If you're one who sets expectations after reading a synopsis, then you may need to reset yours for PHDEATH by James P. Carse. The back cover calls it a thriller, yet after reading it, it has more the feel of a mystery. The premise sounds fascinating: the murderer sends out a 10- part puzzle that gives clues to the next victim. But the police, Feds, and the committee tasked with solving the killings by the university president can't keep pace with the mastermind behind all this violence. Intriguingly, the reasons for the deaths do come to the forefront at some point, so we have answers for most by the end.

As the mastermind behind the murders, Carse, an emeritus professor himself, obviously had some fun. Many of them are outlandish and unbelievable and yet ... fitting. Where I had trouble is that each puzzle has 10 parts, and each of these parts and clues gets explained in excruciating detail. I'm blind, so I listen to books on my computer or phone, and at some points, I desperately wished I could skim.

Carse gives readers a glimpse of life on campus and the book takes the reader through the school year. The novel also has some cerebral chapters. If you have a fascination for Socrates or cosmology or digging into the depths of the human condition, then you'll enjoy these pages. And, I admit, even for this jaded reader who tends to dive into books to escape the real world, it has its place.

All that aside, the reveal at the end — and it's a beauty — almost made up for all of meticulous puzzle clues and slow sections in which I had to use my brain. Fans of a more literary mystery will relish this novel, but if you need an action-packed thriller, choose something else and come back to this one when you're in the right frame of mind to appreciate it.