An abandoned child, dysfunctional siblings, serial killer and a detective in a wheelchair. How would you merge this into a story? But Jenny does. She creates a dark, evil and twisted concoction that will have you gripped by the throat. This was so good and I loved it and I'm sure you will also.

What an opening to a new series.

Introducing Alana (Alan) Mack learning to adapt to life as a wheelchair user after a life changing accident, the story not only follows her challenges in her professional life but that of her personally life which adds depth to the story and her character.

As I was reading the story I did wonder if I'd missed an instalment as there was reference to prior goings on, hoping this will develop as the series does.

A disturbing thrilling read look forward to seeing what comes next.

A not for the faint of heart story, the action and suspense in this book is amazing. I was glued to the pages from the beginning wondering how the police were going to make the connection between an abandoned two year old and a string of gruesome murders. I will be on the lookout for other books by this author and want to thank Netgalley and Storm publishing for introducing me to some fabulous authors.

When Detective Alana Mack arrives at Clonabee police station, she doesn’t expect to find a distressed 2 year old with a crumpled note.
The words in faint pencil on the crumpled note say “please look after her. Her life and mine depend on you not trying to find me”
An totally addictive Irish crime thriller, first book in the Detective Alana Mack series.
It’s gripping and intense, although can be gruesome at times, but stick with it.
Perfect for fans of L J Ross and Angela Marsons
Can’t wait for the next book in the series
Thanks @scribblerjb, @stormbooks_co & @netgalley for the eARC

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy of this book.
This is the first book I've read from Jenny and I really enjoyed it. I'm delighted that it is the start of a new series. I think that with the main character having a physical disability, it is so relevant and portrays a different demographic of society not often focused on in books. Alana Mack is a great character and is quite ballsy but has learned to pick her battles! I love that it is set in Dublin as I could picture Moore Street in the city. I look forward to reading more from this series. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

What a great start to this new series featuring Detective Alana Mack ‘Al’ set in a small seaside town outside Dublin. Alana is a paraplegic and has a great relationship her partner Paddy, I can see these characters becoming amongst my favourite police duo’s. Told from the POV’s of Alana and the child’s mother this is a much darker book than those I’ve previously read by this author. Easy to read I was completely engrossed and read this in a day.

Briefly, a small child is abandoned at a supermarket with a note saying please look after her and that her life depends on not trying to find her family. Whilst Alana is trying to find out more from the child two homeless men arrive with a bag of what they say is human organs! Maybe the little town of Clonabee isn’t so quiet after all…

With a number of threads running alongside the two main police cases there is something happening all the time in this fast paced police procedural. When the chilling connection is made between the child and the human organs it gets really dark. I really enjoyed this entertaining read and although it was gruesome it wasn’t gratuitous. I’ll definitely be looking out for book 2 in the series.

When Detective Alana Mack arrives at Clonabee police station, in a small Irish seaside town on the outskirts of Dublin, she doesn't expect to find a distressed two-year-old girl sobbing on the floor. Abandoned in a local supermarket, the child tells them her name is Casey. All Alana and her team have to go on is a crumpled note begging for someone to look after the little girl. This mother doesn't want to be found. Still recovering from a terrible accident that has left Alana navigating a new life as a wheelchair user, Alana finds herself suddenly responsible for Casey while trying to track down the missing mother and solve another missing person's case, a retired newsagent who has seemingly vanished from his home.
The first in a new series & it was an original, well written, engrossing mystery. I really liked Alana but couldn’t get my head round her wanting to be called Alan! That aside I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I was drawn in from the start & read it straight through. The characters had depth & were well portrayed, the pace is good & never lags. There were twists & surprises plus I was left guessing. A very good start to a new series
My review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

An abandoned toddler, a missing man and human remains discovered in a bin. At first this looks like three individual cases for Detective Alana (known as Alan) Mack. However, as their investigations progress and new evidence comes to light, it is clear all three are connected.
This is the first in a new series, following Detective Alan Mack and set in Ireland. Alan is disabled. She suffered catastrophic injuries on a previous case, which mean she lost the use of her legs and now uses a wheelchair. The details of the case are, at times, quite gory, but handled well.

Well written, it didn’t take long for me to become immersed in the world of Alan Mack and her team, who as the story begins, are desperately trying to find the missing mother of an abandoned toddler, called Casey. Alan is a tough individual and at first glance there were a lot of things I wanted to ask about her. Why had she divorced her husband Colm so quickly after her accident, which also saw her losing her unborn baby? And how does she put up with such a misogynistic boss as Superintendent Ray Reilly (known as Ox) who constantly demeans and undermines her? As a character, she follows in the footsteps of other fictional crime fighters, in that she upholds the law, fiercely supports her team and goes that extra mile to solve a case.
There were several mentions within the story, which mentioned things which had happened prior to this current case. At first I thought I might have missed a book, but it seems not. This is the first of the series, so I look forward to the next instalment where no doubt we will find out more about Alan’s past. I look forward to her next case, and the beginning of a great new crime series.

My thanks to the author, Storm Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of The Puppet Maker in exchange for an honest review.

Now this is how to start a new detective series!
Detective Alana Mack, known to all as Alan heads up the case of a missing person along with her partner Paddy, but what starts out as a missing person case soon escalates when an abandoned toddler is found in a supermarket with a note put into her pocket requesting that the police don’t try to find her for the sake of her life and the life of the child.
Then, on top of that, a bag of human organs gets brought into the station.
As they find out that the child is a DNA match for several of the found organs another person goes missing.
How is this abandoned child, the human remains and several missing people connected?
This book contains a little bit of gore in it and some highly addictive detective work as the team work hard making all the pieces fit as they try to track down the child’s mother as well as the perpetrator of the missing men and the connection to the bag of organs.
This is a fast paced, hard to put down book that had me reading way into the night as I couldn’t put it down.
If you enjoy a really good detective story with a wickedly clever plot then this is the perfect book for you.
I can’t wait to see where Detective Alana Mack finds herself next!

Detective Alana Mack (Alan to her friends) was still recovering from the shattering injury which left her in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, and learning to delegate more, as her ability to be on the front line had lessened immensely. Paddy, her partner, was learning to tread the fine line in caring for Alan, but not mollycoddling her. It was the discovery of a distraught abandoned child, approximately two years old, who said her name was Casey and she wanted her Mammy, that set the small Clonabee police station on high alert. At the same time Casey was brought to the station, two homeless men fronted up with a bag which contained human remains, plus there was a report of a missing man, who had seemingly vanished from his home the night before. Suddenly from no cases to several - were they linked? - Alan and her team were inundated with work.

The discovery of the note in Casey's clothes led them to keep details quiet, as it was obvious that both Casey and her mother were in danger. When another man went missing, the race was on; the clock was ticking. Could Alan and her team find the killer before more deaths? Would they be able to find Casey's mother before it was too late? And who was the mole in the department who was leaking to the media?

The Puppet Maker is the 1st in the Detective Alana Mack series by Jenny O'Brien and it was fast paced, action packed, and brutal! I thoroughly enjoyed Alan's character and her determination to ignore her disability as best she could. Set in Ireland near Dublin - a place I'd love to visit - the story was narrated both by Alan, and Casey's mother. I'm looking forward to #2 in the series. Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

I’d like to thank Storm Publishing and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Puppet Maker’, the first book in a new series featuring Detective Alana Mack and written by Jenny O’Brien, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Detective Alana Mack is with An Garda Siochana and finds herself dealing with a little girl called Casey who’s been abandoned in a supermarket. In the child’s pocket is a note from her mother saying it will be safer for Casey and herself if they don’t look for her, but as they try to identify her mother, Alan becomes aware that retired newsagent Aiden Crossey has disappeared from his home. And if that isn’t enough to keep them occupied, a bag of human offal has been handed in.

‘The Puppet Maker’ is the first book in a new series set in Dublin and the initial blurb interested me enough to want to read it. Whilst it’s a pleasure to read of a detective in a wheelchair proving that one doesn’t have to be able-bodied to solve crimes, I was initially confused by the name and couldn’t see the point in changing Alana to Alan. Generally, it’s a good sound detective novel but there was so much going on it lost my attention at times and wasn’t easy to keep involved with. But that’s purely my opinion and luckily readers don’t all enjoy the same novels, so I have hopes that the series will improve with future books and grow on me.

Thank you for the chance to read this ARC in return for my honest opinion
I found this book really hard to get into and that there were too many characters and too much information.

I had not read this author before and sadly I am not sure I would look out for their books again.
But we can't all like the same books all the time can we?

I do applaud the author for making the main detective disabled and in a wheelchair .

Sadly this book wasn't for me.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Storm Publishing for an advance copy of The Puppet Maker, the first novel to feature DI Alana “Alan” Mack of An Garda Síochána, Based in the outskirts of Dublin.

Alan is called down to reception to deal with a screaming toddler. The girl tells her that her name is Casey and she was abandoned in the local supermarket with a note asking for Casey to be looked after and not to look for her mother. Atlantic the same time a homeless man arrives with a bag of human offal. Investigation of the body parts reveals a familial DNA link to Casey. All this while investigating the disappearance of a retired newsagent.

I like the idea of The Puppet Maker, but I didn’t find that the execution matched the premise. The novel is told from various points of view and while it isn’t confusing it doesn’t allow for an immersive read as the reader is constantly adjusting to a different voice. It makes the read feel choppy and disjointed.

I feel that the balance of the novel is out of synch, but that might be due to my taste in reading. I like a police procedural where the emphasis is on the investigation, which I thought this would be, but while there is plenty about the investigation it doesn’t feel particularly structured or organised and it gets lost sometimes in the other narratives. I didn’t find the main secondary narrative very credible (can’t say why without spoilers) so I didn’t have much interest in it, especially when it got a bit repetitive.

I don’t know what to think about Alan Mack. She is in a wheelchair with no explanation as to why, save it was an accident. I think it is great that she gives the disabled a voice and that she highlights the petty inconveniences that the able bodied never think about. It’s eye opening. Disability is not, however, the main thing about her. She is a tough, experienced detective with a smart mind and a supportive attitude, mostly. I enjoyed her set-tos with her misogynistic and ableist boss, Ox Reilly as he’s a horror and she normally wins.

The Puppet Maker feels cluttered to me, but my taste is not everyone’s. It’s a solid read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for access to this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

I was a little confused at first, specially since one of the female POV had a male name. I kept trying to keep up. I enjoyed the other POV more, feeling sad for her. At the end, it all came together and I'm so happy with the ending !

Detective Alana Mack (who disconcertingly goes by Alan) is leading a team who are investigating both the abandonment of a toddler at a grocery store and the discovery of human organs in a dumpster. This was good. Alan is in a wheelchair, which is something you don't get much of in police novels, and I'd be interested in reading more about what led to that and her divorce as it was only alluded to. I would like to read more in this series. 4 stars

After reading the blurb I so wanted to read this book. Unfortunately I found it confusing and has too many Pov's. A slow burner and for me there was not enough going on. Saying that I am sure other readers will enjoy it more just not for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the Arc in return for an honest review.

When a young girl is abandoned in a Dublin supermarket with a note asking someone to look after her, Detective Alana Mack and her team are tasked with trying to find the missing Mother. At the same time, they are also working to find a missing retired news agent who vanished from his own home. However, these missing person cases converge when a bag of human remains is found and the DNA matches Casey, the abandoned young girl. Detective Mack and her team must work quickly to unravel the tangled web of both cases and find the killer before they strike again.

I’m a sucker for a good detective novel and The Puppet Maker didn’t disappoint. This book gave me Criminal Minds vibes from the way the author provided insight into the killer, which I really liked. I also LOVED Detective Alana Mack. The author did an incredible job of developing the central characters within the story. However, there was a lot of characters in the book and I found it difficult to keep track of them all. The story was well-written and complex. Sometimes, it felt as if there was too much going on and I had to keep notes just to keep things straight in my brain. All in all, this was a really good start to this series and I’m excited to see what comes next for Detective Mack and her team!

The first book in a new police crime thriller series with a wheel chair bound lead female police officer. This dark story will pull you in, and while tugging at your heart will have lining up for the next book as soon as you finish reading it. Thank you to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

I applaud the author for their respect for disabled people like myself in the language choices they used throughout the story in regards to the main character, while also showing the struggles of becoming paralyzed as an adult. I also liked that the chapters flipped between the investigation and the girl's mother's life after leaving her in the grocery store.

However, this is a very slow-burn and the police procedural was the main point of the plot, and I wanted more suspense and shock factor. This is the first in a series and I'm curious about how the next book will be. This one was just a bit of a miss for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the e-ARC of this novel in exchange for my review.

Following an accident, Detective Alana ("Alan") Mack is struggling to come to terms with her disability and the loss of her unborn child when she suddenly finds herself responsible for Casey, a two-year-old, whose mother has gone missing and doesn't want to be found.
The first installment in what promises to be a gripping brand new police procedural series by Jenny O'Brien, set in Ireland. Dark, twisty and realistic. I can't wait to read the next book in the series!