Brilliant Prey - book review

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Rating: 5 stars (translation = must read)


Confession: this novel was written by my dearest friend and critique partner. Further confession: I don't know how to lie if something's crappy writing. And this just isn't it. Lastly: go buy the book. I'm hard to please, and I loved it. On to the review....

Lauren's husband has died the year before under a dark cloud of unusual circumstances, and a life-or-death chain of events is set off when she receives a letter from MENSA...a puzzle, which contains something "more" than just a standard MENSA puzzle. This is a wonderful story full of ciphers, cat-and-mouse, with just the right dose of romance that had my eyes opening wide in amazement until the end. Ms. Wallace knows how to show us a sympathetic character -- we love her beginning to end, knowing that Lauren's heartstrings are being pulled by some unidentified person who may or may not have something to do with the death of a loved one. There is lots of lovey dovey romance, but it's beautifully intertwined within a thrilling story of a woman following a genius level trail of breadcrumbs.

While this story has some basic similarities to cipher stories like Dan Brown's DaVinci Code (and I think fans of that book would love this story), it is meatier. It raises philosophical questions that cannot be answered. But it's great brain candy, too. Amazing book.

For just $0.99, you can buy it here for Amazon Kindle, here for Barnes and Noble's Nook, and for virtually every other format you can think of, you can find it at Smashwords here