The Hand

by Marc Brandel

When Martin Trask lost his hand, no one was able to find it . . .A freak accident sets off a chain of events - violent, erotic and chilling - which escalate in a few short months from everyday coincidences to stark, supernatural terror . . .When Martin Trask lost his hand, it was only the beginning . . .

Genres: Horror

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Original name, Marcus Beresford; name legally changed during the 1960's. Author of eleven novels, contributor to The Three Investigators series. Author of the play "The Man Who Let It Rain," first produced in London at Theatre Royal. Contributed to numerous television series, including "Kraft Theater," "Playhouse 90," "Amos Burke," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour", "Honey West", "Barnaby Jones," and "Fantasy Island." Author of teleplays for the BBC and for ITV. Contributed to periodicals, including Colliers, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, and Cosmopolitan.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book's actual title is THE LIZARD'S TAIL; retitled to tie in with the movie adaptation by Oliver Stone.

Very good psychological suspense story - Stone's movie adaptation isn't bad, but is hobbled by having to stick to horror movie conventions and having to show a literal hand wreaking havoc. The novel's ending is far more disturbing than the movie's.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Martin Trask lost his hand, no one was able to find it. The freak accident sets off a chain of events - violent, erotic and chilling - which escalate in a few short months from everyday coincidences to stark, supernatural terror. For Martin Trask, losing his hand was only the beginning.
I was introduced to Brandel since, this year, I’ve been working my way through the post-30 Three Investigator books and he wrote a couple of the mysteries. Somehow I discovered he wrote the novel the 1981 Michael Caine film “The Hand” was based on and that led me to this - I’ve never seen the film so I can’t say how close it is to the source material. As it is, it’s a curious piece. Published in 1979 but feeling like it’s earlier - there’s a lot of counter-culture ideas, as cartoonist Martin and his wife Ruth and daughter Sophie endure several pieces of bad luck culminating in them moving to New York and him moving to Saraville, where he sets up as a lecturer and conducts an affair with a local waif. A lot of the attitudes are dreadfully out-of-date now (it’s my own fault, it took me 43 years to find it) and that coloured my enjoyment overall but it’s a decently weird little tale (even if a lot of the Saraville episode feels like padding) with thorough characters and a dark air. Even better, it leaves it up to the reader to decide if the hand is really a supernatural entity or a product of Martin’s mind. Well worth a read.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relatively short but very thrilling psychological thriller about a man who loses his hand which sparks the beginning of the collapse of many important areas of his life. I really enjoyed this snapshot of 1970s Vermont, NYC, and California, especially through the lens of a staunch conservative man who is resistant to his wife's shifting values in metaphysics/spirituality and how throughout my lifetime, these values and resources have always been present in the psyche's of the powerful women who surround me.

The book brings up important themes about the subconscious mind and how accountability, guilt, and shame relate to it. The ending is surprisingly satirical (in today's context) of white men being able to get away with literally *everything*, but since I'm pretty sure that this was not the author's intention, I gotta dock some stars.

Excited to watch the movie adaptation with Michael Caine (The Hand) even though I was expecting a much more faithful thriller/horror vibe but judging by the trailer, it appears to be 100% camp which I'm also not mad at.

[Daniel Frazier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read The Lizard's Tail when I was working nights. A secondhand paperback store was nearby so I usually went there to pick up anything that I thought would pass the time (the night shift was very slow). The edition of this book had the poster from the movie adaptation (Oliver Stone's The Hand) as its cover. I had never seen the movie but the cover of a crawling, disembodied hand caught my eye and I bought it. A standard psychological thriller, the most interesting (and frustrating) element about the book is that the murderous hand is never seen; only the results of the destruction it leaves behind. The ending doesn't seem to know if it wants the hand to be in the mind of the main character or a real object. Anyway, it passed a few nights at the office adequately enough.

[Allison Church · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was better than the horror movie, with all due respect to Oliver Stone (The Hand was his first directorial film). Good "popcorn" fun!

[Jean Stravinsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an unsurpassed classic, but more of a suspense story than horror.

What makes this book unique, and on par with great literature, is that it exceeds your expectations of realism precisely where most books choose to go off the rails and stoke drama. It sticks to the story and never tries to impress you, which is the most impressive thing there is.

What I also found personally compelling is that it is an unflinching look at the mediocrity of ordinary American life when the means to escape it (art and status) are taken away from someone lucky enough to have enjoyed them. The portrait made of the ordinary -rarely talked about- lower levels of the US education system is razor sharp, and prescient of the incoming nihilism: Despite his past achievements, he can impose no discipline or standards on what his students produce...

But it is also a stinging indictment of the sexual liberation/New Age movements and their effect on couples. I am not overstating the case when I say I have seen no better depiction of what life in North America is actually like since the 1970s. This is what I think defines great literature: It does not falter in attention when facing the mechanics of mediocrity.

Probably among the five best novels I have ever read.

[Mikepottz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin is going to lose his hand in a freak car accident, severed at the wrist. The hand is the most intimate thing in the world to us, we rely on them unconsciously every second. From this moment on his world will fall apart, his work will end, his marriage will face questions, a complete life changing experience. Then his projections will thrust a chain of events where his severed hand will perform devastating tasks.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The hand wants what it wants...

[Gerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the writing style a tad dry for my taste and the use of fist person isn't really helping it in my opinion. In the end there's a great conceptual idea underlying the story which both in the case of the novel nor the movie adaptation that followed it is never really satisfactorily explored, naturally talking about the question if there is a killer hand on the loose of if the protagonist is simply loosing his mind.

Personally I slightly prefer the movie over the novel here, B-picture horror and Michael Caine creating an winning atmosphere here.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although it is the same book, the original story was titled "The Lizard's Tail". Later it was adapted to the movie "The Hand" and the books from then on were sold with that title. I read it with the original title. Amazing book!

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

663 - 2013

[Carla Blevins · Rating 3 out of 5]

good fun! I'm a horror buff - surprised Ive never heard of the book or movie before! I have to see the movie now :)