Forty years as a nurse provide a wealth of knowledge to author Jenny O'Brien in the first book in the detective Alana Mack series. All authors produce better books writing from insight and this is no exception. The need for research is greatly reduced as can be deduced from the acknowledgements. Another brilliant effort in conjunction with the excellent hard working team at Storm Publishing. Thanks to NetGalley and the team at Storm Publishing for the chance to ARC this book.

This book took me no time to read and drew me in from page one. Being under 300 pages it was a book that I cold read quite quickly but it was not at all boring.

Detective Alana Mack has been through so much already but now she has taken on the role of being responsible for a two year old while she tries to find the child's mother. The story becomes more intense and the investigation becomes one about more than just an abandoned child.

Slowish to start but the tension builds as you read on so I don't mind that. The characters were good and worked well within the story and glad to hear it is the first in a series. Looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I liked the police team in this, with all their differences. Not all getting along as best friends made them seem real and believable. The plot kept me turning the pages in the hope Penny would be okay and the culprit caught before anyone else died. Another book I'm hoping soon has a sequel, so I can see if the series continues to capture my attention.

This is the first book I have read by this author.
I enjoyed that the main character has a disability in this book it is not something that is usually portrayed. It was good that the readers could see the issues that she has while trying to do a full time job as a detective.
I found while i was reading the book there were parts that i was really interested in and others not so much. Will read a second novel to see how the characters develop.

I like Jenny O’Briens writing normally but I couldn’t relate to this book. The characters seemed unreal and the story started out with a lot going on quickly. Unfortunately this wasn’t for me.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I have loved everything this author has written and this was no exception and probably one of the best. Great storyline and great characters . Would recommend.

Set in Ireland and featuring Detective Alana Mack, this is a very good read. Alana is disabled and wheelchair bound, I struggled to like her at first but she quickly grew on me! Although the pacing was slow, the plotting was good and I liked the characterisation and team dynamics. I would like to have more character development in the next book and more of Alana's background story. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

3.7 Stars
One Liner: A good start to a new series

A two-year-old Casey is abandoned in the supermarket with a slip of note in her pocket to not find her family. A retired newspaper journalist has disappeared from his home without a trace. Someone found human organs in a trash bin.
Detective Alana Mack is already overworking overtime. Her recent transfer to the Clonabee police station seemed like a good move to restart her life in a wheelchair. However, she’s dealing with fewer resources, excess pressure, and a misogynistic chief. Finding little Casey howling her lungs out adds to her list of concerns, but Alana cannot help but want to safeguard the child at all costs.
Are the crimes independent, or is there a connecting factor the police are yet to see? With Alana still struggling to come to terms with her current situation, is she strong enough to control her emotions and do what needs to be done?
The story comes in the third-person POV of multiple characters.

My Thoughts:
This is a slow-burn mystery and a police procedural (not a thriller) set in a fictional seaside Irish town. The setting stays true to the dark theme of the genre and deals more with social issues like poverty, etc., rather than focusing on the beauty of the location (of course, there a couple of references to sunrises and sunsets).
Alana Mack is a disabled police officer bound to her wheelchair after an accident/ incident in her recent past. So, we get the narrative of someone who had to get used to this new way of life. This works well to present the internal conflict.
While Alana is confident, capable, and efficient, it does take time to warm up to her. As a woman in a male-dominated field, she has to be tough and relentless. However, this sometimes doesn’t show her in good light. She is also dealing with past trauma (we get a lot of references but not enough details in this book).
The side characters, Paddy, Rusty, Tatty, etc., are well-etched and manage to make an impression within the set limitations. As the series progresses, we are likely to see better character development for the recurring characters.
Despite the specific mention of Alana’s ex-husband in the blurb, he has only a minor role in the plot. I like this as it retains the focus on the case (Alana has enough internal thoughts to mention this guy multiple times. I don’t need more at this stage).
The cases have enough twists to keep the reader engaged. There isn’t a lot to guess, though. With multiple narratives in parallel, we get enough snippets to connect the dots to a good extent. There are some triggers and graphic content, so proceed with caution.
However, this is a slow burn. I expected the book to have a steady pace after the initial setup, but it continued to be slow throughout. Also, there isn’t enough tension in the investigation. They seem to be doing their thing while the usual useless chief tries to boss around. The police station doesn’t have the personality it should (maybe it’ll get better in the next books).
Also, we could do without so many POV jumps at random. It gets confusing to read a chapter or half from a side character’s POV. This should be better structured to prevent confusion.
Alana goes by Alan, which seems odd throughout. Why would you need a man’s name if you want to exert yourself as a capable policewoman? The author’s note provides the reason, but I prefer a logical explanation rooted in the MC’s backstory. Let’s see.
I know it’s unfair to compare characters, but I do love Eve Dallas (from In Death Series). Alana doesn’t have to be Eve but should have a distinct personality. We’ll see how it goes. I like this enough to read book two.

To summarize, The Puppet Maker is a decent police procedural dealing with dark themes and a dangerous killer. It does the job of creating an interest in the series.
Thank you, NetGalley and Storm Publishing, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
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TW: Physical abuse by family, mentions of pedophilia, mutilation, and death of parents.
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Other links will be updated after the book's release.

Ireland, procedural, local-law-enforcement, real-horror, torture, forensics, family-drama, family-dynamics, relationships, relationship-issues, relatives, working-partners, paraplegia, unputdownable, abuse, tense, retribution, terror, new-series, first-in-series, dual-narrations*****

Garda (police) Detective Alana Mack is truly exceptional. The accident left her legs paralyzed and the miscarriage left her with a depression but the divorce was her choice in order to regain what sense of self she could master. The first case that her team is working on is the disappearance of a man with no clues and no corpus. Then comes the abandoned toddler bearing a note and her first name only. At about the same time a pair of homeless men find and bring in what one of them describes as human offal. And all that is in the first quarter of the book in chapters alternating with the terrors the child's mother is experiencing. Now toss in a misogynistic superior, a cohesive team, the need to bring in Alana's ex who is a psychiatric specialist in Forensic Art Therapy, and a leak to the press. This is one scary confluence of events for a highly skilled detective who happens to be wheelchair bound. Fantastic read!
I requested and received an EARC from Storm Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!

When a toddler in Clonabee, Ireland, is found on her own in a shopping trolley in a supermarket, Detective Alana Mack and her team start a major hunt for the child’s mum.

With internal body parts having been found by a vagrant, who happened to be an ex pathologist, the team are kept busy.

Alana is still getting used to her new life being in a wheelchair, as well as life without her ex husband.

These were complex cases and well written. I liked the majority of the characters, obviously in a crime story, there are going to be the unsavoury ones too.

The graphic descriptions did at times turn my stomach.

The only thing that bothered me slightly was the amount of time I spent reading the first few pages, confused and thinking there was some kind of error with the main character being female and called Alan! It would have helped if it had all been explained earlier than it was.

Overall, this was a great start to a new series and I am looking forward to reading more from the author.

My thanks to Storm Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Loved Alan- what a strong lead character!
Alan and her team are thrown into the midst of a serial killers world on the back of a lost child report and unveil a murky world of body parts, abuse and horror. The characters are all well rounded with enough backstory to keep the focus on the unfolding horrors without constantly questioning character traits or references to the past.
fast, gory and full of soul.

This book is the opener of a new series set in Ireland and featuring the feisty Detective Alana Mack. As a crime thriller it ticks all the right boxes, with sufficient tension and twists to keep the reader on their toes.
At times very graphic, it holds back on several details — particularly pertaining to Alana (Alan)'s back story. No doubt more will be revealed in the next instalment. A gripping and worthy addition to the genre.

Overall a great first book in the newest series by Jenny O"Brien. The premise was good, the characters were well developed, but at times was hard to keep them all straight. I loved Alana, AKA Alan, the detective. Strong, determined, and "real". The plot was interesting, little more graphic than I usually read.
Looking forward to book 2.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A toddler is abandoned in a supermarket, and Detective Alana Mack is called in to investigate the case.
Alana takes care of the child until a foster home can be found.
A bag of human remains is found in a bin, and DNA testing shows that there is a link to the child, Casey.


I have never read a book by this author, and had a very pleasant surprise. The story is gory, gripping and very suspenseful.
I was a little shocked at first, expecting to read about a female detective and then find that the detective is called "Alan"..... but all well and good, the detective, who is disabled, is female!
She is strong and motivated and dedicated to her job. Solid police work and a good team found the perpetrator of the terrible murders.

I recommend this book. However, there are triggers, child abuse is one.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book in a new series, set in Ireland and featuring Detective Alana Mack.

I’ve read all the books in the Gaby Darin series and was really looking forward to start the author’s new series – it didn’t disappoint!

Alana is still recovering from the accident that made her wheelchair-dependent and she starts work in a new area, a small seaside town on the outskirts of Dublin. On her first day, she enters the police station to find a small girl sat on the floor of reception, sobbing her little heart out. The girl doesn’t know her surname, only her first name, Casey, and she has a crumpled, faint note from her mother asking for Casey to be taken care of.

As well as Casey’s missing mum, Alana is trying to track down a retired newsagent who also appears to have vanished. Then a bag containing human remains is found, so Alana really has her work cut out to solve the case – and quickly.

A brilliant plot with plenty of twists and turns, I was totally gripped.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.

Seriously creepy! The first in a series about Detective Mack, the Puppet Maker of the title is making puppets using human bodies.

Detective Alan (her unusual shortened name is the author's tribute to her husband) is a paraplegic. We know a few snippets about her background: an accident, a miscarriage; a split from her husband, who still wants her back, and some history with her unpleasant boss, Detective Superintendent Ox Reilly. But we don't get the full story in this debut novel.

I liked the way she stood up to Reilly and admired her people management skills. Alan tries sometimes too hard to be nice. Near the end of the book, after all the mayhem, she does several good deeds including advising a colleague, Paddy, to ask another on a date. I couldn't help thinking Alan would still be reeling after all the chaos.

The ending certainly delivers on shocks and twists. I felt O'Brien was playing with us as she slowed down the action to share the psychological profile report on the killer. By this stage, I just wanted to cut to the chase.

The torture, death and display of the puppets is deftly handled, leaving most of it to our imaginations, but what an MO. it reminded me of "Mother" and Anthony Perkins in the Hitchcock thriller Psycho.

A very promising debut and I look forward to more of Alan's adventures.

I really like the female main character and how she keeps going despite being in a wheelchair and depression about that. I enjoyed the plot.

Two missing men, one bag of organs and a little girl left at a supermarket with a note not to try to find her parents. The Puppet Maker is a crime mystery set in Ireland, with Alan Mack as the lead character, heading up her team of detectives trying to solve this tricky case.

I loved the fact it was a lead female (although it did take me a while to get used to Alan being a her). I especially liked the fact she was disabled - very inclusive. I don’t think I’ve read a book with a disabled main character before. The prejudices she felt from her superior were believable, but whilst I was rooting for her, she didn’t grow on me quite as much as I’d hoped. At the start, she had a wonderful relationship with the little girl, but her warmth seemed to fade quickly after that.

Unfortunately, this book was a little slow for me. It didn’t have enough twists for my liking and I didn’t bond with any of the characters enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an advanced copy.

A note appears as well as a child. Alana is solely responsible for this child and must go about finding out the who and why.

Alana is a detective adjusting to life in a wheelchair after an accident. The whole thing is a heavy load for her. The further she gets into the mystery the closer she gets to danger.

I love reading about a woman in a wheelchair which is a nice change from the plethora of mysteries with fully able bodied protagonists.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This is the first book in a series about Alana “Alan” Mack, a Irish police detective who happens to be a in a wheelchair. Alan is a bit older than most of her colleagues, and maintains a professional distance, though sometimes she is tempted to mother them. She doesn’t let her disability or the worst boss ever stop her from being a top notch detective and leading her team to get the job done.
This time the case involves three seemingly unrelated events- a abandoned 3 year old, some human body parts found in a dumpster, and a missing senior citizen. Alan and her Jr partner Paddy work together to untangle the mystery.
It was a fairly good story with a complicated villain, though not much of a mystery after the first half of the book. However, my heart was hammering in the last bit as the perils for those involved become grave. I look forward to reading the other books in the series when they are published. 3.5⭐️