Mr. Hands
Gary A Braunbeck
Leisure Books
Mass Market Paperback $6.99
Reviewed by Craig Davis
There are writers who are hyped as the next big thing and a future rising star. Then there are writers who have not only fulfilled all of the hype and praise lavished upon them, but have continued to raise the expectations to astronomical levels. And then there is Gary A Braunbeck. With his latest, mmpb form Leisure, Mr. Hands, Gary has written a tight, literate and easily accessible novel that any fan of the genre should pick up and read immediately.
Mr. Hands is an expanded version of “Mr. Hands and Thalidomide Man” and easily fits into Gary’s Cedar Hill mythos. Framed as a story being told in one of Cedar Hill’s taverns, the reader is left rapidly turning pages not only to read about the main storyline, but to read the framing sequences as well.
Without giving anything away, Mr. Hands is a novel that will leave the reader breathless with emotion in places and filled with wonder in others. I actually had such feelings of anger and despair in places that I wanted to exact the same type of revenge on the perpetrators that Mr. Hands did in the novel. The only gripe I had was that it would have been nice to be treated to more scenes involving Mr. Hands himself, and a little more exploration of Thalidomide Man and his history.
Regardless, any genre lover, or lover of extremely well written fiction with beautiful use of language and imagery should read this novel. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
