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.
PhDeath is a fast-paced thriller set in a major university in a major city on a square. The faculty finds itself in deadly intellectual combat with the anonymous Puzzler. Along with teams of US Military Intelligence and the city's top detective and aided by the Puzzle Master of The New York Times, their collective brains are no match for the Puzzler's perverse talents. Carse, Emeritus Professor himself at a premier university in a major city on a square shows no mercy in his creation of the seemingly omniscient Puzzler, who through a sequence of atrocities beginning and ending with the academic year, turns up one hidden pocket of moral rot after another: flawed research, unabashed venality, ideological rigidity, pornographic obsessions, undue political and corporate influence, subtle schemes of blackmail, the penetration of national and foreign intelligence agencies, brazen violation of copyrights, even the production and sale of addictive drugs.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy