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A review by kleedc73
Puppet by Joy Fielding
3.0
In this novel, Amanda Travis is an emotionally-closed-off woman in her late 20s working as a criminal defense attorney in Florida. When Amanda gets an unexpected, urgent phone call from her ex-husband, she is shocked and dismayed to learn that her estranged mother has shot and killed a man in her hometown of Toronto. Her ex urges her to come home and assist in dealing with her mother, who appears to want to plead guilty and go directly to prison. Amanda wants nothing more than to hide in Florida and pretend she has no past. Her relationship with her mother is rocky, to say the least, and she left her ex under less-than-ideal circumstances too. But Amanda is drawn back to Toronto where she is forced to confront unresolved issues and demons from her past as well as investigate things she never knew about her mother. The necessity of investigating the charges against her mother force Amanda to open up emotionally and reevaluate her own life.
Amanda is a complex, less than fully likeable character, but she is not entirely unsympathetic. In some ways, it is refreshing to have a less-than-perfect "heroine" who doesn't always handle things with perfect aplomb and total control. Putting aside the bizarre factual circumstances driving the plot, the novel is essentially about Amanda confronting her past and the journey to finding out who she really is and how she wants to live her life. It's about choices and mistakes and having the courage to attempt to correct things you regret. It is a relatively quick read, although the plot develops a little more slowly than would be ideal in a mystery/thriller. This is far from Joy Fielding's best offering in this genre but certainly worth reading.
Amanda is a complex, less than fully likeable character, but she is not entirely unsympathetic. In some ways, it is refreshing to have a less-than-perfect "heroine" who doesn't always handle things with perfect aplomb and total control. Putting aside the bizarre factual circumstances driving the plot, the novel is essentially about Amanda confronting her past and the journey to finding out who she really is and how she wants to live her life. It's about choices and mistakes and having the courage to attempt to correct things you regret. It is a relatively quick read, although the plot develops a little more slowly than would be ideal in a mystery/thriller. This is far from Joy Fielding's best offering in this genre but certainly worth reading.