PUPPETS

A Times of London bestseller A WH Smith Read of the Week “Gripping . . . Hecht delivers a first-rate thriller with a killer combination of wit, grit, and gore.” -- Booklist (starred review) “The best yet from Hecht . . . an intriguing thriller from a writer at the top of his form.” – Kirkus Reviews

Now available in softcover by Bloomsbury -- the long-awaited U.S. publication of the terrifying prequel (or is it a sequel?) to the international best-selling Skull Session! Puppets brings back Investigator Mo Ford for a stunning psychological thriller that was first published in England and became a runaway Times of London bestseller.

Called to investigate a gruesome homicide in the New York area, Mo Ford works with psychologist Rebecca Ingalls to explain why the murder so closely resembles the crimes of a serial killer who has long since been arrested. Is it a copycat crime, or did the police catch the wrong man? As more evidence emerges, Mo and Rebecca realize they have stumbled across something far more complex and horrific a secret U.S. military experiment conducted upon human beings. With so many forces behind the scenes, who is the real puppet master? And, knowing what they do, how will Mo and Rebecca survive?

Author’s comment:

Writing Puppets was a blast! Mo Ford was everybody’s favorite character in Skull Session, and I always had great fun writing his chapters. So I decided to revive him for Puppets, which might be seen as a prequel to Skull Session or as a literal act of resurrection. As I wrote, I enjoyed playing with language and tone, making it brisk, biting, compelling, darkly funny, scary. I had stumbled across the awful facts of government mind-control experiments while researching neuroscience for The Babel Effect, and knew immediately it was the stuff of a truly chilling and unusual thriller plot. The science in Puppets is factual, which for me makes it all the more frightening and fascinating. Mo and Rebecca really came alive for me when I wrote this – I’d love to write more Mo Ford novels.

“Four stars! Puppets is a fast, intriguing story bolstered by real substance in its study of the dodgy things governments do . . . Combined with the mind games of a classic manhunt and a splash of romance, it’s got pretty much all you could ask for. Excellent stuff!” –London Daily Mirror

“A singular plot with a multi-layered interplay of characters and motives . . . Puppets is a rattling good read, thoughtfully executed; it leaves the reader with a sense of unease about our masters’ covert activity.” – BPL

“Hecht explores the sinister side of psychology in this gripping prequel to his 1998 bestseller, Skull Session . . . A first-rate thriller with a killer combination of wit, grit, and gore.” -- Booklist (starred review)