The New York Times Book Review - Donovan Hohn
In Margalit Fox's…The Riddle of the Labyrinth, Sherlock Holmes makes several cameo appearances, and for good reason. In Fox, the story has found a worthy Conan Doyle. In the best detective stories, the mysteries of human character are as compelling as the enigmatic clues, and as central to the plot, which explains why Fox structures her book as a triptych of biographies…But it's the figure in the middle panel, an unknown chain-smoking classicist from Brooklyn named Alice Kober, who is the hero of the story as Fox tells it, and it's Fox's portrait of Kober that is her book's greatest contribution.
The New York Times - Matti Friedman
…by retrieving a woman who might otherwise have vanished, [Ms. Fox] ends up performing an act of historical redemption akin to the one her subject accomplished. The Riddle of the Labyrinth, a gripping and tightly focused scholarly mystery informed by the author's own knowledge of linguistics, recounts the story of Linear B through three people who fell under its spell…In explaining the problem and eventual solution, Ms. Fox makes the complexities of linguistic scholarship accessible, weaving observations about language into the stories of her primary characters…
From the Publisher
Fox is a talented storyteller, and she creates an atmosphere of almost nail-biting suspense. . . . This one deserves shelf space along such classics of the genre as Simon Singh’s The Code Book.” — Booklist (starred review)
“A fascinating yarn centered around an unlikely heroine. . . . Fox’s deft explanations of the script-solving process allow readers to share in the mental detective work of cracking the lost language.” — Publishers Weekly
“Fox recreates the emergence of one of history’s most vexing puzzles—and then puts readers alongside the remarkable figures who, brilliantly, obsessively, and even tragically, devoted their lives to solving it. Forget the Da Vinci Code. This is the real thing.” — Toby Lester, author of Da Vinci's Ghost
“Margalit Fox describes the decipherment of Linear B in such lucid detail that any reader can follow the steps and participate in the thrill of discovery.” — Stephen Mitchell, translator of Gilgamesh and the Iliad
“Fox’s achievement here is to make this fascinating tale accessible to a broader audience.” — Washington Post
“… a nail-biting intellectual and cultural adventure.” — The Times UK
“Deft, sharply written … Fox’s account runs with the pace and tension of a detective story - and has much to say about language and writing systems along the way.” — The Guardian UK
“[Fox] … has cracked it, fashioning an intellectual puzzle into an engrossing detective story of driven personalities, hidden clues, perseverance and intuition. In the process, she has uncovered a remarkable woman who had been buried by history.” — Sunday Times UK
“As with any good detective story, there’s a driving narrative behind the puzzle, peopled by solitary sleuths.” — The Guardian US
Booklist Starred Review
Fox is a talented storyteller, and she creates an atmosphere of almost nail-biting suspense. . . . This one deserves shelf space along such classics of the genre as Simon Singh's The Code Book.
Times (London)
A nail-biting intellectual and cultural adventure.”
Washington Post
Fox’s achievement here is to make this fascinating tale accessible to a broader audience.”
Guardian (London)
Deft, sharply written…Fox’s account runs with the pace and tension of a detective story and has much to say about language and writing systems along the way.”
Sunday Times UK
[Fox] … has cracked it, fashioning an intellectual puzzle into an engrossing detective story of driven personalities, hidden clues, perseverance and intuition. In the process, she has uncovered a remarkable woman who had been buried by history.
Stephen Mitchell
Margalit Fox describes the decipherment of Linear B in such lucid detail that any reader can follow the steps and participate in the thrill of discovery.
The Guardian US
As with any good detective story, there’s a driving narrative behind the puzzle, peopled by solitary sleuths.
The Times UK
… a nail-biting intellectual and cultural adventure.
The Guardian UK
Deft, sharply written … Fox’s account runs with the pace and tension of a detective story - and has much to say about language and writing systems along the way.
Toby Lester
Fox recreates the emergence of one of history’s most vexing puzzles—and then puts readers alongside the remarkable figures who, brilliantly, obsessively, and even tragically, devoted their lives to solving it. Forget the Da Vinci Code. This is the real thing.
Booklist (starred review)
Fox is a talented storyteller, and she creates an atmosphere of almost nail-biting suspense. . . . This one deserves shelf space along such classics of the genre as Simon Singh’s The Code Book.
Washington Post
Fox’s achievement here is to make this fascinating tale accessible to a broader audience.
Booklist
"Fox is a talented storyteller, and she creates an atmosphere of almost nail-biting suspense. . . . This one deserves shelf space along such classics of the genre as Simon Singh’s The Code Book."
