I find myself in a bit of a catch 22 with this book. This is book three in the Ben Walker series. If you don’t know Ben Walker, he is a government agent / scientist / special forces type. The adventures I’ve shared with him include unearthing Noah’s Ark on the side of Mount Ararat in Turkey and opening Pandora’s Box in a buried city in Iraq.
I think that it is important for an author to keep a series fresh so that the new adventure doesn’t feel like the last. Christopher Golden certainly accomplished this with Red Hands. But I found Red Hands lacking, it was missing that myth or archaeological overtone that was so predominant with the first two books in the series; it felt like Walker’s expertise was not used to its fullest potential. I guess you have to be careful what you wish for.
Red Hands was an advancement of the Ben Walker series. I can’t really say that I learned anything new about Walker; will he or won’t he make any changes with his relationship with his son? Who knows.
I would have to say that Red Hands stepped outside the rest of the series or what I would have expected for the character. It was kind of like if James Bond had gone after some drug cartel instead of saving the world from a mastermind criminal or protecting state secrets. It was good, just not what I expected.
Personally, I think that there are plenty of great myths and legends out there that could use Walker’s expertise and I would love to see the series get back to that.
*3.5 Stars
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