Product Description: When Professor Childermass lends a collection of artifacts to a local museum, a 'collector' named Mattheus Mergal appears, demanding to see it. Mergal aims to steal a wooden hand with the power to raise the dead, and if he gets his hands on it, no one will be able to stop him from terrorizing the world. Can Johnny and the professor halt him in time? 'A spellbinding tale.' -- School Library Journal
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Fairly good spooky thriller
There may have been only one John Bellairs, but Brad Strickland hits pretty close to the mark. Although it lacks in some areas, it overall gets the feeling of a Bellairs kids' thriller, full of the various ghoulish visions and villains and offbeat humor.
Johnny Dixon is quite depressed when his best friend Fergie leaves for a while. In an effort to cheer his friend up, Professor Childermass gets a job for Johnny at the Gudge Museum, where he has just donated several artifacts from the ... Read More
Rating: - Brad Strickland's First and Best.
Out of all of the six Bellairs/Strickland books published thus far, "The Hand of the Necromancer" still remains the best. Even though Brad Strickland was bold to say the least with this one, he managed to pull off an excellent story line and introduce a new character to boot while still including all of the original Bellairs magic and charm.
The dust jacket design by Edward Gorey is one of the best - the hand and globe on the front immediately tell an important part of the story without ... Read More
Rating: - Good, but not as good as Bellairs...
Strickland does have a good sense of Bellairs' style, and yet he doesn't. He has a need to make Johnny's life happier in each book, which really does nothing for the stories. Also, the villians and plots get a little hokier each time. Bellairs' stories were all DARK. He had no need to make it seem less believable or gorey just to make the reader sleep better at night. The story was good, though. The whole idea of cursed artifacts and an evil man on the hunt for them was cool, although I prefer ... Read More
Rating: - Strickland is still getting there
Brad Strickland has always shown a surprising ability to mimic the writing style of the late John Bellairs, but hasn't yet gotten Bellairs' feel for plotting or character development. This book should still be an acceptable read for Bellairs fans, though.
Irascible Professor Childermass wants to help lonely Johnny Dixon get a summer job, and donates a collection of occult antiques to a local museum to achieve it. Little does he suspect (despite quite a lot of experience!) that these items ... Read More
Rating: - John Bellairs' Johnny Dixon?
I've always loved John Bellairs' books and I'm glad someone else is continuing to write about Johnny Dixon, Lewis Barnevelt (sp?), et al.. But, I also enjoyed John Bellairs' writing style and miss it in this book.
The plot is great as usual. I love these occult mysteries. Poor Johnny. He's seems to get caught up in the most bizarre and scary situations. And, he has a new friend to help him.
But, Johnny doesn't usually talk so slangly to the Professor as is portrayed in this ... Read More
- Fairly good spooky thriller
- Brad Strickland's First and Best.
- Good, but not as good as Bellairs...
- Strickland is still getting there