Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

This book was a ton of fun. Mike sustained a head injury as a teenager, which unlocked his brain, and he can now see puzzles, do extensive math, and has an eidetic memory. He spends most of his time creating puzzles for newspapers. However, when a convicted murderer demands to speak with him, he’s drawn into a puzzle he’s never seen before.

Jess Price was convicted of murdering her ex-boyfriend, but she claims she is innocent. When Mike meets her, she gives him a puzzle he cannot solve. But that puzzle is the key to understanding what happened to her. It happens to be the God Puzzle, created centuries earlier. And the story of whose hands that puzzle got into is pretty crazy.

I really enjoyed this book, even though math and puzzles aren’t my thing. The author did a great job of not leaving me behind in the explanations. Mike is a fun character, and I look forward to the sequel.

I liked some parts of this book but I felt like the word choices throughout the book were too smart for me I guess. I ended up skimming a huge majority of this book to find out what happened in the house and then continued to skim through to the end.

When I stared reading this book I was hooked immediately, but somewhere along the way this turned from a fast paced thriller/horror novel into more of a fantasy thriller mixed with puzzle solving similar to The Davinci Code by Dan Brown. And when it switched it lost my interest completely. I am not a fan of books like the Davinci Code nor do I enjoy much fantasy so that’s why this book ended up not being as good TO ME, after the change. However, any thriller lovers who enjoy fantasy/puzzle type mysteries, would without a doubt love this book.

I really try to never DNF books, and I did finish this one, but it took forever because it just didn’t hold my interest and I kept stopping and coming back over and over until i finally finished. My apologies for such a late review.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Not my typical type of read, and I was quickly reminded why. Unfortunately, it was not my cup of tea.

Not my usual genre, but this was such a fun departure. Think Dan Brown meets decoding trauma (in the best way, I'm not even a Dan Brown fan to be honest). The plot zips along with just the right amount of suspense, and the characters are surprisingly layered for a thriller. I found myself trying to solve the mysteries alongside the protagonist, and even though I failed, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. A solid win for fans of puzzles, secret societies, and unexpected heart.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my review!

Dreams, rituals, codes, riddles, porcelain dolls, prayer circles, a dual gendered god, the God puzzle, and before you know it the future of the universe and mankind is at stake.

I loved this book! I found The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni to be a complex thriller, reminiscent of Dan Brown’s work, but which delves into the occult and Jewish lore in a way that both captivated and frightened me. The evolving relationship between the two primary main characters is told with great skill, even as they are both at times bewildered by their attraction. And the revelation of the ultimate source behind the events of the book provides for a horrifying and satisfying conclusion.

This is my second book by Danielle Trussoni, the first being The Ancestor, which I also thoroughly enjoyed. Both are highly recommended.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read and review.

Very interesting read!
If you're looking for a bit of a mystery / thriller with a touch of supernatural you will most likely enjoy this book!
It took me a bit to get through it, but overall I'd say it was an enjoyable read.

This book is hard to rate. It started off strong with a horror/thriller type vibe, which I was loving. Then it switched to almost a fantasy type genre that isn't my favorite. The first part of the book was fast paced and engaging and the rest of the book just kind of fell of for me. Overall, I didn't really enjoy this book as much as I was hoping to. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

A cerebral, gripping thriller blending ancient puzzles, secret societies, and hidden histories. Intricately plotted and highly addictive.

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni is a fun mind bender. I have read Danielle’s previous offering of The Ancestor so wanted to give this one a try. If you’re a fan of The Davinci Code you’ll enjoy this one.

Great book! It had all the fears of growing up. Make a choice. Turn the page or close the book. Enter the darkness if you wish!

I do love magic and puzzles but found this hard to get into. Also, became frustrated by main character mental state.

Thank you to NetGalley, Danielle Trussoni and Random House for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting novel, I do feel as if it took a lot of my energy to really read and try to follow some of the puzzles but it was also fun. It reminded me a bit of Brown’s writing with the puzzles and I kept picturing Brink as Tom hanks!

Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

This book was not what I was expecting. While I enjoyed the puzzle and mystery aspects of the story, and the writing, it felt like 2 different kinds of stories put together to me. I was a bit bored during the history lessons, and felt that the author explained too much for Brink to be or even seem as intelligent as he supposedly was. Then there was a random love plot thrown in? It just felt a bit disjointed to me. But the writing was great and it started off very strong, and also ended strong. I understand why many people love it.

This was an interesting story. Glad that I got to read it. The second book is also good. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I liked The Da Vinci code and was expecting this to be similar to it. Initially I was intrigued but there was a bit too much to keep track of and it was hard to keep up. The writing was good but ultimately not a story for me.

Danielle Trussoni know her way around a great thriller, and The Puzzle Master delivers. The ending is a bit ambiguous, which may deter some readers, but it just left me wanting for more.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

After a traumatic brain injury leaves him with a genius for constructing and solving puzzles, Mike Brink embarks upon a real-life riddle: novelist Jess Price, in prison for committing a notorious murder, pleads to see him in person although they have never met. She slips a baffling cipher to him, the “God Puzzle.” In trying to figure out what happened the night of the murder, what present danger has Jess terrified, and what the cipher means, Mike gets drawn into a twisted, generations-long story of forbidden arcane knowledge with the power to transform technology and humanity itself.

I loved the beginning of the book, especially the passages in which Mike sees puzzles as luminous patterns. Other than the occasional crossword, I’m not much for puzzles, so this “look-inside” was fascinating. As the story went on, with diaries telling stories-within-stories, I lost emotional connection with Mike. I distrusted his attraction to Jess as one more pasted-on artificial element. (It turned out there was a reason for the allure, but I didn’t see the signals that supernatural forces were at work.) Long passages that had nothing to do with Mike’s present quest intensified the emotional detachment. Three-quarters of the book, a series of characters arrived and proceeded, very much deus ex machina, to solve Mike’s problems for him while dumping huge, indigestible chunks of exposition. This part read as if two completely different books had been jammed together. Despite scattered scenes with action, the remainder of the book proceeded with very little sense that everything had been building to this point. In the end, Mike did relatively little to achieve his own goal or solve his own problems. The book was billed as a “thriller,” but the last part did a good job putting me to sleep. Which is too bad, really, because the material about puzzles was fascinating.