Hand Of The Necromancer (Hardcover)

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 malignant wizard Esdrias Leach. Among them is a lightweight wooden hand -- which grips Johnny's fingers when he touches it. He's frightened, but it seems harmless otherwise -- and the professor begins to have nightmares about it.

After Johnny takes the job, things begin to go wrong. A strange man comes to the museum to see the artifacts, and seems to know a great deal about Esdrias Leach and his sorcerous ways. Matthias Mergal continues pursuing the artifacts, until the museum is robbed. Now the only people who can hope to stop Mergal are Johnny, the professor, and his new friend Sarah.

In many ways, this fits easily into the Bellairs mold. There is a sinister, talkative villain who lurks around the edges until the climax, weird dreams and visions, hideous magic and weird artifacts that are linked to the main plot. Strickland seems to have a good grasp on the correct pacing, descriptions, and dialogue without ever becoming cheesy or cliched. Sometimes his references to things in the 1950s (such as the "Howdy Doody" show) are a little too forced, as if he's trying very hard to place it in the correct time frame.

Johnny is a little more highly-strung than one would expect, but otherwise is well-characterized. The Professor is delightfully crabby and knowledgeable, as always. The main stumbling block is Sarah, but seems like a pale copy of the rough-edged, athletic Rose Rita. I think Fergie would have suited the plot far better. Mergal is a classic Bellairs-type villain, with insanely dark intentions and a very spooky manner.

Despite its flaws and the rather anemic Sarah, "Hand of the Necromancer is a good, spooky read by a talented author. Just so long as Sarah isn't brought back, Strickland will do fine.

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 even having to open the book, and the illustration on the back of Johnny, the Professor and Sarah at the park with Mattheus Mergal in the background brandishing his staff is marvelously done. We will sourly miss you, Mr. Gorey!

If you decide to read any of the Bellairs/Strickland books, make this one the first title you pick up. It'll set a good mood for the next five. Also check out the other four titles written by John Bellairs and completed by Strickland...