As you all know, I love puzzles. All kinds of puzzles. You might not know that I do puzzles all day long. My phone is full of puzzle apps, and I usually have several puzzles books going at once. So, of course, I was thrilled when St. Martin’s Press sent me three very different puzzle books to review. These three are in regular rotation now. This review covers two of those books. The third book will be in a future review.
I was not expecting what I got with Killer Puzzles! I am a huge fan of Killer Sudoku (Sudoku puzzles that include summing sections within the Sudoku puzzle). I was expecting something along those lines. Instead, I received exactly what the title suggests. Killer Puzzles by Archer Thorne is a puzzle book about killers. Literally!
If you are a true crime fan, you will love this! I have been reading true crime stories since I was a kid and often listen to true crime podcasts, but even I don’t know all of these killers. Each chapter addresses a different type of killer (serial, spies, organized crime, etc.) and each chapter includes an assortment of the puzzle types, including word searches, crossword puzzles, matching puzzles (words, not pictures), scrambles, and more.
TOP TIP: Keep your phone handy. I had to look up some of these killers, because I hadn’t heard of them before. It’s not really cheating if you try to understand the clue without looking at the solution pages, right?
TOP TIP: Sometimes, you can find the answer you need by looking back at a puzzle you’ve already solved. That’s definitely not cheating. Right?
*****Highly recommended
Bordergrams are the new puzzle sensation from the inventor of Murdles, which are challenging logic puzzles. (See my review of the Murdle jigsaw puzzle here.) Bordergrams is a story with puzzles that you have to solve to progress through the story. Each Bordergram puzzle is a single page spread (the story is on the left open page and the puzzle is on the right open page). And it’s not just a novel that you’re reading. You’re an integral part of the story, taking the role of the new Cadet who is helping The Division secure borders and establish peace by finding commonalities between districts.
For each puzzle, you get a sectioned-out map. Each section contains a word or phrase and you have to find the four different words and phrases that go together, so you can create peaceful borders without isolating any of the districts. If all this sounds confusing, don’t worry. The book is laid out excellently with precise instructions and you’re eased into the process so you can learn as you solve.
TOP TIP: Keep a bookmark in the solutions section. Even if you’re confident that you’ve solved the Bordergram correctly, the storyline progresses in the answer section, too, and you don’t want to miss anything. And use a pencil with an eraser, just in case.
*****Highly recommended
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