Puppet Master

Gil Beach Mysteries #1

by Barry T. Hawkins

As Gil Beach, a detective with the New York City police department, pieces together clues to the identity of a child killer, memories of his own childhood begin to resurface. Original.

Genres: Horror

351 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

Reviews

[William Malmborg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puppet Master by Barry T. Hawkins was an exciting, but incredibly disturbing read, especially during the scenes that take on the point of view of the killer who has no remorse whatsoever for the brutal crimes being committed. Equally disturbing are the moments when the killer reminisces about his past and the abuse that unfolded while in the care of those who should have protected him. The only downside to the book, in my opinion, was the overly detailed background information that was often narrated to the reader as characters were introduced. Don’t get me wrong, I love back story and learning who the characters are and what shaped them into the person on display, but such information should be layered into the story in a way that doesn’t impede upon the forward momentum of the tale itself. Thankfully this is the only real flaw of the book in my opinion, a book that I would highly recommend to horror fans, especially if they are the type that enjoys going in pursuit of an incredibly sick and twisted killer whose only purpose in life seems to be to cause others misery. Equally enjoyable is the information one gets on the art of ventriloquism, which, in my opinion, is a very creepy yet incredibly fascinating form of entertainment.

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would place this book into the category of “So Bad It’s Good”. Fun. Kinda Boring at times. But enjoyed the killers reveal. 3.5⭐️

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Puppet Master had the potential to be an amazing book. Grisly and macabre imagry are perfected; one of the best chapters is where the reader is taken down the twisted road of the killer's tourchured past. When I first came across this book at a used book store I was intrigued by the snippet on the first page. The ceativity is superb, but hampered by sloppy syntactical execution, because of this I put the book back on the rack. Months later on another visit to the same used book store I again eyed the book. I decided to give it a chance. There are many errors and near the end the story lags with tedious details. I had formed the hunch that Detective Gil was the killer (which has the possibility of fitting into the story) but he was not. There is a poor twist that comes off as dull and makes the main characters look stupid. The ending paragraphs of the two last chapters are horrible, boring, and corny enough to make you think, "Am I still reading the same book I started??!" while throwing up. Puppet Master is a stillbirth.