Puppets

By: Daniel Hecht

Narrated by: Jason Collins

The New Jersey State Police had started calling him Howdy Doody, after the famous TV puppet of the 1950s. Three people had been killed in northern New Jersey, then three in Manhattan, and another in the Bronx, in a 13-month period. All of them were found hung up with strings attached to their limbs, like puppets. Finally the murderer was caught in New York City. But several months later, State Police detective Mo Ford finds another victim, killed and arranged in exactly the same way.

Is it a copycat crime, or did the police catch the wrong man? Mo's theory about what happened soon expands to involve U.S intelligence agencies and a horrific experiment with human beings. With so many forces behind the scenes, who is the real puppet master?

©2005 Daniel Hecht (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Hecht...delivers a first-rate thriller with a killer combination of wit, grit, and gore." (Booklist)
"Four stars! Puppets is a fast, intriguing story bolstered by real substance in its study of the dodgy things governments do....Excellent stuff!" (Daily Mirror)

Surprisingly good

Lots of twists, and although I did accurately predict the end it could have plausibly turned out a couple of different ways. It appealed to my love of a good conspiracy theory, and was pretty well written. The author could improve the way he writes female characters, but they weren't any more offensive or unrealistic than most suspense novels. The book definitely exceeded my expectations, and if the author had other novels that weren't about ghosts I would listen to them.

Great listen!

I thought the book was great! It did get graphic at times, but the author did a great job with the story. You may think you know who the killer is, you are kept off balance enough so you are not quite sure.

NOT FOR DOG LOVER'S!!

Daniel Hecht is one of my favorite authors, and I got almost halfway through this book before the bad guy in the story starts doing experimental brain surgery on dogs, cutting out pieces of their brains while they are awake, etc. etc.

I am a big dog lover, and though I tried, I just couldn't continue listening, it made me physically sick. I don't have a problem with descriptions of things done to humans, but I couldn't get through this. If graphic descriptions of drilling holes in the heads of dogs while they are strapped to a table and awake bothers you, don't listen!! What a waste of a potentially good book!!