Gabino Iglesias Reviews The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni

The Puzzle Master, Danielle Trussoni (Random House 978-0-59359-529-9, $27.00, 384pp, hc) June 2023.

Right before the pandemic got really bad in March of 2020, I received a galley of Danielle Trussoni’s The Ancestor. I dug in two or three days before the first lockdown and spent the next two weeks deeply engrossed in that novel, which brought together the best elements of literary fiction and thrillers with a healthy dose of cryptozoology. The moment I finished it and turned in a glow­ing review, I started wondering what Trussoni would do next and how it would compare to The Ancestor. Now that I’m done reading The Puzzle Master, I have answers to those two questions. The first one is: a smart, complex supernatural thriller about a man with a gift that’s also a curse. The second is: The Puzzle Master is very different from The Ancestor for a variety of reasons, but what matters most is that it feels even better and proves Trussoni always nails it no matter what she chooses to write about.

Mike Brink loves puzzles. He sees puzzles and patterns everywhere and is known as a great puzzle constructor, which is also how he pays the bills. But that wasn’t always the case. Earlier in his life, Mike was a promising football star thinking about going to college and playing ball, but then things went wrong on the field and he was hit in the head really hard. After the traumatic head injury, things changed. Mike started seeing patterns. His brain had changed. He’d acquired a strange medical condition called acquired savant syndrome. He wasn’t a brain surgeon, but in terms of solving and creating puzzles, he was a genius. Despite being able to use his new gift to make a living, the changes in his life left Mike dealing with loneliness and occasionally feeling distraught. That changes when a psychiatrist asks him to speak with Jess Price, a young woman who’s in prison serving a 30-year sentence for murder. Jess, who hasn’t spoken since her arrest half a decade earlier, has asked for Mike by name. Mike and Jess manage to communicate using puzzles. Then things change. First, Mike starts having vivid dreams about Jess. Then his access to her is revoked by a powerful, mysterious man, but not before Mike, who can also read incredibly fast, has a chance to get some documents and learn a bit more about what put Jess in prison. What seemed like a relatively easy case soon turns into a dangerous and very complicated journey that will put Mike in the crosshairs of a man who wants to achieve immortality by solving the God Puzzle, an ancient Jewish prayer.

The preceding synopsis only covers the premise at the core of The Puzzle Master. Trussoni, whose passion for research and knack for creating intri­cate narratives is on full display here, also added a few subplots that include the story of a doll artist who created a perfect doll that looked just like his deceased daughter, the quest for said doll, a group of Jewish men bringing golems to life (presented as something that’s been done for ages for the sake of protection and not in a way that turns the Jewish men into evil caricatures), and a security guard and his relation to the rich man who wants to achieve immortality. Yes, this might all sound like a lot, but Trussoni is very good at keeping things in order, cranking up the suspense, and seamlessly mixing stories in ways that they enrich each other and keep readers glued to the page.

I was already an avid reader when Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code came out and become a global phenomenon in 2003. I read it and found it en­joyable, but the best thing about it was the way it inspired a lot of writers to release thrillers with religious undertones. I loved books about cults, secret agendas, hidden secrets that could change history, and the dark stories that came when you mixed all of those and added a few nefarious or unscrupulous characters. Unfortunately, once something becomes a popular trend in publishing, many authors try to capitalize on it. The result was an onslaught of mediocre novels that pushed me away from that kind of story. Now Trussoni has written a novel that makes the almost two-decade-long wait totally worth it. The Puzzle Master is smart, engaging, fun to read, and has some touch­ing moments while also delivering a few creepy scenes, a very big secret, and a memorable main character with a unique condition.

If any of the elements mentioned above interests you, don’t miss this one. Trussoni has a strong voice, and her love for the supernatural shines in every page of this book. Go in and try to put the pieces together. I guarantee you it’s a blast.

This review and more like it in the August 2023 issue of Locus.

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on reader donations to keep the magazine and site going, and would like to keep the site paywall free, but WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT to continue quality coverage of the science fiction and fantasy field.

©Locus Magazine. Copyrighted material may not be republished without permission of LSFF.