Here there be dragons...

"I'm telling you stories. Trust me." - Winterson

A different type of puzzle

I go through phases where I really enjoy puzzles, and then when I don't do any at all.  Sometimes they're tied to weather, but really not so much.  The other day I stumbled upon one that I swear could've been made for me ;).   It's a book, a murder mystery, but the pages are shuffled.   I'm not even kidding.   I heard about it in random social media, of course ;), and went to Amazon.  Sure enough...



So yes, I ordered it :).  You can't be surprised.

When I got it I found out that not only is it indeed a puzzle book, but it's a puzzle book with a potential prize!

So if anyone else wants to join me in this adventure, lmk!

So far I've:

  • torn all the pages out of a book.   The first page was hard.   Like went against pretty much my soul to do so.  Unlike the pages of my cookbook which just jumped out of their own volition - as though they knew being associated w my kitchen would not end well ;)   Anyways - the rest of the distruction was fun and remarkably therapeutic ;-P.   Although I was about half way through before I figured out how to get clean page removal, so that was frustrating.  I would've preferred all the pages be pretty.  Ah well ;)
  • read a few random pages.
  • discovered the writing is not modern; knowing the background of the book, this should not have been even slightly a surprise, but it was.  I have read more centuries of the English language than an reasonable person ever would, but I have to admit, it does make the puzzle just slightly more complicated.
  • learned the novel has an unreliable narrator.  Of course it does.  I fewer than 20 unrelated pages, the narrator has admitted to killing 2, if not 3, of the victims.  SO there are either multiple narrators (plausible) or one completely unreliable one.  And either way, until the pages go together, it's very unhelpful.  And all in the first person.
  • realised I do *not* currently have the time for this adventure.  It will require some heads down hours.  But might be a summer deck project :)

So yeah - mostly just sharing in case anyone else is as amused by this as I am.  May the odds be ever in your favour.


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