Miller delivers a brilliant and thrilling mystery through a carefully-woven narrative with thought-provoking puzzles, enigma and riddles that come together to create a surprisingly impressive plot. This book can be devoured in one reading session with the way the pacing grips you from the beginning 'til the very end. Coming from a debut author, it is impressive how a thought-provoking plot was written in a manner that the average reader would understand while maintaining its magical prose, This is highly recommended to math enthusiasts and puzzle-solvers who love a good book.

I have to say that this book was a struggle for me. I was very excited to read it, because from the description I envisioned a tense, intelligent mystery unravelling in the high society of the elite Princeton campus, with conspiracy and danger lurking in the seemingly perfect setting. I expected a competent, Sherlockian man, leaping at the prospect of a puzzle to solve. Sadly, that is not the book I read.

My hopes stemmed from the blurb and even as I read the quote from Paradise Lost that appears before the first chapter, I was excited for a deep and possibly generation-spanning mystery to unfold before me. The first chapter begins from the point of view of a security guard working at the Bank of Princeton, where a thief breaks in to steal something of value, killing the guard in the process. This, I thought, was still in the realm of what I expected, as a lot of mystery books will open with the crime, before jumping into the detective’s point of view. And indeed, chapter two begins thus: “Professor Albert Puddles was sweating.” I quite like his introduction as an intelligent and proud, yet not very impressive, man. I like the way his logical nature wars with his human emotions, even in a simple scenario such as the first day of teaching for the school year, which is where we first meet him.

When his lecture is interrupted by the arrival of a policeman wanting his help with a case, I was excited to get my first taste of puzzle solving, as the intruder from chapter one left a coded game tree at the scene of the crime. However, when it comes to solving it, Professor Puddles and his assistant Ying Koh have a very basic conversation about codes, and the chapter includes quite an extensive history of ciphers that I felt threw off the pace of the story.

The most disappointing thing, however, was the fact that the points of view switch continuously between characters, including some of the antagonists. In a story such as this one, which holds a mystery and conspiracy, I would expect to be limited to one or two points of view, generally those of the main character and maybe their sidekick or mentor, and the reader would then have to unravel the mystery alongside the characters. What happens in Miller’s novel, though, is that the reader holds all the information from both sides, so that there is no surprise for them as things unfold. I do enjoy a bit of dramatic irony, but it loses its efficacy when it is used continuously. I know people have compared it to a Dan Brown novel, but from my memory of Brown’s writing, at least there are some great twists in his books, if nothing else.

The whole thing had the feel of an action movie, and I do think it would work very well on screen – the characters might stand up a bit more, and some of the interactions wouldn’t feel as forced. To its credit, it did handle its action well, and did a few interesting things with political commentary, but unfortunately it just wasn’t the book for me – I know part of this is due to the expectation I had, but I also feel that my expectations were justified from the way the book has been marketed. The ending was also strange, and I sense it might be setting itself up for a sequel, but I can’t say I’m invested enough to want to read any more of this story. I don’t enjoy writing negative reviews, and I have tried to see the positives in this book, but reading it wasn’t an enjoyable experience for me, unfortunately. I’m sure, though, that there are many people who will read it, enjoy it, and look forward to more.

This is the worst book I've tried to read in a long time. The premise is that the bad guys want access to a book that will tell them how to use a logic tree to get anyone to do what they want them to do. But for a book about logic, the storyline isn't very logical.

Some examples of bad storyline logic:
*The villain disables a police station by cutting the electricity.
*Police walkie-talkies suddenly don't work without electricity.
*The villain powers up a desktop computer with a portable charger while the electricity is out (said charger would have to be the size of a toaster oven).
*The villain got into the police network while the electricity was down.
*The female villain assaults a police office worker and demands the computer password. Later, she pins the break-in on a male because he was seen in videos entering the building. But the female villain should have been the main suspect because she actually demanded passwords.

The book feels like a bad attempt to parody late 1990s, early 2000s thrillers. The book really lost me when a random group of characters that call themselves the Book Club (because of their study of the famed logic book) decide to train a professor and his jolly Chinese female assistant. That's 2 weeks of intensive logic and fighting training to fight professional baddies. Oh god, make it stop. Please. The reader has to endure pages and pages and pages and pages and pages and pages of this horrible training that starts with paint guns and ends with pink feather boas at a bar.

I ended up speed reading the last 25% because I just couldn't handle reading it slowly anymore. It never got any better. I think maybe the ending was supposed to be a setup for a sequel. Please, no.

I got this book free from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I feel bad being so honest, but it kinda sucked. Now I'm afraid to read any more Net Galley books any time soon lest they be 1-star bad.

Thanks to Netgalley and Houndstooth Books for the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

“The Tree of Knowledge” is a thriller/mystery by debut author Daniel G. Miller releasing on March 30, 2021. This book poses the question that if someone held the power to be able to predict the future, what would they do with it? Would they simply make their lives easier or use it for ultimate power over mankind?

The plot follows Professor Albert Puddles whose quiet life teaching at Princeton is disrupted after a murder occurs in the campus library. He is thrust into a cross country adventure alongside his aging Princeton mentor and his graduate assistant to clear his name and thwart the plans of an enemy mastermind.

At the center of the power struggle lies the Tree of Knowledge, which is an intellectual weapon that allows one to essentially tell the future. It’s explained like a master chess player who can predict the way the match goes; one can utilize the tree to do something as innocuous as get their way in an argument or as devious as rule the world.

There were a few times where I felt the plot almost moved along too quickly. I found myself having to backtrack a little whenever I picked the book back up again, however, this is a small gripe. This book could definitely be devoured in a single reading session and if so, this likely wouldn’t be an issue.

Miller’s prose is clear, succinct and fun to read, an impressive achievement for a debut author. The characters he has created are grounded and likable but the setting they’re in is heightened and gives the book a futuristic and otherworldly feel. Also, it seems like Miller is setting things up for future stories in this world and with these characters – so if you like “Tree of Knowledge” there might be more to come!

I’d recommend this book for anyone who likes fast-paced thrillers with a touch of the psychological. Overall I give it 🧢 🧢 🧢/5

The Tree of Knowledge - Daniel G. Miller

It is said that the greatest chess grandmasters envision a match’s outcome ten moves before it occurs. Imagine a person who could visualize ten steps ahead not only in the game of chess but in every human interaction.

This novel is great for mystery and puzzle lovers as the storyline is full of riddles and mathematical problems. The Tree of Knowledge is a secret knowledge of how to anticipate all of the possibilities that one may encounter during any given situation and the ability to manipulate others so that your desired outcome is met. This knowledge has fallen into the wrong hands and it is up to a mathematics university professor, his mentor and his graduate assistant to recover the secret back.
The author deals with the enigmas and codes in a really approachable and readable manner that means that even if you don’t like maths or can’t wrap your head around riddles, it is still an easy read.
I enjoyed the novel and feel like I could definitely see this being made into a film that I would watch!

The Tree of Knowledge is released on 30th March 2021 and it is now available for preorder!
Thank you to Houndstooth Books and NetGalley for my advanced copy

A story for lovers of the Da Vinci Code, Logic, secret societies, heists and mathematics.

This story follows Dr. Albert Puddles who gets mixed up in something bigger than himself when he discovers the Tree of Knowledge. This story is a fast-paced and engaging story that catches your attention from page one. The reveals were done amazingly in this book and the ending was also executed very well.

Miller succeeds in interweaving mathematics and logic into the story and makes it approachable the average reader. The Tree of Knowledge is the most fascinating thing in this story and Miller gives this logic concept an almost magical feeling.

Ying is definitely my favourite character and my favourite quote from her is by far "Ying's guard went up when she heard one old white man celebrating another old white man."

This was intoxicating from beginning to end. The ever-ending riddles, enigmas, and puzzles brought a plot based on rationality to feel like magic. And not only are all those aspects craftingly made but they are explained in a simple tone and diagrams which make you understand every single aspect from beginning to the end. The only disappointing factor of this book, is the lack of people reading it.

I could not put this book down, it’s written so well that you get to understand each character and want to finish the book to find out what happens to them. There are some awesome twists that I did not expect throughout the book. Highly recommend. I absolutely love that you got different perspectives throughout the book to really get the whole story