Rating: 
Summary: A Good Book Club Choice
Review: Having been under the weather, a visiting friend brought "puppet Child" to "keep me company. Our reading group has selected this novel this month and everyone is raving about it."
In Puppet Child, Talia Carner unfolds the legal machine, as biased as it is found in Family Court. I speak from experience.
The child abuse case, told in a very sensitive way, is intriguing and compelling. Rachel, the career woman, faces competition and nepotism on the job. Coping with sibling rivalry, getting support from loving parents, and a heartwarming friendship with Jacqueline, adds texture and depth to the story-line.
Carner always pulls the reader back from the sad and negative to the sublime. Rachel is a very appealing character. As a woman, her sensuality is suppressed by the demands of her predicament and the desertion of Gerald. Unexpectedly, a caring sensitive man reawakens Rachel's passion and love.
Rachel, the mother who is determined to fight for the safety of her daughter, is, or should be, every abused child's mother. The corporate life, the romance, and the sibling rivalry are interspersed with descriptive beach locations and moments of serenity or even fun, all of which add texture and sub-stories that fit well with the storyline. I had to keep reading.
Yet, always lurking, adding to the suspense, is Wes, the biological father. Wes is a prominent physician with the financial means to force the custody battle going on in Family Court. The court scenes are well researched and documented in detail. The prologue sets the tone. The child sexual abuser caught in the act. I was there. I saw him do it! I had to stay with the book till hopefully little Ellie was safe.
The romantic ending may not be well digested by all readers, yet I love happy endings!
Rating: 
Summary: Timeless Tales review
Review: By TT reviewer Sandra Ray
Talia Carner creates a complicated legal world in Puppet Child as she describes one mother's fight to save her child from repeated sexual abuse. The book opens with a depiction of graphic sexual abuse of an extremely young child. The descriptions add to the suspense; however, they add an element of discomfort that squeamish readers may not appreciate. The reader experiences first-hand the consequences of child sexual abuse through the eyes of a young girl. The aftermath of the abuse is handled well, even though these scenes are equally disturbing. Rachel Belmore is determined to keep her daughter's abuser from repeated contact. This is made even more difficult since the child's father (Rachel's ex-husband) is the culprit. In the midst of her legal battles, her attorney leaves the case, and Rachel not only has to find a new attorney, but also must work through some of the personal ramifications of the situation. Her supervisor at work does not understand her repeated absences from work, and her sister thinks the abuse is made up and Rachel's daughter is simply a "brat." The preschool workers feel ill equipped to handle the situation and soon asks Rachel to remove her daughter from childcare. Rachel loses a potential fiancé when he feels smothered by a surprise inspection by Child Protective Services and the needs of an abused child. Finally, Rachel ends up in jail for contempt of court when she hides her daughter to circumvent a scheduled visitation. The series of events meld together, showing the reader how complicated the personal and legal situations can be and how quickly a person can be overwhelmed by all of it. The final chapters mount the suspense, bringing the work to a dramatic conclusion. Rachel learns more about herself and her friends and family along the way, teaching her hard lessons in who is able to help her. The ending leaves the reader satisfied with the overall story. There are still some avenues Carner could have explored. Still, the story ties together nicely, despite the uncomfortable nature of the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Unimaginable but True
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: The Truth Revealed
Review: I read this book over the holidays and found it riveting, realistic and powerful. They say non-fiction includes facts, fiction includes truth. By giving readers Ellie and Rachel, real portraits of unwitting vicitms of the system, the author gives her readers a real sense of how awful the family courts really are. Similarly, by giving us McGillian she does more to explain judicial arrogance, and manifestations of complete discrection (and the dangerous effects of politics and political pressure on the judicial system), than any academic explanation could.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbound by Puppet Child
Review: I too am spellbound by Puppet Child. I kid you not -- this book should be must reading for every person (including the judges in our courts) who demand to look behind the closed doors of a justice system -- where the "blind" option indeed disfigures so many lives. And the victims -- so much needless anger, despair and pain. What a pity. Puppet Child's suspenseful storyline flows so easily -- I was into this book immediately. Carner really did her homework. When's the movie?
Rating:
Summary: A disturbing and suspenseful tale of injustice!
Review: Puppet Child is a novel filled with suspense from beginning to end. It is about a woman's desperate attempts to protect her daughter: that she would flout her will, defy the law, chance the loss of her daughter simply to ensure her daughter's safety. (Safe from what or whom, you ask? That would be a spoiler.) Talia Carner delves into the dark and corrupt legal system and leaves the reader turning the pages. There are taboo subjects in this gem. This is Carner's first novel, and I do hope that she continues to write suspenseful tales like this one. I shall give this book the word of mouth it deserves. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling Story
Review: PUPPET CHILD is the compelling story of one woman's five year struggle to save her young daughter from an abusive father and a Family Court system so crippled by judicial prejudice that justice is found, or lost, by the luck of the draw rather than through careful and mindful consideration of evidence. Rachel, a loving young mother, finds her world suddenly shattered when she discovers her husband sexually abusing their infant daughter in her crib. Her husband is a successful doctor whose charm makes his wife's attempts to expose his evil secrets all the more incredulous when heard in a courtroom where angry and bitter parents attack each other daily in custody battles. Incredibly, Rachel must fight against a judge whose own prejudices against women threaten to actually deliver Rachel's innocent five year-old daughter, Ellie, into the hands of her abusive father permanently. Rachel must call on her family's help when the court fails to act in her daughter's best interest. In the end, only political pressures can bring a glimmer of reason to the judicial process and hope for Rachel and her daughter. In PUPPET CHILD, Talia Carner has shone the light of truth into the shadowy corners of a justice system in denial, and at the same time given us hope that the pressures of a modern society can bring about change. Her characters are rich and insightful, and PUPPET CHILD is a must-read for anyone who is forced to deal with the Family Court system.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Compelling.....
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Compelling.....
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: I cannot express how great this is.
Review: Rachel Belmore's life shattered when she caught her husband sexually abusing her infant daughter, Ellie. Her husband was Dr. Wesley Belmore who was very well known and respected. From then on, it was battle-after-battle against the corrupted legal system. Rachel would go to ANY lengths, and does, to protect her child from Wes, the pedophile. Author Talia Carner has woven an intricate story from a sensitive subject that all parents fear! It showed the horrors, in detail, that many women have had to deal with, as well as, our judicial system that forces the mothers into failure and the children into the arms of their abusers. This situation happens more often than you would believe. Here is a book that shows the public why many women are currently in jail because they were forced to protect their children when the courts refused to. From the amazing opening until the very last page, I was hooked! I often found myself holding my breath. I only wish I could have seen Ellie return and Wes be humiliated. I CANNOT say from where, how, when, or anything more without ruining the startling ending. I hope MANY workers in our legal system reads this book! The author researched so well, that I had to remind myself that this was a work of fiction. Problem is, it really is happening out there! I strongly recommend this book to everyone. Reviewed by Detra Fitch.
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