. It has so many elements, intrigue, and interesting characters that makes it so satisfyng to read. Once again, Danielle Trussoni has written a magnificient book, one that could only came from her magnificient mind!

Puzzle master Mike Brink used to lead an ordinary life. When a chance accident derailed his hopes of an athletic scholarship, he soon also learned that he had been left with extraordinary--and nearly unfathomable--abilities: a photographic memory, the ability to perceive patterns in milliseconds, an affinity for some of the world's most complex and difficult ciphers. By all accounts, Mike Brink was content to continue his work writing puzzles for the New York Times.

Until, that is, he's summoned to a New York women's prison and has a startling encounter with disgraced writer Jess Price, whose story of unprompted violence and murder shocked the nation. What ensues after Brink's meeting with Jess and Dr. Thessaly Moses, the prison's psychiatrist, is a heart-pounding, multi-layered race against time with a mysterious "God Puzzle" at the center of it all. In an instant, Brink is thrust out of his comfortable world of puzzle creation and into a battle for humanity's future--it's a responsibility he didn't ask for, but one that his unforeseen gifts have bestowed upon him.

Without a doubt, "The Puzzle Master" is a fast-paced, action-packed story that unravels layer by layer with a complexity I initially doubted would be present. For lovers of the "National Treasure" saga as well as Dan Brown devotees, I have a feeling this story will be right up your alley. Despite Trussoni's undoubtedly well-researched plot (not just puzzles, but ancient theology and linguistics too?) and solid writing, I interestingly-enough found myself thinking at several points throughout the story that I would rather see this on the big screen as a movie.

For me, "The Puzzle Master" reads like a fully-formed movie; for all of the different POVs, the dramatic flashbacks, the explosive action, the sudden appearance of new, crucial characters, I at points had difficulty keeping track of everything that was happening simultaneously in the plot.

An interesting departure from my usual genres, this was one that I think I had to be in a very specific mood to read. I found myself wishing I had more of an emotional connection to Mike Brink and his journey in decoding "The God Puzzle" (thwarted most likely by the sheer amount of characters that come out of the woodwork by the end) but can still appreciate Trussoni's ability to pen such a gripping story.

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni has the fast pace and religious controversy of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code. Trussoni's protagonist Mike Brink has developed extraordinary knowledge and skills after a traumatic brain injury. While it ruined his plans for a life in football, it opened up a world of MIT and a world renowned reputation for being one of the best puzzle creators and solvers in the world. Brink is in fact similar to Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon with an exception: Trussoni allows Brink to have sexual and sensual desires which play out with a zest for romantic “bodice-ripping” passion.

Brink is able to travel to a higher realm which is a not a parallel universe. It’s not Heaven nor Hell. However, readers who enjoy stories set in universes like that will appreciate what comes into Brink's life when he’s asked to solve the God Puzzle.
Trussoni does rely on a billionaire antagonist in order to easily explain the source of incredible technology and powerful connections. Jameson Sedge is an adequate villain supported by a stoic henchman, Cam Putney; and a brilliant, helicopter pilot / antiquities expert as a partner, Dr. Anne-Marie Riccard.

Jess Price is a young writer wrongly imprisoned for murder and Mike Brink is supposed to help get her out. He and Jess immediately have supernatural connections that involve passionate visions they share. Before Mike visited her for the first time at the prison, Jess was catatonic. Jess Price is indeed an intelligent person and talented writer. What happened to make her so special and able to reach Mike on another realm? These questions only begin to be addressed at the midpoint with an epic back story.

The midpoint arc is where ancient Judaism and the legend of golems are introduced. The complexity of The Puzzle Master looks like one of Mike Brink's synaesthesia visions (part of his new life from the brain injury). Judaism, golems, J.P. Morgan, porcelain dolls, quantum computing, life after death, angels and demons, all the way to getting within reach of dismantling the patriarchy in every element of life around the world's vast cultural sects.

Obviously, tackling the subject of religion is going to upset some readers. I doubt The Puzzle Master will cause the excitement and backlash like The DaVinci Code. Yet, best seller Trussoni does a masterful job in tying threads together most people wouldn’t consider.

The treatment of Lilith is typical and likely to upset feminists and witches of certain traditions. She’s built as a powerful being and her demonic history is quickly explained. However, she’s reduced to a succubus only interested in chasing mortal men. Since the book was already extensively leading readers into religious areas that could be lifelong studies, it’s not without valid editing that Trussoni wouldn’t be able to do Lilith justice.

The dog does not die.

Summary:

You don't need to be a savant at math or problem-solving to enjoy The Puzzle Master. If anything, not having a talent for those things makes protagonist Mike Brink play as even more heroic. The mystery of the God Puzzle opens up a complex set of doors for the characters to take like they're in an M.C. Escher painting. The solutions are found by a few, but they can't prove it. Nonetheless, despite the Divine Feminine presence, the main female character Jess Price has very little communication though what comes from her is important; she has her own antagonist, Lilith, and there's no opportunity for Jess to save herself. She's a damsel in distress to be saved by the male lead, Mike Brink.

From high school football star to puzzle master. Mike Brink’s life has been quite the journey. One minute he was wondering how many football scholarships he’d have to choose from and the next - after a traumatic brain injury - seeing and feeling everything in a new, strange and often frightening way. He now has something called acquired savant syndrome, a rare medical condition in which a normal person acquires extraordinary cognitive abilities after a traumatic brain injury. At first he thought he was going crazy, but he’s adjusted to this new life. However, he now finds it difficult to connect with people, is somewhat a loner with his puzzles, avoiding stress.

Well, once he meets Jess Price stress becomes a constant. His quiet puzzle-creating life becomes full of non-stop action, danger, letters, journals, transcriptions, ancient writings, symbols, puzzles and priceless collectible dolls that may be key to solving the puzzle. He spends time inside the prison where Jess is an inmate, at the home of a (probably) mad scientist where the murder Jess was convicted of took place, with academics, religious scholars, doctors, the prison psychiatrist. And he doesn’t know who to trust, what the puzzles he encounters mean, if he’ll survive this race against time.

The Puzzle Master is complex, lightning-fast paced, jumping through different points in time, different places around the world, different pieces of religious history and incorporating multiple points of view. Don’t get bogged down in the details – this story is incredibly complicated – but just hop on and enjoy the ride. Mike Brink is likable, a guy who used to be average except for his football skills and who has now been dumped into a world he barely understands but something inside, something almost obsessive, is pushing him on. The story is riveting, the characters are fascinating, and the ending has a nice twist.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Group for providing an advanced copy of The Puzzle Master via NetGalley for my enjoyment and honest review. Danielle Trussoni is an author whose work I will read more of. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

Whelp. I will never be able to look at a porcelain doll the same again.

In The Puzzle Master, Mike Brink, a puzzle savant, is convinced to meet Jess, who is in prison for killing a man. Jess hasn’t spoken in five years, ever since the killing, but draws a portion of a mysterious puzzle that takes Mike down a rabbit hole of the occult, and ancient mysticism.

This book is touted as The Da Vinci Code meets The Silent Patient. I’ve not read The Silent Patient but I definitely got Da Vinci Code vibes.

Also, Mike owns an adorable 1 year old dachshund named Conundrum.

I was kept interested throughout the book, until we got to an overload on the teachings of Jewish religion. Somewhere in there I got quite lost and I’m not sure I ever recovered fully.

There were thrills, and a weird instalove, and murders, and a prison, and computer hacking, and chasing, and creepy dolls, and demons, so I was invested enough to continue to see what happened next. As far as the ending goes, it’s possible that there could be a sequel.

Overall, I’m glad I read The Puzzle Master.

*Thanks so much to Random House and NetGalley for the advance eGalley!*

This is a story about Mike Brink , a puzzle wiz.The story revolves around Mike getting involved in a real life puzzle and uses multiple points of view to tell the story about how the puzzle resolves. I enjoyed this book, it was a fast read but the puzzles were a bit confusing for me , but will prob hit the sweet spot for others. The main character was well developed ,but I was hoping for more from the others but it didn’t detract from the enjoyment. The plot was interesting but there were some ideas I felt didn’t flow all the way through which I’d why I didn’t go higher than 3.5. It’s an interesting story and I’m interested in what else this author has written.

After a traumatic brain injury that leaves Mike Brink with acquired savant syndrome (think Rain Man's abilities but functions normally otherwise, unlike Rain Man), he becomes a master puzzle maker and loves understanding patterns and solving puzzles that most cannot solve.

One day he is contacted by a prison psychiatrist to come meet with a patient of hers that hasn't spoken in years, but has asked for him. He agrees to come and after only a short meeting, he is presented with an incomplete puzzle (the God puzzle) and an intense desire to complete and solve the puzzle and understand this young woman.

The book felt a lot like the DaVinci Code with the intense story line that included Jewish mysticism, and ancients beliefs that takes the reader deeper and deeper into the story, yet felt written for today's audience (clues at the end of the book I won't give away). The book got really weird at the end. I do recommend reading this one over audio only (unless you pair the book with audio) as you will want to see the puzzles described in the book.

My thanks to Net Galley for an advanced copy of this e-book and to Random House and Thoughts From A Page podcaster for an advanced copy of the hardback.

I read "The Puzzle Master" by Danielle Trussoni on NetGalley and would read more of her books! Mike Brink is a puzzle maker, after an accident in high school that left him with a rare talent. He meets Jess Price, who is in prison for murder. She needs his help with a puzzle to solve the murder that put her into prison. Mike is immediately drawn to Jess and begins the quest to help her. I really enjoyed this book!

This book was a fast read. If you like the Da Vinci Code type of books you might like this book. The first half of the book was interesting and kept me engaged. The last third of the book seemed like a lot of stuff was thrown in there for an ending but not a lot of explanation on how it all worked (just a glossing over). It was just too convenient that it worked. I didn’t feel like this book was horror or supernatural. It was trying to be too many things. It was more mystery thriller than anything.

Mike Brink's life changes forever when he takes a hard hit during the last football game of his high school career. He, overnight, has to grapple with a newfound ability to see puzzles and numbers everywhere since his concussion makes him part of a very small group of people with acquired savant syndrome. Now a puzzle master for the NY Times, he's asked to look at a puzzle given to him by a woman in jail for the murder of her boyfriend at an isolated estate. Jess Price, without saying a word, drags him into a secret world full of puzzles, conspiracies, and secret societies.

If you like books like The Davinci Code, you'll definitely like it. The story is compelling, with a religious subplot that taps into many of today's conspiracy theories about life and immortality (think along the lines of the Illuminati), while also not being too overly complicated for those of us who aren't math or puzzle whizzes. I enjoyed it, and at times found myself unable to put it down, or thinking about parts of the book when I wasn't reading it, making me want to start reading again. Our main character, Mike, does do some awfully boneheaded things, and miss a couple of really big important clues for someone who is supposed to be almost the best at the world at what he does, but overall this is a good book that definitely, despite using THE END at the end of the book, is set up to become quite an interesting series.

3.5/5 stars (rounded down for some of the plot holes)

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Danielle Trussoni for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Puzzle Master coming out June 13, 2023. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

There are puzzles all around us. Mike Brink—a celebrated and ingenious puzzle constructor—understands its patterns like no one else. Once an upcoming 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 that regular people can’t. But it also left him deeply alone, unable to fully connect with other people.

Everything changes after Brink meets Jess Price, a woman serving thirty years in prison for murder. She 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.

I’ve read another book by this author and really loved it, so I was interested in checking out this book. I really enjoyed the first half of the book. I thought the plot and subject matter was really interesting. I thought Mike’s ability to solve puzzles and the puzzles in the story were fascinating. I think the second half became a little confusing for me. There seemed to be more points of view and I wasn’t sure how the characters connected.

I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys complex puzzle stories!

Mike has a football injury that gives him the rare savant syndrome where he can create and solve puzzles that the normal thought process cannot master. When he is brought in to help on what appears to be a closed murder case with a silent inmate, he struggles to keep himself save from those who want to use his special powers for something more sinister.

This book is billed as a straight mystery, but it is not that. This has horror and supernatural elements and went off the rails for me big time. Not only was it slow, but I didn't feel like it was a cohesive story. I strongly disliked when the author tried to bring in religious details and history and world domination.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy for review. I just can't recommend this one.

A traumatic brain injury induces savant syndrome in Mike Brink, suddenly turning him into a master at solving and creating puzzles — and completely changing his life. Years later, he’s accepted and harnessed his puzzle obsession into a lucrative career, working with cryptologists from MIT and writing puzzles for the New York Times. He’s been coasting by, unchallenged, until a psychologist asks for help on a case and he meets a puzzle he can’t solve — yet.
Reminiscent of The DaVinci Code and National Treasure with a horror twist, this was a fun and easy read.
The pacing was good for the most part, though I could’ve done with less of the supernatural explanations. It was also a little repetitive in some parts, mainly in reminding us about Brink’s motivation and past. Brink is a likeable character and all the tech bro characters are funny. There’s a nod to the lockdown Wordle phenomenon and the author includes a variety of real puzzles which were written for this book. I gave them a cursory glance but others might enjoy trying to solve them.
If you like thrillers / mysteries with horror elements, this is a fun, modern take on the genre.