The Puzzle Master
By Danielle Trussoni
OMG, what a wild ride read this! I loved the way the author presented the storyline. It was presented by way of a diary, letters, dreams, and live action. All while going back and forth in timelines, yet it was not confusing! Brilliant!
There's the wonderfully crafted characters too. A girl that has seen too much that can't be real and in prison for a crime she didn't commit. Also, a puzzle master that sees things different than the average human. All of the other characters here are well developed too!
The main plot centers around a puzzle, A God Puzzle. Maybe some puzzles need to be left unsolved! Immortality?
The plot and world building is also terrific! The book reminds me of a supernatural, science fiction Dan Brown novel! It's fast paced when it needs to be and slow and terrifying when the need arises. Its a thriller, horror, science fiction, action adventure, with a touch of fantasy and romance. It's a complex story. The kind you can really sink your teeth and brain into! The ending has a special twist I didn't see coming!
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this amazing novel! It's one of my favorite books I have read this year.

This is one of my most highly anticipated books for the year, and unfortunately, I think it's awful.

I love books that can't be defined through any one or two genres, but The Puzzle Master, rather than being genre-fluid, is just confused, unfocused, and disorganized.

I expected a thriller involving puzzles and some drama between intellectual or corporate elite. But it was like an adlib filled in with Jewish occult, creepy dolls, a haunted house, a succubus, computer science, and art thrown together. It wasn't cohesive.

But wait, it gets worse.

The characters are flat and the dialogue formulaic. Mike Brink was dragged around, would be introduced to a different character, that character would then lecture him on some aspect of art, coding, or religion, then shenanigans would ensue--rinse and repeat. The connections they made didn't make sense, and the characters had no distinctive qualities in action. It was like Trussoni forgot to fill in her plot outline with actual human connection and emotion.

Rather than expanding on themes of loss, suicide, religious identity, or guilt, the reader is forcibly pushed through a cat and mouse chase where I never really understood why the bad guys were bad except "the dog didn't like them." For *none* of the characters are their motivations explored or explained well. It's like National Treasure with none of the charm and dialogue so full of weird quantum religious nonsense that it was work to read.

This story had massive potential for being a puzzle themed thriller that had readers analyzing on-the-page puzzles to solve a murder in a creepy house or take down the evil corporate overlord, save the girl, and end in a romance between two quirky people. This could have had ergodic elements that would have elevated this book into something unique and awesome. She could even have written Brink as the villain, winding everything into a puzzle to frame Jess for murder he committed. The whole Kabbalah mystery could have been written without Brink's savantism. Why the weird computery elements? Why the whole "privacy" nonsense?

Unfortunately, this failed every genre it tried to touch. While I did not ever guess where the next twist would take the story, this novel ultimately asks the reader to work too hard to fill in the emotional and character blanks, too hard to follow the occult minutiae, and to jump shark after shark in the plot. I couldn't bring myself to connect or care about any of the characters to care about what would happen next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an arc to voluntarily read and review.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the copy of The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni and for the superb recommendation. After reading the first chapter I wasn’t expecting to be able to get into the book but the writing just drew me in right away. Mike has a great story of how he got his ability to visualize and solve puzzles so easily. I wish there had been more puzzles because as someone who can’t visualize anything the descriptions of what he ‘saw’ were intriguing.
I’m not opposed to supernatural elements, but the dreams, religion, and nature of the paranormal events were a little too much for me.
I loved the writing and the rest of the story so I will try this author again even though this one was not really my thing.

Mike Brink is a brilliant man who had a terrible accident as a teen. His life was changed as he was able to see patterns and remember things with ease, amongst other things. He is invited to a prison to see Jess Price, who lured him in with a puzzle. What happens next is extraordinary.

This book was so interesting. It definitely kept my attention, though a lot of what happens in the book was over my head or beyond my understanding. The puzzles were confusing (I am not a very logical person so I never have luck with them), and the history of the religions/background was so interesting but also very complex. This was a page turner for sure.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I first heard about The Puzzle Master last week on an indie bookstore's spring/summer preview and this one sounded like it would be right up my alley. I was thrilled to find it on NetGalley and I owe the publisher a big thanks for sending me an ARC!

Overall, this was a highly entertaining read. I started it early this morning and thankfully I had the day off from work because I didn't do much else but read this.

What worked for me: The first part of the book hooked me right away. Books centered around puzzles are literary catnip for me. This is also a book full of surprises. I read a fair number of thrillers, but this one is unpredictable. You're not going to be able to guess where the story takes you. Just buckle up and enjoy the ride! I also enjoyed reading about a main character who has synethesia. I've read read-life accounts about people who have this condition, but having a fiction story woven around someone's synethesia and unique puzzle-solving/puzzle-writing gifts felt fresh and original.

What didn't work as well for me: I think this book is a true genre-bender. I'm not really sure it fully belongs in the thriller category. There are thriller/suspenseful elements, but the storyline takes a ninety degree turn into the horror genre at a certain point that I was not expecting at all. I think that may be hard for some readers who go into this expecting it be a fully-of-this-world thriller. Other readers who enjoy horror but don't enjoy thrillers may not pick this one up. Because of the supernatural elements, the puzzle element didn't land with me as well as I would have liked. Mike Brink is super-smart, yes, but he's up against some demonic forces. The ending was also surprising. If it's setting us up for a second book or even a series, I am here for it!

I would recommend The Puzzle Master to readers who enjoyed The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, The Stand by Stephen King, or even How to Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. (Even if you only loved one out of those three books, give this one a try.) Blake Crouch fans might also enjoy this one.

I am looking forward to this book's release so I can talk about it with other people!

Fans of The DaVinci Code with love The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni. As a math teacher, I love books involving puzzles with numbers and finding connections. This was as fast paced thriller that kept you guessing.

Mike Brink is a puzzle maker and can also solve complex puzzles.
He meets Jess Price who is in prison for murder. Her previous therapist was murdered for knowing too much. Brink must solve the puzzle to unlock her mystery and discovers that there are more sinister powers at play.

I won't lie this book about broke me. I never dnf. Even if the book is bad or even worse a James Patterson novel I will stick it out. Call it masochism or whatever I need to know how it ends.
This book almost made me quit.
I got this from the nice people at Netgalley so I will attempt to summarize this book. Mike
Brink had a traumatic brain injury which gives him super puzzle solving abilities(are you still with, I wish I had stopped here) according to the author that's a real thing, whatever. He's kind of a recluse but he also makes puzzles and makes money off of that.
He's asked to meet a prisoner because of his puzzle prowess and he instantly falls in love with her. It's downward spiral from here(more so).
The prisoner is aware of some secret puzzle that people are after because it can grant immortality. It dabbles in Kabbalism, golem's and even takes so weird turns into the cyberpunk movement. It also has something to do with the ancient demon Lilith(I was unaware she was a demon but whatever).
I can't go into more because of spoilers. Also it's hard to explain because it makes no sense and when it does make sense it's just really bad story telling.
This is tedious, boring, it delves into longwinded explanation about puzzles and history that nearly made me cry.

3.5 stars. This novel started out with a bang for me, and I was completely engrossed and intrigued. By half way through, however, it had lost a lot of its pizzaz for me, having “jumped the shark” a time or two at that point because of eye-rolling events. Nonetheless, I kept reading and am glad I did, for overall this was an interesting read.

The main character, Mike Brink, suffered a brain injury in a high school football game that left him with acquired savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition that left him with the ability (almost a super power) to solve construct and solve puzzles that the average person could not in a million years. After a prison psychiatrist requests his help with Jess Price, a prisoner who will not speak but who has been sending out strange messages and wants to talk with Mike about a puzzle, the begins to unfold.

I am wondering if this will be the start of a series involving Mike Brink, and I look forward to the second in the series should there be one.

My favorite thing about this book was the main character, Mike Brink. Mike suffered a head injury while playing football in high school, and as a result, he has an uncanny ability to solve puzzles. I thought the author did a really good job of exploring the impact this event had on him, for good and for bad.

The story begins when Mike gets roped into solving a cold case after meeting a woman serving time for a murder she may or may not have committed. I saw a reviewer described this as a mix of The Da Vinci Code, The Silent Patient, and a little Stephen King, and this is exactly right.

I found the writing a little pedestrian and overly-explanatory, but the plot was entertaining and fast-paced--overall, an enjoyable read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

“The Puzzle Master” by Danielle Trussoni is a difficult book to describe, but I’ll try. Take a person who had an accident happen where they suddenly are now a math/number pattern savant. Add in an author, convicted of a crime. Toss in people who are trying to help the author and require the savant’s help. That’s the first overarching story. Then toss in an episode of “Supernatural” where, helpfully, the author (opposed to “the boys”) provides background material to explain the supernatural parts. Then toss in three people who both want to help and hinder the savant and the author. With that murky background, things were action packed and moving - along with some pretty interesting puzzle figuring out (thank you, Ms. Trussoni for explaining it for those of us who couldn’t see the patterns!) - I could see this as a TV movie! Then, sadly, the “big reveal” was revealed and the build-up fell amazingly flat for me. I read part of the explaining monologue aloud to my science fiction loving, computer programming, interested in life extension stories partner who dryly commented “well, there’s a lot of buzzwords there.” I’m usually able to put some science fiction stuff aside if it doesn’t quite work, but this one was difficult. I found the second reveal of Rachel’s to be not a huge thing, but then I’m old enough to remember sayings from the 1970s mentioning that same thing. Was this a good thriller? Yes. Did this book hold my attention? Yes. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes, until that last 10 percent. This book, without the ending, was a really solid 4 stars, but sadly that ending brought it down a star.

Note - if you’ve watched “Supernatural,” you’ll have a bit of background material that may help with the supernatural aspects of the story.

Mike Brink loves puzzles. After a football injury leaves him with outstanding gifts, he sees the world in a new light. When a convicted murderer requests his presence, he feels obligated to find out why. Jess Price knows she didn't commit murder, but can she prove it. Mike will go on a wild chase that leaves him questioning human consciousness and the mystery behind the beginning of time. Along the way, he will be pulled into alternate paths that have him unsure about his beliefs. The cast of characters he encounters adds to the deep mystery that goes back to the early 1900s.
Danielle Trussoni has a great piece of work on her hands. The layers of story truly add to the mystery. There's action, puzzles, and a great old age mystery. What's the connection of humans to God?
Thank you Netgalley. This book was a fantastic read.

This was a fun read and I need to find more books like this to add to my TBR list. I love a good puzzle mystery with a bit a mystical intrigue in there and if you throw a golem in – I’m a sucker for it.

If you enjoyed Dan Brown for the Christian mystery and symbolism, you should like this for the Jewish mystery and symbolism; and if this is all new to you – even better.

Mike, a man whose high school football accident has made him a puzzle savant, is sent to help Jess Price, a young author who is in prison who killing her boyfriend (aptly named Noah) and the only way to exonerate her is through solving codes and puzzles going back to ancient Jewish texts. There are characters looking for immortality, eccentric millionaires, psychiatrists, and scary body guards to round out the cast.

I really enjoyed the ride of this one.

Thank You NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to review!

THE PUZZLE MASTER is so addictive that you won't be able to put it down. Trussoni displays tremendous range, moving effortlessly from intricate puzzles to a traumatic murder to ancient secrets. I felt a little "Davinci Code". A tantalizing and delightful read that engages both heart and mind.

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni is one unique and very interesting book.

Full of puzzles, mystery, supernatural elements and action I was utterly impressed with this story.
Trussoni grabbed my attention from page one with this an intriguing page tuner.
I was completely hooked… utterly impossible to put down!!
I read it from cover to cover in one sitting.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Random House for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

An action packed thriller, with a touch of science fiction, mystery and science. The main character is Mike Brink, a famous puzzle constructor. He is asked to go and meet an imprisoned murderer, Jess. From there the action ramps up.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved a lot of the nuts and bolts of this book but they did not come together for me. I loved the story of a man with a traumatic brain injury who developed amazing puzzle-solving powers. But then it diverted to the story of an incarcerated woman whose housesitting gig went wrong. That was also very compelling, and as I became invested in that it diverted again to the story of a dollmaker and a golem. Very cool as well! But that thread was left behind as the story moved on. I see what the author was doing, weaving all these stories together, but for my own preferences I'd have preferred to read a rich narrative about one of these plot lines, not all of them sketched together into one puzzling novel. I know there's a readership for this book, it's just not me.

For fans of puzzles and ciphers, mysteries, and a Dan Brown crossed with Indiana Jones feel. The main character, Mike Brink is drawn to a puzzle written by a prisoner convicted of murder. The more Mike learns about this puzzle the more drawn he is to questions about the prisoners past and what happened the night she was found covered in blood.

The puzzle looks at Jewish theology in the way Da Vinci Code mined Christianity for its driving mystery. Throw in some creepy dolls for supernatural mischief and a bad guy wanting the answers to the mystery for his own purposes chasing the characters leads to a fast paced adventure thriller for your summer reads pile.

2.5 stars rounded up - This was an interesting book which suffered from jumping genres and trying to do all of the things.

The book starts with our main character Mike Brink being summoned to a prison. Mike suffered a brain injury in high school and now is an expert puzzle solver - it felt very believable and I enjoyed the parts where Mike was describing how he sees the world.

Back to the prison summons - 5 years ago, Jess Price murdered her boyfriend and hasn't spoken a word - however, she's drawn a puzzle and put Mike's name on it, despite never having met. However, once he joins, it becomes clear that someone is trying to keep Jess from talking to Mike. So far, pretty standard thriller type plot.

Mike finds Jess' journal from 5 years ago and the story jumps to a creepy mansion with a haunted doll. This was my favorite part and I hope the author writes some horror novels in the future since I would buy that. Jess is housesitting at an empty mansion in the middle of nowhere. One room is full of porcelain dolls. She hears strange noises in the attic and finds a very rare porcelain doll locked in the attic. She removes the doll and suddenly she's hearing strange noises in the rest of the house and the doll isn't where she left it. I loved this section so much.

We jump back to the present and now we move into the religious portion of the book. Suddenly we have demons, golem, and the Kabbalah. It was a shift but overall, it mostly fit. I wasn't expecting the religious shift, but since the description said DaVinci Code, I went with it.

And then suddenly we're talking about quantum computers, computer code hidden in 12th century religious documentation, and immortality via living in a computer.

Throughout, I wasn't sure what I was reading. The first half was really interesting and very enjoyable. The second half lost me, especially once we got to the computer stuff. I was ready for it be over around the 75% mark.

The elements didn't come together to result in a satisfying story. First off, the doll was clearly doing things in the journal flashback, but then it was never mentioned again. What happened to my haunted/possessed doll?? The whole relationship with Mike and Jess was weird. They were meeting in dreams - okay - and having sex - sure - brought on by the demon Lilith who is a succubus .... so was Mike meeting Jess or Lilith? The answer was Jess but it didn't seem to fit with the explanation of what Lilith does. I also wish the author had left out the dog. For the first half, Mike's dog Connie is traveling with him - she's left in the car, left in the hotel room, and dognapped. She could have been left out of the story entirely and it wouldn't have mattered.

What also drove me nuts is the author does the thing where she keeps repeating everyone's last names. Everyone kept referring to "Jess Price" or he was running from "Jameson Sedge" and Jameson Sedge's bodyguard "Cam Putney". Conversations would have characters who had previously talked about a 3rd character many times constantly saying the person's last name.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this advance review copy.

THE PUZZLE MASTER is one of the most unique, genre-bending books I’ve ever read . Described as a blend of The Silent Patient, The DaVinci Code, and Stephen King, the story is sure to stimulate your mind in ways other books fall short.

Mike Brink became a puzzle extraordinaire after a Highschool football injury left him with Acquired Savant Syndrome. Because of his gift to see patterns and puzzles in ways few others can, Mike is summoned to a prison at the request of a woman convicted of murdering her boyfriend. She hasn’t spoken in ages but she presents Mike with a puzzle to solve that takes us to 19th century Prague, J.P Morgan’s exclusive library, and a house in upstate New York with some truly creepy dolls.

The story starts firmly grounded in reality and slowly delves into the realm of religious mysticism and the supernatural making it a uniquely haunting reading experience. Puzzles of various kinds are included throughout the book and I had fun attempting (and failing) to solve each one.

With a propulsive plot and high stakes mystery, this compelling story will stick with you long after that summer sun has faded.

READ THIS IF:
You love Wordle or The New York Times crossword puzzle
An entirely unique reading experience is calling your name
You want to buddy read with the man in your life

RATING: 4.5/5 (rounded up to 5 stars)
PUB DATE: June 13, 2023

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni incorporates elements from a number of different genres. It starts off like a thriller with some psychological aspects, but then gets into the supernatural then the spiritual which a bit of science fiction thrown is as well. Sound complicated? Well it is sort of. But if you like books that cross genres then you may well enjoy this one.

The premise is that the main character, Mike Brink has suffered a brain injury that as a result, enables him to see patterns easily and solve puzzles. He is called upon to solve a puzzle written by someone who is in jail for murder and will not speak about it.

I see a lot of comparisons in other reviews to Dan Brown’s books, but I didn’t find it to be that similar. What was missing for me was the main character putting the pieces of the various puzzles together. I would have enjoyed more of that to be honest.

Overall, it’s a decent story, with a lot going on. It was enjoyable, but I think I enjoyed the buildup more than the finish.

Thanks, NetGalley for this advanced readers copy

#NetGalley #ThePuzzleMaster #DanielleTrussoni