Read @ Joe’s

Title: Red Hands (2020) Author: Christopher Golden Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Book jacket: When a mysterious and devastating bioweapon causes its victims to develop Red Hands, the touch of death, weird science expert Ben Walker is called to investigate. Joe says: Golden crafts a terrific read that mixes high adventure with ancient horror.

Christopher Golden is a fan favorite author, and his 2020 horror-action novel Red Hands is complete proof of such domain. Golden has a proclivity to rouse exterior forces as a counterpunch to familial drama; allowing the commonplace to succeed to the supernatural. In Red Hands, though, Golden moves with the action, making that primary, as the internal strife provides the binding mortar. Red Hands is easily one of Golden’s best, and well-written, of his recent releases. 

Golden starts Red Hands with a wink and nod to Stephen King’s seminal work The Stand as an interrupting car crash releases patient zero whose plague touch brings instant, painful death. Rather than having this happening in a dry east Texas environ, Golden erupts this horror on the lush green of Jericho Falls, NH. There, Maeve Sinclair witnesses the shocking death of townsfolk and – even worse – family before she too is infected. 

Instead of dying, Maeve harnesses her inner Peter Gabriel and learns… she has the touch. Not wanting to spread the infection, Maeve runs to the hills, in this case, the Jericho Mountains. Weird science expert Ben Walker (first seen in Ararat) is called in to the hunt. Red Hands becomes a chase thriller as Walker seeks to rescue Maeve while those responsible for the death touch are hunting Maeve for more corporately sinister dealings. All the while Maeve learns that the infection within her might not have been concocted in a lab but rather is a force that is deeply older. 

Golden plugs away at the main character’s internal struggles but does so as a compliment to the external attacks. Maeve, sensing that she is already dead, instead seeks for the wellbeing of her addict-suffering father and surviving younger sister. Likewise, Walker tries to deal with a teenaged son who has no problems in spurning away an absent father. Golden uses these nuggets to add depth to the horror of the story. And worry not, there is horror aplenty.  

Deep in the book, Golden shifts focus onto Rose Sinclair, Maeve’s sister as she attempts to deal with the malevolent entity that has arisen in Jericho Falls. The following resolution might be satisfactory but does not necessarily equate to a happy ending either. Even though Red Hands is a “Ben Walker” book, his backstory does not dominate the narrative. First time readers can easily jump right on in and get carried away with the adventure. Which is what is supposed to happen when done correctly.

Golden crafts a terrific read that mixes high adventure with ancient horror. Explosions erupt and blood flows as this horror-action novel delivers a particularly nasty tickle right under the skin.