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Hands of Lucifer
Mass Market Paperback
Published January 1, 1987
5 people are currently reading
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About the author
John Tigges
28 books24 followersTigges began his career as an author and writer in 1973. He wrote more than thirty-eight books under his own name and pen names "Ned Stone" and "William Essex."
In 1976 Tigges was commissioned to write Jean Marie Cardinal, an historical novel. Teaming with James Shaffer, he wrote Dubuque: The 19th Century, Dubuque: The 20th Century, Iowa’s Last Narrow-Gauge Railroad, and Railroads of Dubuque, Iowa. Tigges wrote such novels as Garden of the Incubus, Unto the Altar, Kiss Not the Child, Evil Dreams, The Immortal, Hand of Lucifer, As Evil Does, Vessel, Comes the Wraith, Venom, and Book of the Dead. Under the pen name William Essex he wrote The Pack, Slime, and From Below. He wrote Mountain Massacre, and Rails to Hades using the name Ned Stone. Tigges founded the Sinipee Writers Workshop and taught writing seminars in Iowa and Wisconsin.
Tigges made many contributions locally to the field of music. He established the Dubuque "Pops" orchestra and co-founded the DUBUQUE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA in 1956. Tigges served as business manager of the symphony for ten years and played violin with it from 1958 to 1968 and again from 1971 to 1973. In 1972 Tigges founded the Julien Strings, a society string orchestra. He led the group and played violin.
In 1976 Tigges was commissioned to write Jean Marie Cardinal, an historical novel. Teaming with James Shaffer, he wrote Dubuque: The 19th Century, Dubuque: The 20th Century, Iowa’s Last Narrow-Gauge Railroad, and Railroads of Dubuque, Iowa. Tigges wrote such novels as Garden of the Incubus, Unto the Altar, Kiss Not the Child, Evil Dreams, The Immortal, Hand of Lucifer, As Evil Does, Vessel, Comes the Wraith, Venom, and Book of the Dead. Under the pen name William Essex he wrote The Pack, Slime, and From Below. He wrote Mountain Massacre, and Rails to Hades using the name Ned Stone. Tigges founded the Sinipee Writers Workshop and taught writing seminars in Iowa and Wisconsin.
Tigges made many contributions locally to the field of music. He established the Dubuque "Pops" orchestra and co-founded the DUBUQUE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA in 1956. Tigges served as business manager of the symphony for ten years and played violin with it from 1958 to 1968 and again from 1971 to 1973. In 1972 Tigges founded the Julien Strings, a society string orchestra. He led the group and played violin.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 20, 2020
Really gripping page turner. I’ve always been a fan of books like The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby and this is right up that alley. I’m glad it was included in a batch of John Saul horror books I bid on from eBay or I’d probably have never heard of it or given it a read.
July 17, 2023
Hard spoilers.
“I have exorcised the demons… this house is clear.” - Ace Ventura
Nicole, our main character gets her marriage broken off by her soon to be husband Myles. Myles is a dim witted male who leaves his fiancé because he gets cold feet and wants to soil his seed and travel the world.
Nicole is upset by the break off of her marriage and decides to let Myles hit the bricks to soil his oats but vouches that Myles and her will end up together no matter what.
One day she stumbles into a library and happens to find a first volume satanic ritual book. She then reads from this book. Can you guess what happens next? Yes! You would be right, she conjures Lucifer and other demons and promises to pay back however she has too, as long as Myles loves her forever.
Next Myles realizes how much a pig he is being and decides hey, you know what, Nicole wasn’t a bad gal to be with. In between scenes, the girl that Myles is banging, is literally pulverized by the devil. That’s when myles decides you know what I better get my ass back with Nicole.
Soooo…… long sigh… Myles ends up with Nicole again but the happenings keep on. What type of happenings. Tv blaring, record player blaring, even though they are unplugged.
Next Nicole keeps having dreams at night of dancing with the devil and on this particular night dream she ends up having sex with Lucifer.
From here we have a series of recycled storyline.
With an ending where Myles and Nicole walk into a church and convince that the devil is haunting her. The Devil then preforms his exorcism of where they live and poof all things are good again.
Or are they? Wink wink nudge nudge Myles is Lucifer.
It’s not a bad book. But it’s not great lol.
Also I liked how John allowed some humor in the story by having Nicole read over some paperbacks in a book shop And the titles happened to be of John Tigges work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2020
A woman gets dumped by her boyfriend, so she casts a satanic spell to get him back. Unfortunately for her, the demon sent to assist her in the endeavour is also somewhat clingy. Enter a succession of hapless priests, until one of them does what any good priest should in this situation: an exorcism.
The name of John Tigges decorates many a lurid cover from Leisure Books, and most seem to deal with satanic themes. Hands of Lucifer is obviously no exception, but surprisingly it's nowhere near the hackshow one might expect. This is not a serious novel about demonic forces, rather almost a parody of one - William Friedkin's 1973 movie The Exorcist is referenced several times in a joking manner, and there's even a scene where Myles the boyfriend browses Tigges' previous paperbacks at a drugstore and asks aloud who would write such stuff, never mind what kind of people might read them. And the manifestations of the demonic forces are hilarious. A special shout out must go out to the scene where the invisible demon's helping hands grab on to Myles' butt during sex.
The characters are obviously idiots, especially the lovelorn woman who brings about the whole situation on herself and all around her. Myles the man is hardly any better, and it's somewhat interesting how he doesn't seem to care too much about the lover who gets pulverized by the demon summoned by his jealous ex. And most of the priests are apparently in competition for America's Worst Clergyman. All this, however, seems to be done on purpose and serves to accentuate the ridiculousness of the story, not only in this novel but also in others of the genre. John Tigges was a competent storyteller who clearly didn't take himself or his lurid subject matter too seriously, and he must've had fun writing Hands of Lucifer. The humour is still there, between the lines.
The name of John Tigges decorates many a lurid cover from Leisure Books, and most seem to deal with satanic themes. Hands of Lucifer is obviously no exception, but surprisingly it's nowhere near the hackshow one might expect. This is not a serious novel about demonic forces, rather almost a parody of one - William Friedkin's 1973 movie The Exorcist is referenced several times in a joking manner, and there's even a scene where Myles the boyfriend browses Tigges' previous paperbacks at a drugstore and asks aloud who would write such stuff, never mind what kind of people might read them. And the manifestations of the demonic forces are hilarious. A special shout out must go out to the scene where the invisible demon's helping hands grab on to Myles' butt during sex.
The characters are obviously idiots, especially the lovelorn woman who brings about the whole situation on herself and all around her. Myles the man is hardly any better, and it's somewhat interesting how he doesn't seem to care too much about the lover who gets pulverized by the demon summoned by his jealous ex. And most of the priests are apparently in competition for America's Worst Clergyman. All this, however, seems to be done on purpose and serves to accentuate the ridiculousness of the story, not only in this novel but also in others of the genre. John Tigges was a competent storyteller who clearly didn't take himself or his lurid subject matter too seriously, and he must've had fun writing Hands of Lucifer. The humour is still there, between the lines.
August 26, 2021
Very interesting
April 13, 2024
Hard to relate: she
invokes Satan to keep a
local anchorman.
invokes Satan to keep a
local anchorman.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews