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A review by jenpaul13
The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni
4.0
The compulsion to solve puzzles that cross his path draws an expert puzzle maker into a mystery of historic proportions in Danielle Trussoni’s The Puzzle Master.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Enduring a brain injury in his late teen years that altered how he sees the world, Mike Brink is able to see and solve patterns in a manner that others aren’t capable of. Parlaying his ability into creating puzzles Brink has had a successful career as an expert puzzle maker (and solver), which is a reason his name is written on a perplexing puzzle by a woman, Jess Price, who is incarcerated for a strange murder she’s thought to have committed at Sedge House. Called to the prison to solve the puzzle, Brink arrives and quickly finds himself deeply drawn to Price, in addition to the need to understand the puzzle. Unable to let this enigma go, Brink soon becomes involved in something much more complicated and far reaching than he could have anticipated, garnering the attention of powerful people, as the culmination of the work of a Jewish mystic, a Parisian porcelain dollmaker, and Jameson Sedge, who determinedly pursues a path toward immortality, results in an outcome with shocking implications.
Told through the perspectives of two men, the letter of another, and the journal of one woman, a tale laden with hints of conspiracy and a heavy layer of secretiveness is revealed that has sweeping implications for the world’s future. Ambitiously including aspects of the religious, artistic, scientific, and mysterious, the story moves at a relatively quick pace but was slowed at times by lengthy, though interesting, descriptions of characters’ pasts as it tried to incorporate a bit too much, diluting detailed focus of the concepts raised. Though the characters are reasonably fleshed out, when referring to them in the text it’s done interchangeably using their first or last name and this inconsistency comes across as an odd choice (or sloppy editing). The world presented in the novel incorporates the pandemic, mentioning it periodically throughout, anchoring the story in contemporary reality a way that didn’t feel necessary, especially when considering the more supernatural elements presented in the latter portion that create a more surreal drive to the adventure.
Overall, I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Enduring a brain injury in his late teen years that altered how he sees the world, Mike Brink is able to see and solve patterns in a manner that others aren’t capable of. Parlaying his ability into creating puzzles Brink has had a successful career as an expert puzzle maker (and solver), which is a reason his name is written on a perplexing puzzle by a woman, Jess Price, who is incarcerated for a strange murder she’s thought to have committed at Sedge House. Called to the prison to solve the puzzle, Brink arrives and quickly finds himself deeply drawn to Price, in addition to the need to understand the puzzle. Unable to let this enigma go, Brink soon becomes involved in something much more complicated and far reaching than he could have anticipated, garnering the attention of powerful people, as the culmination of the work of a Jewish mystic, a Parisian porcelain dollmaker, and Jameson Sedge, who determinedly pursues a path toward immortality, results in an outcome with shocking implications.
Told through the perspectives of two men, the letter of another, and the journal of one woman, a tale laden with hints of conspiracy and a heavy layer of secretiveness is revealed that has sweeping implications for the world’s future. Ambitiously including aspects of the religious, artistic, scientific, and mysterious, the story moves at a relatively quick pace but was slowed at times by lengthy, though interesting, descriptions of characters’ pasts as it tried to incorporate a bit too much, diluting detailed focus of the concepts raised. Though the characters are reasonably fleshed out, when referring to them in the text it’s done interchangeably using their first or last name and this inconsistency comes across as an odd choice (or sloppy editing). The world presented in the novel incorporates the pandemic, mentioning it periodically throughout, anchoring the story in contemporary reality a way that didn’t feel necessary, especially when considering the more supernatural elements presented in the latter portion that create a more surreal drive to the adventure.
Overall, I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.