{"id":10429,"date":"2024-12-21T18:44:48","date_gmt":"2024-12-21T22:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=10429"},"modified":"2024-12-21T18:44:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T22:44:48","slug":"book-review-the-puzzle-box-by-danielle-trussoni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-the-puzzle-box-by-danielle-trussoni\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

The Puzzle Box <\/em>by Danielle Trussoni<\/p>\n

Random House, 2024<\/p>\n

ISBN: 9780593595321<\/p>\n

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition<\/p>\n

Buy:\u00a0Bookshop.org<\/a> \u00a0|\u00a0 Amazon.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Part mystery, part puzzle, and all thrills, The Puzzle Box<\/em> is a knockout.\u00a0 For all those that loved The Da Vinci Code<\/em>, this one\u2019s for you.\u00a0\u00a0With maddening puzzles, a genius as the protagonist, and a wild pursuit around the country of Japan, it’s just as good, and in some ways, better.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The lead, Mike Brink, is a mathematical genius with an eidetic memory, who gained his ability after a brain injury.\u00a0 It\u2019s called “acquired savant syndrome”, and it\u2019s a real thing.\u00a0 Mike is contacted by the Emperor of Japan for help in solving a sacred puzzle box that has bedeviled the imperial family for centuries.\u00a0 Inside may be a secret important to the future of Japan as a nation.\u00a0 The problem is that the puzzle box is not only difficult, it\u2019s lethal.\u00a0 If Mike makes a mistake opening it, he can\u2019t try again: he won\u2019t be around for another attempt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What makes this a great story?\u00a0 The pace is frenetic: it never slows a whit, right up to the end.\u00a0 The author does an outstanding job of incorporating the history of\u00a0 Japanese emperors, shoguns and samurai into the story.\u00a0 The book’s setting, with ancient shrines, forgotten buildings, and snow-covered bamboo forests, is the perfect backdrop for a treasure hunt, much better than just using a series of cities, as in\u00a0The Da Vinci Code.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The pursuit angle adds urgency to the pacing, as the Emperor isn\u2019t the only one interested in the puzzle box contents.\u00a0 Artificial intelligence is a big part of the chase, and the story credibly shows how AI can easily be more dangerous than any mortal element in our technology-enslaved world.\u00a0 A cautionary tale, perhaps?\u00a0 As for the puzzles\u2026 it\u2019s more than the puzzle box itself:\u00a0 that\u2019s just the start of the clues that lead Brink and his cohorts across Japan, racing to beat the clock.\u00a0 There is a window of time that the puzzle can be solved in, which helps drive the book\u2019s pacing even faster.\u00a0 The puzzle box itself doesn\u2019t do anything magic, but it\u2019s just as dangerous as the Lemarchand Configuration from the Hellraiser <\/em>series.\u00a0 Mistakes opening the box (and some of the other puzzles) can lead to amputated digits, poisoning, and more.\u00a0 The puzzles are the perfect backbone to build one hell of a thrill ride on, and The Puzzle Box<\/em> is all of that, and more.<\/p>\n

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What more do you really need to know?\u00a0 The chances of readers not liking this book are approximately zero. It should take the country by storm the way The Da Vinci Code<\/em> did\u2026and that\u2019s the BOTTOM LINE!\u00a0 Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni Random House, 2024 ISBN: 9780593595321 Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition Buy:\u00a0Bookshop.org \u00a0|\u00a0 Amazon.com     Part mystery, part puzzle, and all thrills, The Puzzle Box is a knockout.\u00a0 For all those that loved The Da Vinci Code, this one\u2019s for you.\u00a0\u00a0With maddening puzzles, a genius as the protagonist, and a<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3585,3884,5778,2325,5781,5779,5777,5780,3502,5776],"class_list":["post-10429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-danielle-trussoni","tag-japanese-history","tag-mystery-fiction","tag-nce","tag-neurodivergent-character","tag-puzles","tag-the-puzzzle-box","tag-thriller-fiction","tag-thriller-fiction-book-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10429"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10442,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10429\/revisions\/10442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}