"Hecht delivers a first-rate thriller with a killer combination of wit, grit, and gore."Booklist

"Part medical investigation, part Gothic chiller, with a singularly explosive ending."Mail on Sunday

"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!"Daily Mirror

The New Jersey State Police had started calling him Howdy Doody, after the famous TV puppet of the 1950s. Three people had been killed in northern New Jersey, then three in Manhattan, and another in the Bronx, in a thirteen-month period.

All of them were found hung up with strings attached to their limbs, like puppets. Finally the murderer was caught in New York City. But several months later, State Police detective Mo Ford finds another victim, killed and arranged in exactly the same way.

Is it a copycat crime, or did the police catch the wrong man? Mo's theory about what happened soon expands to involve U.S intelligence agencies and a horrific experiment with human beings. With so many forces behind the scenes, who is the real puppet master?

Daniel Hecht was a professional guitarist for twenty years. He took up writing in 1989 and received his M.F.A. degree from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1992. His first novel, Skull Session, was a best-seller. He lives in Montpelier, Vermont.

Christopher Lane is an award-winning actor, director, and narrator. Earning rave reviews on every book he has narrated for Blackstone, he received the coveted Audie Award in 2004. He lives in Washington, D.C.