Joy Fielding

Notified by her ex-husband that her mother has shot and killed a stranger in the lobby of a hotel, defense attorney Amanda Travis must face her past.

Puppet

Peggy Walker

I enjoy reading books by Joy Fielding. The protagonist is always female, and even if the character is dealing with extremely difficult circumstances, they always seem to find an inner strength or courage or resourcefulness to "solve" whatever mystery the book presents. I think the author takes a real chance in this book, because she makes the heroine very unsympathetic through much of the book. She's promiscuous, she drinks too much, she avoids any kind of real feeling of connection with anyone, she's ruthless in the courtroom. We gradually find out how her childhood formed her when she returns to her childhood home in Toronto when notified that her mother has inexplicably shot a perfect stranger in the lobby of the Four Seasons hotel. As she unravels the mystery, we learn why she has spent her life avoiding real intimacy with anyone, although she still has a long way to go at the end of the book. It is a very tricky tale so that it is difficult to guess most of the plot turns, but it seems that the clues to put everything together either miraculously fall into her lap or can be ferreted out with very little digging in less than a week. Ms Fielding has a very engaging writing style, but I enjoyed this less than most of her other books. Ultimately, the heroine never became really likable to me, and the story pretty far-fetched. A good book for an airplane, a beach vacation, etc.

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