I’m dropping this into the fantasy category because it deals with religion and supernatural in the real world. It didn’t feel like it would fit in horror very readily. Sure, it has Lucifer and a hell hound. I imagine I don’t win with religious people whether I say that makes it fantasy or horror. But enough of that, lets get to the meat and potatoes.

Victor McCain is a bounty hunter. Every day he seeks out those trying to avoid the law, and he gets paid for bringing them to justice. It’s not a glamorous job, and it has it’s share of high risk moments. But Victor ain’t seen nothing yet.

The book starts with Lucifer strolling into his office one day looking to hire Vic. One might ask why anyone would take a job brought to them by Lucifer. Well it seems Vic’s brother may have made a deal with the devil and that comes due in 24 hours. So Lucifer has an offer to make. There’s a girl Lucifer wants Vic to track down in exchange for his brother’s soul.

And this is something that made no sense to me. Vic brings it up, to his credit. But it isn’t answered to my liking. Why does Lucifer need someone to find someone? Lucifer claims to simply not have the time or resources to do that, as there are so many people. But wait, isn’t that what he does all the time with people who sell their souls? Vic is lured in with the idea of saving his brother. And so the hunt begins.

Of course the girl he is trying to find happens to be beautiful and Vic falls for her instantly. Making him question his motives. He wants to save the soul of his brother, but he also wants to get laid. Maybe a bit more moral questions than that running through his head, but that is an obvious one.

The story itself is intriguing and has a good pace to it. The 24 hour thing reminded me of the Kiefer Sutherland tv series, which I quite enjoyed. The girl is at the center of a conspiracy to kill kids and blame it on a terrorist group in order to start a holy war, but she stole the 30 million they were going to use to pay for the biological weapon.

The title of the book comes from someone that joins in who claims to be The Hand of God and roams the world setting right injustices as he sees fit based on what he believes God wants him to do. He helps Vic at first, but then walks away as he doesn’t feel the situation is worth his time (granted this was before they knew the plot was to kill kids.)

Gonna throw my rating out here now and then have spoilers. I think this gets a fairly meh 4 from me. Most of the reasoning on that will be in the spoilers that start now.

SPOILERS

Turns out Vics brother is the one behind the plot to kill the kids. But Vic keeps wanting it to not be true. With the Hand of God now involved though, that puts him in an awkward position of being in his way. The Hand makes no bones about it telling Vic to stay out of his way or else he will put him down along with his brother. They come to terms and work together. Sorta. In the end the Hand dies, but he has guided Vic to go to a mission and tell someone there what happened. This leads to Vic becoming the replacement Hand of God. Which was really just that guy telling him “tag you’re it.”

And this is a big problem I had with the story. It went from a story with religious overtones to a book series that is going to now have a main character who acts on religious demands. I’m not wanting to read a religious series. A book that traipses through religion is one thing, but this seemingly promises to be much more than that.

Once they figure out that someone is coming in to deliver the toxin and get their money, they track the person to try and interfere. Oddly, the bad guys (who don’t have the money) just kill the woman expecting payment. Who came alone. With the toxin. How did she expect that to make any sense at all? They want a toxin to kill people. Why would they let her live? And bringing it before you get paid is just asking to be killed on the spot.

Also, as the book wraps up with Vic and company stopping the plot, his brother (confirmed as the mastermind) winds up making off with the girl. So there isn’t really any resolution. Sure they stopped the plot, but really they didn’t understand the plot they were needing to stop until 3/4 of the way into the book. And I’m not entirely sure the way they stopped would have not created a massive toxic problem.

The ending of this book left we very unsatisfied, knocking a few stars off. The setup that our main character was now going to be The Hand of God knocked a star off.