Cover of PUPPET
courtesy of Atria Books
PUPPET by Joy Fielding

Talk about having a bad day! In Joy Fielding's latest novel PUPPET the main character, an attorney named Amanda Travis, gets call in Miami from her ex-husband. He proceeds to tell her that her mother has shot and killed a total stranger in a posh Toronto hotel. Now she refuses to explain her actions to anyone so Amanda had better take the next flight home. And off we go.

Now that is getting the readers' attention in a hurry and no one is better at doing things this way than Fielding. She also is such a talented writer that she can afford to make her main character less than loveable. Amanda has been married twice and in both instances broke off the marriages just because she thought things weren't working out the way they should. She just announced that she was out of there and left.

As an attorney in Miami she is successful but she doesn't like most of her clients. She just does her job and takes their money. She also lives her life the same way. She picks up men for brief affairs but doesn't make any real connection with them. She prefers little intimacy and no obligations.

Her first husband, Ben, is a great guy. He too is a lawyer and the one who called Amanda about her mother. He is involved in a new relationship that irks Amanda. She doesn't really want him but she doesn't want him involved with anyone else either. See what I meant about being unlikable.

Fielding keeps her story fresh and interesting as she peels back layers in both Amanda's and her mother's lives. There is a connection between Amanda's mother Gwen and the "stranger" she shot but it takes a lot of effort and investigative techniques on the part of Amanda and Ben before they are discovered. And when the truth is revealed, well it is a doozy.

Fielding is in top form with this story and she keeps the readers hanging on every word and every twist of the tale. We all become puppets to her maneuverings.

Take the time to locate this book and give it a read. It may string you along for a while but you will enjoy the story even if it takes you a while to warm up to Amanda. 

PUPPET is published by Atria Books. It contains 400 pages and sells for $24.95.

 

 

 

 

 

©2005 Jackie K. Cooper

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