Customer Reviews

Puppet Child

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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

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!

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!

I took this book with me on vacation. I had planned to spend my time walking the beach, swimming and body-surfing; instead, I sat on a lounge chair with my face buried in Puppet Child. It is one very difficult book to put down. The urgency of the story and the depths of the injustice it profiles are compelling. I found some of the coincidences a bit too easy, but the story and its treatment easily overrode this minor complaint.

Although the subject matter--child abuse, and the subsequent abuse of the mother by the social services and courts--is grim, the writing in the book is hopeful, and the story leans heavily on the wonder of positive relationships. I found that I was not left depressed, but indignant--and eager to speak out against all that is wrong in our skewed justice system.

I live in a state where, not long ago, a judge chided a battered woman for whining about her fate and returned her to her spouse; shortly thereafter, she was murdered. The sort of things depicted in Puppet Child do happen--repeatedly. Kudos to Carner for having the courage to write so compellingly about judicial injustice, and for infuriating us that it exists.

Susan O'Neill
Author: Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Viet Nam

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.

This novel makes you want to keep reading to find out what happens next. It is well-written, action-packed and full of suspense. The characters are brought to life in such a way that you feel like you know them. It is like a good movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a book to get immersed in. It will definitely engage you and get you to think about what could (and sometimes does) happen in our court system.

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.

Carner's prose is solid and fluid. Its power in creating a riviting tale is in its being consistently visual. I was convinced that it was NOT fiction for hours of reading. What a relief that it is! This talented writer has taken a shunned subject of immense importance to our society and has woven a spell binding can't-put-it-down-until-its-read image of every mother's worst nightmare. The charaters are so well drawn that they come off natural, familiar even - and fully understood in spite of the complexities of their world. Read it because you should. Read it because it will make you think. Childhood and motherhood have radically changed in our lifetimes and Talia Carner spellbindingly tells how. Buy this one and do our world a favor - buy a half dozen more for gifts for those you care about.

Your book "blew me away". I have not cried reading a book in a very long time. Outstanding writing.

PUPPET CHILD is the taut and suspenseful story of a woman who discovers that her husband has sexually abused their young daughter. Her struggle to protect her child leads her into a war of unimaginable proportions and consequences, in which she must battle not only the legal system, but society's expectations for women, and her own human weaknesses. The reader roots for Rachel as she discovers strengths she didn't know she had, and friends she didn't know she'd need. Talia Carner's novel is relevant and enlightening about abuses of the legal system, and the potential pitfalls a woman determined to protect her child may face, but even more, it is beautifully told, a simultaneously heartbreaking and life-affirming page-turner you won't soon forget.