Fresh from the battle torn skies of Europe Doc is confronted with a terrifying new mystery. What is this strange malady that strikes men down and rots the flesh from their bones? The mystery begins in New York but quickly moves to the fetid marshes of Louisiana. Doc and his amazing men battle a cruel gang in their quest for the secret of the Hand of Death.
Read The Hand of Death, a Doc Savage novel by Tom Barnett, at Flearun Newsgroup

help ! i'm french, I have a yahoo ID, but I can't download "the Hand of Death". Can somebody help me or send me a copy on the web ?

The Hand of Death is a great Doc Savage adventure. Though it is a self-proclaimed wartime novel, it is actually a good bridge between young and old Doc tales. It starts overseas, but quickly moves Stateside with a mystery that actually has little to do with World War II (yes it does directly connect, but not overpoweringly so). Also, Doc here is more like the younger Doc than the older nervous nelly wartime Doc. We don't have to endure the sweating indecision and fumbling lack of heroics, though this features the more mature, seasoned Doc and the story lacks the overblown wild antics and over-the-top devices and villains of the early years. So it is the best of both worlds. Therefore, this is solid adventure and will be a joy to fans of both the younger and older Docs.

Furthermore, Barnett introduces a fantastic new concept to the Doc Savage series. This should become a permanent part of the mythos and an endless source of future fanfiction. This tale is part of Doc Savage: The Secret Adventures (1941-1945). This brilliant idea opens World War II to lost tales of action and adventure, or “secret” tales of the war years because Barnett provides great cover. The book is said to be a Top Secret OSS file (unlawful disclosure of which is punishable by death), classified under the Emergency War Powers Act. And as file number #1942-0z453 that means we have potentially hundreds more Doc Savage files to go through for that year alone! How many lost tales exist for the entire war? My hat is off to him for giving us such a great concept to play with in future tales.

The Hand of Death is a beautiful production, from the graphics to the layout. The .PDF file is better produced than some ebooks I have purchased before. But best of all, this tale is set in the swampy back bayous of Louisiana. I'm originally from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which is the bayou country about an hour outside of New Orleans, so this is home turf. Barnett must be from the region or a frequent visitor to it, because he nails a lot of details and gives the locale of this adventure a lot of authenticity. Dent couldn't ask for more from a ghostwriter.

Finally, I wanted to mention that this novel could have been, and part of me very much wants to say should have been, renamed The Cult of the Moccasin. Perhaps when Bantam picks this book up, they will retitle it that.

Thomas Fortenberry