Sudoku Master Class: 144 Devilish Puzzles with Advanced Strategies

I find Mr. Sheldon's two difficult Sudoku books to be the best on the market. The puzzles are very challenging, but they are fair and honest. Since I have been routinely disappointed with other "hard" Sudoku books, I decided to purchase five copies of both Genius & Master Class. I've found that I can't remember anything about a given puzzle solution about about ten minutes after I've completed it. So repeating a puzzle months or years later is not a problem. At one puzzle per day, I'm good to go for the next five years!

Tom Sheldon's clever style is a most welcome addition to Sudoku Books. His Master Class techniques are straight forward and well presented. Puzzles are hard, but he gives you the necessary tools and walks you through the dicipline in order to solve. Very rewarding and great fun!

Tom Sheldon has ruined all other Sudoku books for me. His are the best; the puzzle are very very tough but fair; they can all be logically solved. I bought his last book and savored every puzzle and then waited and waited and waited for this new one to be published. And it's even better then the last. I've bought other books in the meantime but just don't like them. Sheldon's hints for solving at the beginning of the book is a treasure (although I still can't quite figure out his "swordfish"). I love this book!

As someone who loved this author's "Sudoku Genius," and finally solved all puzzles in the book, I am finding this sequel hard going. Techniques like X-wing and (especially) swordfish are much easier on a computer than with paper and pencil. Still, the book helps much with progress in seeing these patterns, and I know I will improve as I slog through the more baffling grids. About half of the puzzles are solvable by meticulously applying normal advanced techniques. A special treat is the "study" section that gives one a hint to get past the "stuck" place. I found only one puzzle where the place I was stuck was not the place where the hint helped (my fault, I'm sure!).