I’m not entirely sure how to describe this book. A man suffers a traumatic head injury that allows him to create and solve any puzzle. He is asked to come to a prison to talk to a convicted murderess who has refused to communicate in any form with any one else. While there, he gets drawn into an incredibly complex puzzle that could change the very fate of humanity.

This was an okay read for me. It’s an interesting concept, but got way too confusing for me. It also felt like the romance was kind of strangely forced. This isn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t a book for me.

I rather enjoyed this book! It reminded me a bit of the Da Vinci Code and all the interesting twists and turns and puzzles. It had a little bit of everything in it: mystery, puzzles, romance and even some supernatural elements. I haven’t read anything by this author before but I’m definitely interested in reading more now! Thank you to net galley for the advanced readers edition.

Well developed characters and unique plot. Good action scene and some creepy undertones. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

This is an odd book for me to review because it spans across several genres. Overall I do think it was interesting and had some definite creative bits to it. I found it to be a bit slow at times and it took me a lot longer than normal to really get into this one. I do really like the main character, Mike Brink, he was in an accident as a kid which left him with the unique ability to see the world differently and be able to pull apart patterns and puzzles. Mike is intrigued when he is invited to a women’s prison with the lure of a unique puzzle. There he meets the counselor of a rather famous inmate. Jess was a writer before she was convicted of killing Noah. She hasn’t spoke a word since she was arrested including in her own defense at her trial. Meeting Jess spirals Mike into a race to finish the most important puzzle of his life before it’s too late.

The Puzzle Master | Danielle Trussoni

384 Pages
Published June 13, 2023
Random House

The Puzzle Master was intriguing and cryptic right from the start and I was invested in solving the puzzle and finding out the big secret. I'm not 100% sure where it went off the rails for me, but it got confusing fast. There are so many characters to follow and looking back there are entire chapters I could have skipped. I'm sure a lot of research went into the writing, as it's very thorough and detailed, but it seems like too many ideas were tossed in here and this may be a situation where less is more.

I really think that the comparisons to other books in the synopsis are a bad idea. I do see similarities to the DaVinci code, but it perhaps sets readers expectations too high. I would recommend, but be prepared to think and pay attention!

Read of you like:
- Race against time storylines
- Puzzles and lost objects
- Genre mashups
- Detailed descriptions of math and religion

The Puzzle Master had so many fun elements. A Jack Reacher style main character, whose football injury turned him from a jock into a puzzle expert with a photographic memory. A Silent Patient style secondary character who is in prison for a murder she may not have committed. An upstate New York and New York City setting. And a focus on not only puzzles, but cryptography, Kabbalah, doll making in the 1800s, the cypher-punk movement, telepathy, transhumanism, and more.

If you are thinking, "cool," this book is for you. If you are thinking "what even." then it's probably not. Things do get a little wacky toward the end and there's a serious case of soulmate/instalove, but if you can just sit back and go with it all, this book is definitely an enjoyable read!

This book definitely has the same "feel" as The DaVinci Code with an original twist or two. It is a very good book but lags a bit in the middle. BUT, the tension and thrills ramp up considerably until you find yourself holding your breath until the end. I definitely recommend to anyone looking for a different thriller.

Mike Brink's life was changed when he had a brain injury that changed they way his mind works. Now he is a celebrated puzzle constructor. When he gets a call to help solve a problem that they think only he can solve, he is pulled into a mystery that he had no idea existed. As he looks into the problem, he is pulled into something that is much bigger than he could ever imagine. Will he be able to solve the problem?

As a voracious reader, I am always looking for a book that is something unique, an experience I have never had before. 2020's The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni was one of those type of books and I'm completely gobsmacked by the fact that The Puzzle Master is even more original and complex. This was one of those books that I thought would be a fun romp to answer some puzzles but led to me learning so much. 

Mike Brink was a normal guy until a football play that lead to a massive concussion and the life he knew was over. But unlike many TBIs, Mike came away with savant like abilities and he turned that into a career building puzzles. He is drawn into solving the most complex puzzle in the world when he is called in to meet a prisoner who has not communicated in years. She has drawn a puzzle that brings us through hundreds of years of history of people trying to solve the "God Puzzle" and achieve immortality.

I was amazed by how this story progressed. Mike starts off lightly intrigued by a puzzle and an unusual woman but finds himself in a dangerous world of rich megalomaniacs that will stop at nothing for the solution. I enjoyed the ride with Mike, while he is a genius, he was also entirely relatable. His little dog and his search for some human bond that could bring him joy despite his challenges just enamored me to him. The areas of science and spirituality that this went into was so fascinating to me, even though I often found myself flipping back and forth to re-read or try to comprehend the puzzles myself. I'm not sure I ever got there, but I certainly enjoyed the ride. Read this one if you want a book to entertain as well as challenge you and educate you. I agree with the DaVinci Code as being the closest to this experience, so check this one out if you enjoyed that.

Thanks to Random House for gifted access via NetGalley. All opinions above are my own.

A 'DaVinci Code'-esque thriller with a supernatural bent.

This book frustrates me.

On one hand, you have a fantastic character, rooted in reality, although a highly improbable accident brought him there. The basis is laid for a race-against-the-clock, puzzle-weilding, 'National Treasure'-like scavenger hunt that, while derivative, still leaves tons of room for variation, unique themeology and even sequel opportunities.

Instead, we throw all of that (and about a quarter of the book) out and turn the story over to the hands of the supernatural. This felt less good storytelling and more the basis for a Tomb Raider game.

So, points for the writing, which was captivating, and the characters. Unfortunately, that was all it brought, and it left me disappointed.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

**3.5 stars rounded up for Goodreads**

I loved the authors last book so much and was thrilled to not only get a copy via NetGalley but won an ARC from the publisher via Goodreads too, so thanks for that.

The Puzzle Master is a good thriller mixed with puzzles, a touch of a haunted house story with creepy dolls, mixed with religion and Jewish mysticism. I loved the beginning and the mystery aspect of trying to figure out what happened at Sedge House and what happened to Jess there. I liked the chase thriller aspect and Mike trying to escape. The story moved along at breakneck speed…until you get closer the the end and add in all of the puzzle aspects mixed with religion and the Kabbalah. I found that section very mind numbing as I’ve never had any interest in mysticism myself. But the overall ending was ok.

Overall I liked it. I think most fans of The DaVinci Code would enjoy it.

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni
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A puzzle expert is asked to meet with a prison inmate in the hopes that he can get her to speak about the murder she was convicted of. He gets drawn into a high stakes mystery that is pretty bizarre.
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Sooooooooo….this book was not for me. And partly, that is my fault. I should have researched the books that this author writes and known immediately that this book was not for me.
I don’t want to trash talk the story.
I will say that I was enjoying most of the storyline until about the time that the Hebrew expert came into the story and then it just got really upsetting for me.
Also I don’t think the romance was necessary and could have been skipped.
The book is very ambitious and tried to do a lot of things that felt forced to work together.
2⭐️⭐️

This was such a fun twisty book! It's been a minute since I read a book where I couldn't predict the end, and this one fit that bill. It's got everything: creepy dolls, a religious mystery, a savant who charms everyone he meets, and a cute lil doxie.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the eARC.

I will be honest, this is unlike anything I have read before. The mystery in this novel surrounded by puzzles was a truly unique experience.

Mike Brink suffered a horrific accident that ended his goal of playing college and professional football. He struggles to make sense of his new life and find a way forward. As part of his life changing, he discovered a new found ability to solve puzzles. Mike is dubbed the “puzzle master”. He creates puzzles for the paper and solves those that are sent to him. He is contacted because a mysterious woman has asked for his help. She has refused to speak since her arrest and imprisonment for murder. Mike Brink is intrigued by the request and agrees to meet. Why did she request him? Will Jess Price reveal what happened to her and the victim?

Danielle Trussoni has written a fascinating story about two broken people, Mike and Jess, feel a connection, surprising Mike. Is the connection real? Jess wants to share a puzzle that is a vital part of the mysterious night in question. Mike becomes consumed with finding the solution. The search for the solution leads in many directions and involves many characters popping up unexpectedly. This supernatural thriller is entertaining and thought provoking.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

2.5 stars

This was just not the book for me. I didn’t realize it would lean heavily on religion, specifically, the God Puzzle has a lot of religion behind it and I was incredibly confused when it got explained. This is a book you really need to pay attention to and think about, which is not really what I want in books that I read.

The Puzzle Master really didn’t hold my interest because I constantly felt confused. It’s about a murder, and then perhaps a “haunted” doll, and then a bunch of puzzles in between, and then there’s a big religious document/explanation component. I was just mish-mash of too much.

The ending completely lost me. It was super unrealistic and I couldn’t understand why the author bothered to bring in AI and quantum mechanics??? I was just shaking my head the last few chapters of the story.

If you’re somebody who loves to analyze the story as you read and absolutely love puzzles, then this could be the book for you. Unfortunately, I don’t really fall within that group so it’s not for me.

If you start the story with this, of course you are going to keep in it: “I have suffered, but it is the suffering of a man who has created his own torture chamber. I believed I could know what shouldn't be known. I wanted to see things, secret things, and so I lifted the veil between the human and the Divine and stared directly into the eyes of God. That is the nature of the puzzle: to offer pain and pleasure by turns. And while the truth I am about to reveal may shock you, if it offers some small refuge of hope, then this, my last communication, will achieve all it must.”

This book is my version of “talk dirty to me”. You have the puzzles, you have the patterns, you have the philosophy, you have the theology. Justify things mathematically to me and put it in a mystery, you will get 5 stars from me. Every bit of this book was intriguing. While some parts of it were borderline fantasy, it was smartly inserted.

“"It's an incredible, world-changing revelation. The idea that God is male is the very foundation of my tradition, and Abulafia's message overthrows it entirely. […] It is non-binary, quantum, comprised of superpositions. And so is God." Brink paused to consider this. If what Rachel said was correct, and God was neither male nor female, the Creator and the quantum nature of the universe were in perfect alignment. "This will have an enormous impact on religious beliefs," he said.” While it might be a revelation for Christianity and Judaism, Islam already states that God does not have gender or human like traits. God is anything and everything all at once. So I found that interesting that this passage fails to consider that. Maybe this is where language fails us too. Most western languages have she or he talking about 3rd person, but not a word combining two. While Turkish, for example, has “O” signifying gender less 3rd person, which can also describe an entity beyond normal forms.

Mike Brink received a head injury in high school. It changed his life drastically. He acquired a rare condition called savant syndrome. He now has a weird super power. He can solve any puzzle in seconds. This has left him strangely isolated from people. So, when he is called to a prison to meet a famous murderer, he is perplexed. Little does he know this will draw him into an ancient mystery with a maze of clues and his life at stake.

I love how this author weaves in religious or historical mysticism in her books and this one is one of her bests. Still not as good as Angelology, in my opinion, but is pretty dang close.

This is a fascinating tale with a unique race for time. I swear, I love a book which has me reading faster and faster to help the main character. And this book leads the reader on a fast paced chase with dire consequences. And an ending you won’t see coming!

Need a unique mystery…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for an honest review.

For fans of The Davinci Code and The Silent Patient, this may be your next great read because you have all the great aspects of both.

The puzzles and the acquired savant syndrome aspect of Mike Brink draws the reader into the world of puzzles. And if anyone’s a puzzle it’s Jess Price. She’s been silent since she was accused and convicted of her boyfriend’s grisly murder.

Only cons are that the story gets a little convoluted with all the genre bending. You have puzzles, murder, Kabbalah, science fiction, an icky ick ick insta love, quantum computing, haunted houses, demons and the worst of all: PORCELAIN DOLLS.

Thank you to the author, publisher and @NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When Mike Brink, an expert puzzle maker is thrust into a mystery by an inmate at a women’s prison, the stakes are high and we are off on a journey I wasn't expecting. The story takes place in an upstate New York women’s prison through nineteenth-century Prague, to secret rooms in Piermont Morgan Library. This book is very smart and at times, I felt like I had to re-read sections to fully understand the answer to a puzzle but that being said, I this one was so fun. If you like The Da Vinci Code, you will enjoy this book!