this was a lot of fun to read, the characters were great and I loved the satirical element of the book. I think it really worked as a mystery.

Three were many things I liked about this book. The writing was excellent. I liked how Jenkins has a very wide-ranging mind and connects many different things together in a way that reminds me of Umberto Eco. Ultimately, even though I liked it I wasn't satisfied with the book's ambiguous ending.

Readers should be very familiar with chess and chess problems because my lack of knowledge in these areas was a hindrance.

Spurious Games offers an interesting, unexpected read. The author is writing on a number of levels, satirical, historical, plot-driven mystery, social commentary. This is something I rarely say, but—I am absolutely sure I didn't get as much as I might have out of this title. I was engaged by the central narrative, but could tell that I was missing asides and references to topics I'm not familiar with.

In all, this title is an engaging, but frustrating read.