The Puzzle Box
A Novel
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A fun, DaVinci Code–style blend of puzzles, mysticism and high-octane action” (People, Best Books of the Month), from the author of The Puzzle Master
“This rip-roaring adventure thriller is an escapist puzzle box of delights: a neurodivergent hero, an unsolvable mystery, and death hanging over every move.”—Catherine Steadman, author of Something in the Water
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE • A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
Two sisters. A lost imperial treasure. The world’s greatest puzzle master has twenty-four hours to solve the most dangerous mystery of his life . . . or die trying.
It is the Year of the Wood Dragon, and the ingenious Mike Brink has been invited to Tokyo, Japan, to open the legendary Dragon Box.
The box was constructed during one of Japan’s most tumultuous periods, when the samurai class was disbanded and the shogun lost power. In this moment of crisis, Emperor Meiji locked a priceless Imperial secret in the Dragon Box. Only two people knew how to open the box—Meiji and the box’s sadistic constructor—and both died without telling a soul what was inside or how to open it.
Every twelve years since then, in the Year of the Dragon, the Imperial family holds a clandestine contest to open the box. It is devilishly difficult, filled with tricks, booby traps, poisons, and mind-bending twists. Every puzzle master who has attempted to open it has died in the process.
But Brink is not just any puzzle master. He may be the only person alive who can crack it. His determination is matched only by that of two sisters, descendants of an illustrious samurai clan, who will stop at nothing to claim the treasure.
Brink’s quest launches him on a breakneck adventure across Japan, from the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to the pristine forests of Hakone to an ancient cave in Kyushu. In the process, he discovers the power of Meiji’s hidden treasure, and—more crucially—the true nature of his extraordinary talent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Puzzle savant Mike Brink attempts to unearth a 19th-century Japanese secret in Trussoni's astonishing sequel to The Puzzle Master. In 1868, Emperor Meiji hired a blind mechanical master, Ogawa Ryuichi, to build a lethal contraption accessible only once every 12 years—on the full moon in the Year of the Dragon—to house crucial imperial secrets. In the decades since, Meiji's descendants have hosted regular competitions to open the Dragon Box, but no one has ever survived the attempt. In the present, the imperial family has hired Brink to come to Tokyo for the job. Meanwhile, a long-hidden group of female samurai newly aligned with Brink's nemesis, Jameson Sedge, becomes interested in claiming what's inside the box. The narrative's solitary puzzle-solving and tense espionage are equally thrilling, while Trussoni's depiction of Brink as both a puzzle-solving genius and someone learning to trust his own abilities lends the plot surprising emotional depth. Best of all, the puzzle-solving sends Brink on an immersive sprint through contemporary and historical Japan, with plenty of shrewdly delivered trivia and thematically rewarding solutions along the way. This clever and satisfying novel cements Mike Brink as an action hero for the ages.
