Product Description
Después de un día horrible en el que había perdido tanto su amante como su trabajo, Jamie creía haber encontrado su príncipe azul: guapo, joven, encantador, con dinero... pero pronto el amor se transforma en puro terror. El hombre de sus sueños, en apenas unas horas, se transforma en un demonio. Atrapada en un viaje infernal salpicado de crimen y violencia, Jamie se ve obligada a acompañar a Brad hacia su objetivo final: Mad River Road. En la tranquila localidad, mientras tanto, Emma y su hijo parecen haber conseguido algo parecido a una vida normal. Aunque su nueva amiga Lily sospecha algo no dice la verdad. Ninguna se atreve a hablar con el corazón, y las verdades no dichas, a medida que pasa el tiempo y el asesino se acerca, se convierten en amenazas mortales... / Judith West's voice resonates with tension and fear for a trio of women trapped in dangerous relationships and a web of lies. Lily and Emma are young mothers escaping abusive husbands, and Jamie is an insecure young woman, berated by her mother and sister, who impetuously embarks on a wild cross-country adventure with a handsome, dangerous stranger. Effective plot twists will keep the listener engaged. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Close the Curtains on This Puppet Show!
Amanda Travis is another unappealing, unpleasant, unsympathetic character who can join the ranks of Fielding's other unappealing, unpleasant, unsympathetic protagonists. The New York Times book review calls Mandy Puppet "beautiful," when there is no evidence to support this subjective statement. Mandy's behavior made her anything but beautiful. A pie in the face for Mandy!

This story is set in 2004. Twice-divorced defense attorney Mandy Puppet Travis (another whinebag lawyer like Jess of "Tell Me No Secrets") has a practice in Florida. Her first husband, Ben, a 1950s wannabe bad boy calls her to defend her mother. Seems Mandy's mother shot a man outside of a hotel and nobody can figure out why. Since the lady isn't talking, Ben figures Mandy can slither back into her life and worm the reasons out of her. Mandy drags her feet at returning to her hometown of Toronto and she certainly wants nothing to do with her mama dearest. Naturally, Mandy and Ben relight one another's fires and admit that when they married, both were too young. Mandy's second marriage to Mr. Travis was the opposite extreme - she married a man much older than she who was genuinely a nice person. She used him and fortunately for him, they parted company.

Mandy acted a fool all throughout the book. She had a pathological aversion for nicknames of any kind and the word "puppet" sent her into orbit. Mandy had no compunction about picking up men and sleeping with them. She just used people and was a tiresome drone. It didn't matter to her if they were married or single. She picked someone up at a gym and later a seatmate on the plane. He went from seatmate to sackmate and Ben actually catches them together. One gets the impression that Mandy the Puppet staged that little scene for Benny-boy's benefit.

No, Mandy the Puppet just isn't a character you can like. She puts one in mind of Elvis' 1956 cover of "Hound Dog," where he says, "they said you was high class, but that was just a lie..." so true in Mandy Puppet's case. The supporting cast of characters are dull and tiresome. The "mysteries" as it turns out is simply a) why Mandy Puppet's mother killed that man; b) the man's identity and c) what connection did a woman with two pre-teen children staying at the hotel have with that man.

By the time you get to the end, you just don't care. You kind of wish they'd all just hop off the puppet stage and run behind the curtain. Talk about a Punch & Judy show! A good song to sum up this book is James & Bobby Purify's 1966 hit, "I'm Your Puppet." The ending, as duly noted by other reviewers was indeed unsatisfactory and yeah, even "creepy," just like Mandy Puppet.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Just a Trashy Novel
Although this story was a tad implausible, it held my interest. Psychiatrist Kate Sinclair is a master at helping strangers straighten out their issues, but she has quite a few on her plate. She is also untrustworthy. I didn't like Kate at all. Kate is yet another loathsome female protagonist - to wit, we have Gail, who was truly loathsome from "Life Penalties" and Jess of "Tell Me No Secrets" and Nicole of "The Other Woman" infamy.

Her half sister, JoLynn has taken up with a murderer. Her older daughter Sara goes through the worst of adolescence and bratty younger daughter Michelle is a favored, pampered little queen. (I didn't like Michelle). I felt Kate was unfair to Sara and I didn't like the way she just took it for granted that Sara would go along with her [Kate's] just taking her room to install her terminally ill mother. Poor Sara must have felt displaced. I also hated it when she slapped Sara. I was glad Sara hit her back! It was unfair of her to threaten to throw Sara out if she ever struck Sara again. I wish snotty Michelle had been slapped. She was phony and two-faced and every bit as loathsome as Kate. I actually breathed a sigh of relief when nasty Michelle took up smoking (a singularly VILE vice) and Kate wised up to the kind of obnoxious liar Michelle really was. Kate was singularly odious.

I had trouble with JoLynn's murderous lover. Instead of a cliche ending, the lover steals JoLynn's Toyota Camry and kills her. That made for a tragic ending, yet it was good this book did not become yet another cliche. It was "tolerable" in spite of Kate and Michelle.
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Customer Reviews (1)

SUSPENSEFUL...
This is a well written novel of suspense. The plot is expertly crafted and well nuanced, keeping the reader turning the pages. With dialogue that rings true, it makes for a riveting read.

The story revolves around a young woman, Donna Edmunds, who works for an advertising agency. She meets a very handsome man, Victor Cressy, at a company party, and he wines and dines her in dramatic fashion, sweeping her off her feet. Finding him to be a fantastic and attentive lover, as well, he is the man of her dreams. When he proposes two months later, she accepts, thinking that she has died and gone to heaven. What she does not know is that she in on her way to living a hell on earth. You see, Victor Cressy is a sociopath.

At first, the change in Victor and their relationship was imperceptible. It began subtlely with a question here, a question there, a suggestion here, a suggestion there. It then escalated to demands that had to be met, assertions of imagined slights, rules that had to be obeyed. Victor separated Donna from her old friends and family, until her isolation was total. It finally culminated in a control so complete that Donna, as a person in her own right, no longer existed. The cycle of extreme and profound psychological abuse had attained its goal. The old Donna was merely a memory, as the new Donna was too afraid to say anything, do anything, or opine on anything. Instead, a Stepford wife with two children had replaced her.

In reality, Donna was a woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown, an enigma to all who would meet her, asserting herself in bizarre ways which were only a cry for help . One day, Donna meets a man who recognizes her profound despair and treats her as a human being. She begins an affair with him, which enables her to reach deep into herself and come to terms with her life and her marriage. She asks Victor for a divorce and custody of the children.

The court scenes for the ensuing divorce and custody action are wonderfully drawn, as they are the setting for explaining the deterioration of the marriage. The points of truths in their respective accounts are told from different perspectives in a three dimensional, well-fleshed narrative that is tautly drawn. One gets a very definite sense of the psychological horror of the marriage and the reason for Donna's almost total annihilation of self.

The divorce is granted, but she retains custody of the children. Donna soon finds out that even though she won, she lost, just as Victor had promised. Five months after the divorce, with the visitation arrangements in place, all had been going smoothly. Victor seemed to have adjusted to the situation and, when they met, treated her with civility. One weekend, he picked up the children, as usual, and admonished them to kiss their mother goodbye. It was not until they failed to return as promised, that she realized the import of his admonishment. Victor had merely lulled her into a false sense of complacency. In reality, her nightmare was far from over and was, in fact, just beginning. ... Read more

Book Description
Word count: 1665. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Close the Curtains on this Puppet Show!
Amanda Travis is another unappealing, unpleasant, unsympathetic character who can join the ranks of Fielding's other unappealing, unpleasant, unsympathetic protagonists. The New York Times book review calls Mandy Puppet "beautiful," when there is no evidence to support this subjective statement. Mandy's behavior made her anything but beautiful.A pie in the face for Mandy!

This story is set in 2004. Twice-divorced defense attorney Mandy Puppet Travis (another whinebag lawyer like Jess of "Tell Me No Secrets") has a practice in Florida. Her first husband, Ben, a 1950s wannabe bad boy calls her to defend her mother. Seems Mandy's mother shot a man outside of a hotel and nobody can figure out why. Since the lady isn't talking, Ben figures Mandy can slither back into her life and worm the reasons out of her. Mandy drags her feet at returning to her hometown of Toronto and she certainly wants nothing to do with her mama dearest. Naturally, Mandy and Ben relight one another's fires and admit that when they married, both were too young. Mandy's second marriage to Mr. Travis was the opposite extreme - she married a man much older than she who was genuinely a nice person. She used him and fortunately for him, they parted company.

Mandy acted a fool all throughout the book. She had a pathological aversion for nicknames of any kind and the word "puppet" sent her into orbit. Mandy had no compunction about picking up men and sleeping with them. She just used people and was a tiresome drone. It didn't matter to her if they were married or single. She picked someone up at a gym and later a seatmate on the plane. He went from seatmate to sackmate and Ben actually catches them together. One gets the impression that Mandy the Puppet staged that little scene for Benny-boy's benefit.

No, Mandy the Puppet just isn't a character you can like. She puts one in mind of Elvis' 1956 cover of "Hound Dog," where he says, "they said you was high class, but that was just a lie..." so true in Mandy Puppet's case. The supporting cast of characters are dull and tiresome. The "mysteries" as it turns out is simply a) why Mandy Puppet's mother killed that man; b) the man's identity and c) what connection did a woman with two pre-teen children staying at the hotel have with that man.

By the time you get to the end, you just don't care. You kind of wish they'd all just hop off the puppet stage and run behind the curtain. Talk about a Punch & Judy show! A good song to sum up this book is James & Bobby Purify's 1966 hit, "I'm Your Puppet." The ending, as duly noted by other reviewers was indeed unsatisfactory and yeah, even "creepy," just like Mandy Puppet.
... Read more