Running from the Puppet Master

Leah Stockbridge was born into the wrong family. Although her typically conventional New England Yankee parents were very nice, loving people, they didn’t understand either her rebelliousness or her desire to be an artist. Her high school art teacher does.
She takes her father at his word when he tells her that as long as he is paying she will go to school where he says, and she finds a way to finance her own art education.
After she graduates and suffers a personal tragedy, Leah moves to Paris, ties up with the artistic community on Montmartre, and finally comes into her own. Then she is approached by a Swiss banker, Jean-Luc Perroset.
Against her better judgment, she marries Jean-Luc and finds once again she is tied down to a very conventional life. She puts her artistic ambitions on hold for the sake of her marriage and children. She has everything a woman should want: household servants, more than enough money. Her husband is attentive, despite his work schedule. Finally with the help of a new artist friend, she is able to pull an exhibition together.
But under the happy surface, an undercurrent leaves her uncomfortable, and she doesn’t know why until she runs into a reporter who forces her to see the truth. In doing so, she uncovers a nightmare and is forced to run for her life.

Released on: 19/11/2008

ISBN-13: 978-1594147081

ISBN-10: 1594147086

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“Nelson has written a fun-to-read thriller … a real, Hitchcockian nail-biter.”

Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for. Leah Stockbridge has achieved all of her dreams. She is an accomplished artist. She has two beautiful children with her husband, Jean-Luc Perroset, one of the richest, most powerful men in Europe. She can have any luxury she wants. There’s a golden tether tying her to her husband and limiting her freedom, but she tolerates it, even as she longs for her old life as a free-spirited artist. But, little by little, Leah learns how her husband has manipulated her life, much the same way as he manipulates his collection of rare puppets. Worse yet, she discovers that not only is her husband evil and corrupt, he is also a murderer. Now he knows that she knows, and Leah must run for her life. Jean-Luc’s influence is worldwide, so the prospects of finding a safe haven are bleak. Nelson has written a fun-to-read thriller with odd details about life in America (remember tonettes and A-bomb drills?), Paris, and Switzerland from the 1960s to the 1990s and a real, Hitcockian nail-biter.

Publishers Weekly

Born in 1945 into a privileged New England family, Leah Stockbridge, the engaging heroine of this initially sluggish novel of romantic suspense from Swiss-American author Nelson (The Card), defies her parents’ wishes by enrolling in a Boston art school instead of attending a liberal arts college. After a devastating personal tragedy, Leah moves to Paris to fulfill her desire to paint in the City of Light. There, she falls under the spell of a handsome Swiss banker, Jean-Luc Perroset, whom she eventually marries. Leah sets aside her artistic career to become the perfect Swiss wife, mother and chatelaine of a massive estate.  The pace picks up as mysterious incidents start to befall Leah, and her fairy tale life with Jean-Luc unravels. Flashbacks to Leah’s youth growing up in New England help heighten the suspense.