THE PUZZLE MASTER
Danielle Trussoni

DNF at 60%

I’m really sorry this one did not work for me. I restarted it several times to try and get ahold of what was going on but every time I was unsuccessful.

I think a lot of readers will struggle with this material. My experience was a story of losses. I kept losing interest, kept losing focus and kept losing the parameters of the mystery.

It feels unsolvable.

I ended at a two star rating and feel that is appropriate here.

THE PUZZLE MASTER…⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Random House Audio, and Random House Publishing Group for the advanced copies!

I read The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni in June, and I've struggled to write my review since then. I really enjoyed the first half, but then the plot went in directions I didn't anticipate that overly complicated it. Several reviewers have compared it to The DaVinci Code and I agree; I wish I had known this before reading it.

Mike Brink has a savant-level ability to create intricate logic puzzles. He's summoned to a high-security prison when Jess Price, a mute woman serving thirty years for murder, draws a puzzle believed to hold clues to her crime. Mike is intrigued by the puzzle and by Jess, and is drawn into a complex web of danger and deceit involving a creepy house, porcelain dolls, Jewish mysticism, etc.

This story is filled with lots of twists, turns, and action so it's a quick read despite its 385 pages. However, its many jumps in time, place, and topic left me confused. This has elements of several different genres which should make it easy to recommend to a wide variety of readers, but that's not the case with this title.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the review copy of this novel. Special thanks to the Thoughts From a Page Patron group for an opportunity to participate in a conversation with the author.

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 by Danielle Trussoni was a mind-bending ride. Told from multiple POVs with shifting time. The story is more character-driven than plot-driven so it was a little slow but still engaging.

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni is a mystery/thriller with supernatural elements. Mike Brink is an expert puzzle maker who sees patterns and solutions in a way that no one else can see. Jess Price is in prison, serving a thirty year sentence for murder. She doesn't speak, but she does draw a very strange puzzle. Brink is contacted to help solve the puzzle, and the quest begins. This book is fairly involved, as it draws from history, science, and religion. But I found it all to be very fascinating. I definitely recommend this book for someone who wants a mystery that is a little more complex. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I DNF'd this book at the 30% mark. Once I got to that porcelain doll scene I was out. This book tried to tie in too many concepts that just did not make any sense to me. Like throw it to the wall and see if it sticks. No thank you. I found the Puzzle Master to really not be that "puzzly."

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

Unfortunately, I didn't connect with this book. The only character that I had any feelings about was the dog Conundrum and I just simply couldn't develop any bonds with the other characters in the book. It felt like the plot went so many different directions and was a little too out there for me. I'm sure there are others that will enjoy this book, but it just didn't hit right for me.

The Puzzle Master is a mystery about the mysteries of creation, of life, death, and immortality. It features Mike Brink whose traumatic brain injury resulted in acquired savant syndrome. His new gift of seeing patterns everywhere made him a master at making puzzles for newspapers like the New York Times. In other things, he is incredibly naive. For example, he was hired to solve puzzles that he would download and then upload the solution to a secret site and didn’t realize he was working for some national security agency.

A prison psychologist sends him a puzzle that is irresistible. It was sent on behalf of infamous murderer Jess Price, the prisoner she is attempting to treat. When he meets Jess, he feels a compulsion to help her. It seems like a case of love at first site. Her erotic visits with him in the night make him uncomfortable but increase his connection to her. And thus begins a ridiculous plot dependent on multiple occasions of awkward soliloquies as though a dozen Bond villains were there to declaim their plan for ruling the world.

There is a muddle of computer code, theology, kabbalism, supernatural possession, and code-breaking. But for such a smart guy, Mike is incredibly dumb. He leaves his cell phone on even though he fears he is being followed. He leaves his dog in the car outside the villain’s house. But then the villains are no better, letting him go home to change his clothes and take care of his dog, for example. And of course, is anyone really a villain if they’re trying to change the world? Even the hired muscle gets a redeeming characteristic, he does it all to provide for his daughter’s future, even though that means he is barely there in her present.

It feels like the remit was to find one decent quality in each character to make them “more three-dimensional.” It didn’t work. They are flat as the plot is muddled. They have no natural connection. The spider at the center of this web of intrigue makes no sense. His muscle makes less sense. His girlfriend even less sense. Meanwhile, why does Brink whose syndrome left him uncertain in personal interactions falls in love at first site, the object of his affection is alternately terrified and uncommunicative or wildly bold and demanding. That a psychologist would break as many rules as she did is doubtful. Even more doubtful, a museum expert sneaking a priceless document out of a museum with a man she just met and driving like she was trained by the CIA in avoiding surveillance.

The dialogue is mostly declamations of what is some theological effort to connect the Kabbala to computer coding and suggest a theology that welcomes science. Sometimes I just skipped a page or two to get past it. It was laughable.

This book sounded so good. Mike Brink struck me, at first, as a great potential series detective, before he made so many dumb moves. I would say the first quarter of the book was promising. The rest…I wish I had just quit while I was ahead.

I received an e-galley of The Puzzle Master from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Puzzle Master at Penguin Random House
Danielle Trussoni

One puzzle after another. A beautifully written mystery along the lines of The DaVinci Code. Mike Brink, the main character has developed an uncanny ability to solve puzzles after suffering a brain injury from a football accident. He's called into a prison to see if he can assist a prisoner who will not talk about her crime but shows an interest in his puzzles.. This initial meeting with prisoner Jesse not only leads Mike down a dark path, but shows him more about himself and connections with others that he once thought were lost.

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni blends multiple genres in a quest that explores many topics including history and religion. Overall, the plot was good although I did feel the pace was a bit slow. The character development was very good. Sometimes there was just too much going on at once.

Definitely recommend for those that like to dive into a deep mystery.

This book did not disappoint. It was full of history, lore and puzzles. Gave me da vinci code vibes but in a good way. recommended for anyone who loves mysteries, history and puzzles!

I *really* thought I was going to enjoy reading this, but it was very much not for me. The mental sueprpower of solving puzzles really didn't do it for me.

Dan Brown Lite was the description used to get my attention about the book by my wife. And the book did check off many of those boxes: Questionable choices made by mysterious characters; a spooky multi-generation religious order; revelations that can’t possibly be true; unreliable narrators; settings from across the world; tortured souls; many boxes checked off! But the book went down some rabbit trails that weren’t followed to the end. I really enjoyed the book, taking several chapters in clips when I had time to read, and was dying to wrap it up at the end. The end was a little too convenient for me, but at least wrapped up this plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this book.

This book is kind of hard to rate since there were several parts of the books I loved and then the rest fell flat for me.

The parts that I loved were learning various historical facts/information and the almost horror like aspects of the book that come to life. I really wish the author would have kept that plot going. I also loved all of the puzzles in the book. It reminded me of a Dan Brown book. I also loved the murder mystery part.

The problem I had with the book was everything in between the good bits. I struggled with the plot at times since it felt convoluted and didn’t jive together to form a solid story.

Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

This is an interesting one. There was a lot of set up and not much pay off. Really interesting characters, and the plot was intriguing, but the ending had a lot of weight to bear to make the adventure worth it, and sadly, I was a let down.

The plot was thrilling, with the puzzles, and the adventure, but then the puzzle was solved and the answer just seemed made up on the spot. I'm still confused how Jess was let out of prison, just because Sledge committed suicide. Really, the adventure starts there. That should have been the midpoint, Sledge living on in the machine directing Cam Putney after Brink and Jess. A golem in the machine.

"The Puzzle Master" is an imaginative thriller from beginning to end. Author Danielle Trussoni does a wonderful job of weaving several storylines together, giving the reader the info they need as they go. It reminded me of a more fun "DiVinci Code." Highly recommend giving it a read!

I was not prepared for the creepy factor of this book. When puzzle master Mike Brink is called in to visit with convicted murderer Jess Price, his world turns upside down. Jess is charged with a murder that has changed her mental status. It is up to Mike to solve the puzzle that Jess has laid out for him and in the process not get killed himself. This was a fast-paced brush with creepy dolls that I was not expecting, but it was very well done. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC. 4 stars.

This was a really strange story. I'm not sure I liked it. I knows I didn't dislike it.

Give it a chance. The strangeness alone is enough to read this book.

I walked into this book thinking it was going to be similar to Clue, The Westing Game, Inheritance Games, etc. It is not. I still enjoyed it, but it was not what I expected or what the the synopsis implies (I thought). While the main character, Mike Brink, is a puzzler due to a traumatic brain injury in high school, and there is talk and explanations of puzzles, there isn't as much puzzle solving as I thought. One puzzle causes problems for a lot of people and starts the book on it mysterious course, but from there the book is about defeating they bad guy who has some crazy ideas! I enjoyed this and I'm glad I read it.

This is an action packed story perfect for fans of Dan Brown and Steve Berry.

This was one fun book! There’s murder, demons, religious prophecies, brilliant geniuses and evil masterminds. What more could you want? I haven’t read a book by Danielle in a while (I was obsessed with Angelology when it was published in 2011). When I read the synopsis for this book, I was hooked. This book is fast paced and takes the reader on an action-packed couple of days with Mike Brink – an ex-football player who, after an injury, wakes up as a puzzle genius. One of my favorite parts of the story was seeing how Mike’s brain, how he saw patterns, and how his day job of making puzzles for the New York Times worked. It was a cool little insight into a job I never really thought about. I also liked that he had a bit of an offbeat job instead of being a professor or something like that which you would expect from someone with his capability.

Of course, this story isn’t just about puzzles. Rather, Mike gets called into a prison to help solve a mystery about a prisoner. Without knowing, he sets off a series of events that almost leads to his death and uncovers some ancient religious mysteries that have been hidden for a long time. Along the way, he stumbles across some other people who also want to know the answers and have their own reasons why, and the money and weapons to get what they want. I felt like I was constantly guessing if the people who ran into him (some literally) were there to help or harm him. It kept me on the edge of my seat.

I loved how fast paced this book was. A lot happens very quickly. Like any action movie, there’s a lot of convenient things that happen at times to help the plot along. Does some of it seem super surreal or very unlikely? (there’s a mix of quantum science, obscure mathematical puzzles and demons mixed with doll making). Yes. But I’m not reading this book as an historically accurate tome. I’m reading it to enjoy the story. I believe there could be a second book after this, and there’s definitely a cliffhanger at the ending, so I hope that’s correct. I’d love to read more about Mike and his adorable dog, Conundrum (spoiler alert: Conundrum does not get hurt in the story – this is no John Wick movie).

I absolutely enjoyed this book and now want to dive back into Danielle’s back list and revisit some favourites I haven’t read in a while. This is the perfect book to keep you entertained for a weekend – and you may never look at the puzzle section of a newspaper the same again.