Review of ‘Murder Times Nine’

Posted on May 15, 2016 Updated on May 2, 2016

Charles Lee is a detective faced with tracking down a serial killer who leaves Sudoku puzzles as clues at the scene of his murders. With the help of his two computer savvy children, he frantically tries to determine the code left in the killer’s clues before he kills again—and again.

Murder Times Nine by J. F. Pratt is a fast-paced mystery with a compelling theme. It would be a much better book if the author had stuck to one main point of view, or at most, just included a few chapters from the killer’s point of view. There were also too many digressions as motives, history, and technical details were provided that made it too easy to figure out the clues.

This is an interesting theme that would make a great movie, but the book is too filled with unnecessary data dumps to work well as a thriller. The use of Sudoku puzzles is an interesting technique, and the author is to be applauded for coming up with this new wrinkle.

A great theme, but I must give it three for execution.