Author: Alexandra Benedict
Published: November 9, 2023 by Simon & Schuster UK
Format: Hardcover, 351 pages
Genre: Holiday Fiction
First Sentence: December 19th: No one was dead, not to begin with.
Blurb: On 19th of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner and Christmas sceptic Edie O’Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene – blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. Included in the parcel is a message: ‘Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.’ It’s signed, Rest In Pieces.
Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O’Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer’s murderous puzzle.
My Opinion: I didn’t like how the preface started. Alexandra Benedict let the reader know that she had planted references to Great Expectations and Christine McVie’s lyrics and wanted the first person who had found her quotes to send her an email to win a prize. That took away from the beginning of the book since my brain was trying to figure out the “gifts”. That part wasn’t for me; I wanted to enjoy the story.
In the first couple of chapters, I thought the author was trying too hard to impress readers with vocabulary. Then again, Edie O’Sullivan is described as a local celebrity when it comes to puzzles, and as you read along, the word usage no longer bothers you.
When Edie receives jigsaw puzzle pieces containing threatening messages from a killer, she tries to conceal them until the first body appears and then tries to stay a couple of steps ahead of her detective nephew, whom she has raised since he was an infant, in finding the person behind the puzzle pieces.
By the end, you realize that Alexandra Benedict hasn’t held anything back; it was all laid out in a twisty way that had the reader trying to put all the pieces together and, at the least, trying to stay only a step behind Edie. Along the way, you also realized that you had stopped looking for the “gifts” and found yourself not only trying to figure out the “who-done-it” clues but are drawn into the backstories of Edie and Sean.
Blurb: On 19th of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner and Christmas sceptic Edie O’Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene – blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. Included in the parcel is a message: ‘Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.’ It’s signed, Rest In Pieces.
Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O’Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer’s murderous puzzle.
My Opinion: I didn’t like how the preface started. Alexandra Benedict let the reader know that she had planted references to Great Expectations and Christine McVie’s lyrics and wanted the first person who had found her quotes to send her an email to win a prize. That took away from the beginning of the book since my brain was trying to figure out the “gifts”. That part wasn’t for me; I wanted to enjoy the story.
In the first couple of chapters, I thought the author was trying too hard to impress readers with vocabulary. Then again, Edie O’Sullivan is described as a local celebrity when it comes to puzzles, and as you read along, the word usage no longer bothers you.
When Edie receives jigsaw puzzle pieces containing threatening messages from a killer, she tries to conceal them until the first body appears and then tries to stay a couple of steps ahead of her detective nephew, whom she has raised since he was an infant, in finding the person behind the puzzle pieces.
By the end, you realize that Alexandra Benedict hasn’t held anything back; it was all laid out in a twisty way that had the reader trying to put all the pieces together and, at the least, trying to stay only a step behind Edie. Along the way, you also realized that you had stopped looking for the “gifts” and found yourself not only trying to figure out the “who-done-it” clues but are drawn into the backstories of Edie and Sean.
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