the enigma challenge – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★.5
Audience: Mystery + Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: S.C. Godfrey
Publisher: Dorman Books
Release Date: August 11th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

An action-packed novel following an unlikely duo as they race across Europe in a dangerously high-stakes competition worth millions

You have solved the kickoff puzzle. There will be five additional puzzles to solve. Players have five minutes to confirm PIN after locating the final solution. The Enigma Challenge begins now.

Zoe Wilder has the unflashy, solitary life of an academic, studying ciphers in literature at a California university. When her research takes her to a cryptology conference in Madrid, she’s not expecting to trigger the Enigma Challenge, a clandestine puzzle competition few dare to enter.

The Enigma Challenge is an infamous competition with impossibly high stakes: Lose, and your identity is wiped forever. It doesn’t take long for Zoe to realize that she’s in over her head. Enter Dane Seaver: the mysterious hacker who insists they team up. Dane knows the Enigma Challenge—its secrets, its players—and Zoe knows ciphers. For better or worse, they need each other.

Six days, five puzzles, three countries, and innumerable rivals. What’s more, the spark of attraction between them becomes harder to ignore, but distractions are dangerous. With twelve million dollars and multiple lives on the line, the Enigma Challenge is anyone’s game. Will Zoe and Dane come out unscathed against the other players—and each other?

KIND OF A MIXED BAG.

This was pretty hyped by some friends so of course I had to get my hands on it. It definitely fits the National Treasure but with more romance vibes and that was good.

What I struggled with was the insta-love. This is only from Zoe’s POV and it comes across decently strong from the get go. I wish there would have been a longer slow burn (especially because it looks like there’s going to be a sequel????). Or I think this could have been crafted in one book, just a bit differently. And the villain was a hit on some scenes and a miss on others.

The puzzles were fun and the pacing is very fast. It’s a quick audiobook to fly through and I did like the narrator. Dane’s a good character, I would have loved his POV too. And I liked the friends a lot. The little found family-ness was a trope I liked seeing.

Zoe was a damsel in distress a few too many times and one particular scene towards the end bugged me because of it (no more details because spoilers). I wanted her strength to come through more.

I do think I’ll read the sequel (if we get one?).

Overall audience notes: