Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
SHOCKING AND GRIPPING..., 1 Jan 2003
This review is from: Puppet Child (Paperback)
This is a very strong, well written, debut novel. Taut and suspenseful, it immediately captures the reader with its absolutely shocking prologue, as it pulls no punches. This chilling and disturbing beginning grabs the reader, hook, line, and sinker. From then on, the reader will not stop turning the pages of this well crafted book, until the reader has devoured it in its entirety. The author tells the story of a mother's struggle to free her five year old daughter from a sexual predator, the child's own father. It is a story precipitated by the emotional pain of a five year old child who has been living a nightmare at her father's hands, courtesy of the New York Family Court system. The shocking subject matter is handled with great sensitivity by the author. The impact that this all has on the child, her mother, and, ultimately, her friends and family is the crux of the story, which moves rapidly along. It is the story of a woman who had it all and risked losing it for the sake of her child. It is a well told tale with a basis in fact. Moreover, the author manages to have a few surprises in store for the reader. The story is reminiscent of a true life drama that hit the news a number of years ago, when a Dr. Elizabeth Morgan was held in civil contempt and jailed for over two years for refusing to reveal the whereabouts of her daughter, Hilary. She was driven by the fear that Hilary's father, Dr. Eric Foretich, whom she had accused of sexually molesting the child, would be given access to the child. Dr. Morgan's parents had taken Hilary to another country, so that the child could live a life free of her alleged sexual predator. If this true life drama is of interest, then you will, undoubtedly, enjoy reading "Puppet Child". The book is an indictment of the New York Family Court system and a cry for justice for all children who are at the mercy of a sexual predator within their own family.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
powerful modern day social tale that pulls no punches, 11 Dec 2002
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Puppet Child (Paperback)
Though she works hard at her career, Rachel Belmore enjoys her job, but especially loves her two-year old baby Ellie and her highly regarded surgeon husband Wes. However, her idyllic life in Nassau County New York ends when she sees Wes "coaxing his penis into the baby's mouth" for what she now knows is not the first time. However, Wes is a pro at the game of illusion and quickly has the child welfare and legal system participants believing he is an innocent victim of a maniac whom never recovered from giving birth. As Ellie's behavior worsens, Rachel turns desperate to keep her baby safe from a pediophile who makes Machiavelli look like an amateur especially with Judge McGillian leaning towards giving full custody of Ellie to her publicly smooth father in Belmore vs. Belmore. This work is simplistic in terms of the characters as Wes is a predator manipulating the public relations process and the child welfare and legal systems while Rachel is an emotional wreck making errors as she learns the needed game to protect Ellie. The impact of the abuse and the court case are described on several levels, but especially the aftermath on the child as seen through the distraught filter of the mother. PUPPET CHILD is a powerful modern day social tale that pulls no punches as Talia Carner wastes no words to describe the pediophile and his clever machinations and the desperation of a lioness to keep her cub safe from a jungle of knowing do-gooders. This book is a powerhouse that opens ones eyes to the evil around them. Harriet Klausner
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unimaginable but True, 4 Nov 2002
By S. Berger "wordworthy" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Puppet Child (Paperback)
Carner's Puppet Child dares to go where other stories of child abuse shrink and hide away. It is a very well-written and powerful first novel that grips the reader immediately showing the devastating frustration of a mother determined to protect her young child, and a judicial system, so poorly designed,it ultimately fails her. The story will make you think, and make you furious...how our courts that are supposed to protect,too easily feed our children back to their abusers. From the amazing gripping opening to the very end,this reader rooted for Rachel, mother and career woman,and respected her urgency as she battled to keep her daughter away from the horrific sexual abuse by the child's own biological father. Puppet Child's author Talia Carner tells her story with shattering honesty and compassion...a story that needed to be told!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful and Compelling....., 21 Jan 2003
By Roz Levine - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Puppet Child (Paperback)
Rachel Belmore thought she had the perfect life. She was married to the very handsome and charismatic surgeon, Wes Belmore, and was living in the lap of luxury on New York City's Fifth Avenue. She loved her high powered job with a world famous fashion magazine, and as if that were not enough, all her dreams had come true with the birth of their beautiful baby daughter, Ellie. But that perfect world exploded and crumbled in just seconds, the night she discovered her husband molesting Ellie in her crib. For three years, now, Rachel's been fighting a protracted legal battle in a system that almost always seems stacked against her, bent on protecting and restoring the reputation of Wes, not saving her young daughter's life..... From the harrowing prologue to the final climactic chapter, Talia Carner's stunning and well researched, debut novel tells a tense and powerful story in excrutiating and vivid detail. Her intricate plot is eloquently written, filled with well developed, true to life, intriguing characters, and touching, often painful, riveting scenes. Ms Carner indepth knowledge and expertise in child abuse and the flawed, family court legal system adds real credibility to her story and makes this novel stand out. Puppet Child examines the uncomfortable truths about child custody and our ability, within the law, to protect children from further abuse. This is a marvelous and compelling debut that shouldn't be missed. Kudos to Ms Carner!
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