A review by paperwitches
Puzzle House by Duncan Ralston
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Puzzle house is about a recently deceased and mysterious 'master puzzlemaker' bequeathing all of his assets to 6 mysterious individuals he has either a: not met or b: disliked. The only catch? They have to show up in person, and play his puzzles with some sinister undertones.
This book was so many things at once. Addicting, tense, mysterious, fun, adventurous, and scary. I had JUST finished a marathon of saw before picking this book up, and I'm so glad I did. Jigsaw would be Alexei's BFFL. The first few chapters had me by the throat, and I ended up finishing this thing extremely fast just because of the fact that it's pacing was so well done. As well as it's action scenes. It was extremely entertaining, a perfect read when you are already missing October and waiting for winter. Almost all aspects of it, writing, prose, are greatly done.
However, a lot of the character's do end up being stereotypes. For the MC's (this is a multi-pov book by the way) this did not hurt them. I would've appreciated more backstory development for them, but I enjoyed them all a LOT. The caricatures begin to harm, when it includes the villain. He was very 'twists mustache evilly'. I still did enjoy him, but I feel I would've been a lot more horrified if he had more realistic motivations. The ending, for the most part, dispelled all the tension and ruined the conclusion. This is the only reason I gave 4.0 out of 5 stars.
Overall, if these got solved it would easily be a 5 star read for me. I greatly enjoyed it and am greatful to Netgalley and Wicked House Publishing for the opportunity to review this! I am voluntarily leaving this review.
This book was so many things at once. Addicting, tense, mysterious, fun, adventurous, and scary. I had JUST finished a marathon of saw before picking this book up, and I'm so glad I did. Jigsaw would be Alexei's BFFL. The first few chapters had me by the throat, and I ended up finishing this thing extremely fast just because of the fact that it's pacing was so well done. As well as it's action scenes. It was extremely entertaining, a perfect read when you are already missing October and waiting for winter. Almost all aspects of it, writing, prose, are greatly done.
However, a lot of the character's do end up being stereotypes. For the MC's (this is a multi-pov book by the way) this did not hurt them. I would've appreciated more backstory development for them, but I enjoyed them all a LOT. The caricatures begin to harm, when it includes the villain. He was very 'twists mustache evilly'. I still did enjoy him, but I feel I would've been a lot more horrified if he had more realistic motivations. The ending, for the most part, dispelled all the tension and ruined the conclusion. This is the only reason I gave 4.0 out of 5 stars.
Overall, if these got solved it would easily be a 5 star read for me. I greatly enjoyed it and am greatful to Netgalley and Wicked House Publishing for the opportunity to review this! I am voluntarily leaving this review.