The Puppet Master [Mass Market Paperback]

Jan Coffey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2009

Four seemingly disparate lives are beginning to unravel...and one person is holding the strings.

The Rocket Scientist--On the eve of a new satellite launch, the fianc? of NASA project manager Alanna Mendes is apparently killed in a fishing accident...only to be spotted six months later in Silicon Valley.

The Computer Genius--Four years after being caught by Homeland Security hacking into NASA's mainframe computer, Jay Alexei is still blacklisted from the top colleges and computer companies. Now a changed man, he is desperate for a second chance.

The Financial Wizard--Once a successful international banking CFO, today David Collier is a broken man who can't afford the expensive treatment for his daughter's rare kidney disorder.

The American Dream--When a terrorist group abducts the son of rags-to-riches Steven Galvin, the billionaire is trapped in a nightmare where no amount of money can help him.

One person ties them together: The Puppet Master.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mira (January 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778326101
• ISBN-13: 978-0778326106
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,240,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jan Coffey
(a.k.a. Nikoo & Jim McGoldrick)
Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick are storytellers with a checkered past.
From the submarine shipyards of Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, and the clubs of Rodeo Drive, to the forges of Pennsylvania and the electronics manufacturers of Massachusetts, these two have spent their lives gathering material for their novels. Nikoo, a manufacturing engineer, and Jim, who has a Ph.D. in sixteenth-century British literature, wrote their first full-length novel in 1994. Since then, Jim and Nikoo have written twenty-seven novels and a work of nonfiction, and they are presently focusing their imaginations on producing romantic suspense thrillers with a decidedly technological slant.
The "Jan Coffey" pseudonym, one of several they have used, is actually a play on their own names: Jan is an acronym for "Jim and Nikoo," and Coffey is Nikoo's maiden name.
These prolific and popular authors have been the recipients of numerous awards for their work. They now reside in Watertown, Connecticut.

Visit us www.JanCoffey.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars action-packed deep allegorical thriller, January 4, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Puppet Master (Mass Market Paperback)

NASA scientist Alanna Mendes remains distraught by the death of her fiancé; in fact she feels getting up everyday overwhelming as she wants him back in her life. Computer guru Jay Alexei is a pariah who no one will touch because he hacked into a top secret data system. Financier David Collier would give up both his kidneys if one was a match for his daughter dying from a rare renal illness.

An unknown person contacts the trio. That individual offers each a deal they cannot refuse. They will receive their fondest wish in exchange for their services to right a wrong. Their benefactor claims nothing illegal is expected of them; just help on a top-secret project. However, the trio begins to question the intended consequences of their actions on innocent people.

This is a fast-paced action-packed morality play that grips the audience from the moment the offer is first made and never slows down. The reader and the lead trio contemplate ethics as no one except their employer and they will know what they did; no one will know who or what principles are violated except perhaps each one's personal values. Jan Coffey is at her suspenseful best with this intriguing deep allegorical thriller that asks whose ethics applies when the masses are kept in the dark as the threesome ponders to do or not to do knowing they will most likely not be caught.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent character construction, interesting story. Loved it!, March 18, 2010

By 

Rut B. Nogueira "rutbal" (France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Puppet Master (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read in other reviews that this is a fast paced and action packed book. I wouldn't qualify it as so myself. The story is well constructed, interesting, and extremelly easy to read. The lightness is essentially given by the different stories told by the differents characters in the first part of the book. Nothing useless in this book, every detail written has its importance, doors are opened, explained, then nicely closed. Some could complain that everything is too perfectly wrapped at the end, I myself enjoyed it.
What really makes this work special is the character development. We meet people at crucial moments of their lives, we can easily get attached to them, we angst with them. I cannot say I identified myself with any of the characters, but I certainly got attached to them and by the end of the book I just wanted to know what happened after. About 3/4 of the book I was praying for the author to have found a way of completing the story without spoiling what he had constructed before. He (they) completelly managed to do it. This was my first Coffey book and I'm buying another one as we speak. Maybe not the best book I've ever read, but definetely an excellent way of investing 4/5 hours of my life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Puzzle Masters, March 7, 2009

By 

J. Cross (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Puppet Master (Mass Market Paperback)

Jan Coffey never ceases to amaze me. The plot builds so well, you are kept on the edge of your seat. This one did that for me. In the beginning you wonder how all of the characters fit together. All from different backgrounds and with different stories. It becomes a puzzle and the reader has to put it together. I kept trying to figure out who was the puppet master? How did the characters fit together? What were they going to have to do?
I have followed these authors for years and cannot get enough of thier writing. Cannot wait for the next one.