Publisher:
Houndstooth Books

Publication Date:
N/A

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
978-0-578-75320-1

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
14.95

THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

By Daniel G. Miller

IR_Star-black
IR Rating:
4.2
Exploring the possibilities of perfect foresight and the many shades of ambition, THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE is an engaging, modern action-thriller filled with logic puzzles, secret societies, and political machinations.
IR Approved

When a detective from Princeton’s police department asks Professor Albert Puddles to help solve a murder, he doesn’t expect it to endanger his life or connect to his past. Tasked with decoding a cipher found in the hand of a murder victim killed during a theft gone wrong at the Bank of Princeton, Albert uncovers a nefarious secret society and a tool of absolute power with roots in his own university’s department. After being framed for the murder he is trying to solve, Albert and his teaching assistant, Ying, find themselves on the lam. They seek out the help of Professor Turner, legendary figure of logic and mathematics at Princeton. But the old man is more than he seems. So too is his life’s work: a system of game trees he calls The Tree of Knowledge, and the very thing the society stole from his safe deposit box. The Tree allows the user to effectively predict the future—and manipulate it. There’s no doubt it can change history. But in the wrong hands? It could spell disaster for a nation.

Part DaVinci Code, part action-thriller, THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE is a fast-paced novel full of puzzles, mysterious societies, and puppet masters pulling the political strings of a nation. The novel explores the possibilities of perfect foresight, manipulation at scale, and the many shades of ambition. With an ensemble cast and plenty of brain teasers, readers will enjoy this high-stakes adventure. It has all the ingredients of an action movie unfolding on the big screen. Well-edited and cogently written, Miller’s narrative progresses quickly and reads easily enough to get lost in. The many logic puzzles, paradoxes, and riddles woven into the plot turn THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE into a different kind of an engaging read: one that piques the intellect in nearly every chapter.

Certain plot points and character drives, however, prove to be underbaked. A past “romance” between Albert and a much younger peer can hardly be called that at all. Built on a thin—and questionable—foundation, it somehow holds increasing sway over them both. On the flip side, other tropes are heavy handed and constraining. Albert is repeatedly reduced to a Data-like logic worshipper; the Book Club (Team Tree of Knowledge) members are slotted into caricature-like boxes—the soldier, the Texan, the femme fatale. Though, it must be said that character depth and development do shine through, particularly with Ying’s complex past. Similarly, the side plot unfolding in a California plagued by bankruptcy, governmental deadlock, and economic distress could almost be a book on its own. Altogether, readers will happily suspend their disbelief and stay in this entertaining, action-packed story.

Exploring the possibilities of perfect foresight and the many shades of ambition, THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE is an engaging, modern action-thriller filled with logic puzzles, secret societies, and political machinations.

~Remy Poore for IndieReader

Publisher:
Houndstooth Books

Publication Date:
N/A

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
978-0-578-75320-1

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
14.95

THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE

By Daniel G. Miller

THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE by Daniel G. Miller is a thriller centered around geniuses on the side of the law and those against it. The author shows the beauty of one of the world’s oldest scientific disciplines while also deftly weaving plotlines filled with excitement and intrigue into an intricately connected whole.