THE HAND OF THE DEVIL by Dean Vincent Carter
    Category:  Horror
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  10/10/06
    Publisher:  Delacorte
    Reviewed by:  Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"
    Rating:  5 Stars


    Bugs.  Honestly, I don't particularly care for them.  They seem to like munching on me, even though I'm pretty sure
    I'm not the type who is made of sugar and spice.  I also suffer from arachnophobia; I absolutely, positively despise
    spiders.  Those hairy bodies, those spiny legs, those googly eyes.  <shudder>  Spiders truly freak me out.  So, I guess
    I should start by thanking Mr. Carter for not making the bug in his story a spider.  On the other hand, he made the bug
    in his story this ginormous, otherworldly red mosquito who managed to give me nightmares.  I guess that means his
    story was effective; it also means I'm suffering from hallucinatory mosquito bites just from reading THE HAND OF
    THE DEVIL.

    Ashley Reeves is twenty-one, a bright guy who works as an investigative journalist for the magazine Missing Link.  
    Where they once centered around inexplicable stories based on alien sightings and the like, they now focus on freak
    of nature stories that deal with facts and scientific proof.  Ashley still finds himself dealing with a lot of hoaxes, so when
    he receives a letter from one Mr. Reginald C. Mather, he's undeniably excited.  Mr. Mather has asked for Ashley to
    join him at his home on Aries Island to view the Ganges Red, a very unique mosquito that he claims to have in his
    possession.  Curiosity piqued, Ashely sets off to visit Mr. Mather and his mosquito in the middle of Lake Languor.

    It turns out that Reginald Mather was telling the truth.  He does, in fact, own the Ganges Red, also known as The
    Lady or The Devil's Hand.  Reginald delights in telling Ashley stories about his very unique, and slightly frightening,
    bug friend.  Some of the stories seem outrageously fantastic, such as the fable that The Lady is the reincarnation of a
    woman from a Vietnamese tale.  Or that the Ganges Red has been alive for hundreds of years, killing and destroying
    numerous humans on its voyage.

    As Ashley finds himself trapped on Aries Island during a storm, he realizes that although The Lady seems to be more
    than just a simple insect, the danger he's finding himself in might actually be coming from Mather himself.  It seems the
    former doctor, now turned recluse and devoted keeper of the Ganges Red, is hiding a murderous secret of his own,
    and it's just Ashley's luck to have stumbled upon it.  As Ashley fights for his life from the wicked Mr. Mather, he will
    have to suspend everything he's ever thought to be true to understand the true nature of The Devil's Hand and her hold
    over Mr. Mather.

    If you're looking for a book that will unnerve you, mess with your mind, and play on all of the fears you've ever had,
    then THE HAND OF THE DEVIL is definitely the book for you.  Unable to stop reading even while I was scratching
    at my faux mosquito bites, this is one story that will stay with you long after you've finished it--whether you want it to
    or not.
The Hand of the Devil
by Dean Vincent Carter