This is book #3 in the Ben Walker series, however it can be read as a standalone. I have not read the first two books.

Maeve is enjoying a family day at the Fourth of July parade when a man in a BMW starts mowing over people. He gets out of the car, and that's when things get weird. Anyone he touches dies immediately. However, when Maeve hits him with a metal bat, he touches her, and instead of dying - she becomes infected with "Red Hands", a bioweapon accidentally released from a lab. She then goes on the run, hoping not to infect or kill anyone else.

This one was just okay to me. It had me turning the pages, but mostly just to see if something would happen. It felt like the book mostly just followed Maeve and her pursuers through the woods. The book does go pretty in depth into what "Red Hands" really is, but not until closer to the end. I felt like I just kept waiting for something big to happen, then when it finally did, the book was pretty much over. I did feel like the ending tied together well, I was just left wanting more from the plot. I was hoping for a little more gore/creep factor and less action.

Red Hands by Christopher Golden is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. This book grabs you up in the first couple of pages and continues to hold you suspended until the last page! It's part supernatural, part science fiction, and all thrills and suspense! Unpredictable and creepy! It starts with a 4th of July parade but the author gives you the sense of foreboding. Then, IT happens! A stranger that can kill with a touch! That is only the start! Action packed and ready to rumble! Very intriguing and exciting book!

"Most people seemed to think beautiful little hamlets like Jericho Falls were too remote, too idyllic, for an epidemic to take root". The residents of Jericho Falls, New Hampshire gathered for their yearly Fourth of July Parade replete with floats traveling down Main Street. A roaring engine...screams of panic...a BMW careens into the crowd. The driver of the car emerges, is shot multiple times but moves through the crowd touching all those in his path. It's a "death touch", bodies seize, cough and gasp, dying in seconds. Twenty nine year old Maeve Sinclair, swinging an aluminum softball bat, makes contact with the driver then grabs and twists his wrist. He finally convulses and dies. "Was there a look of relief- a look of gratitude in his eyes?" Amid the chaos, cell phones are recording the carnage. Blackcoats arrive. Helicopters fly overhead. Hazmat teams are present. The town is quarantined. Fear of contamination...contagion.

Maeve stares at her hands. "A terrible knowledge stabs at her-she can never touch anyone again. Not ever." She runs from Main Street, past the river and into the woods. Maeve's escape turns from a run to a climb, up the "steep incline and inhospitable terrain...". "It felt as if there were two voices in her head, deeply at odds...Her hands itched with heat, fingers clenching with a need she refused to understand".

The BMW driver was an employee at Garland Mountain Labs. He was infected by something passed by skin contact. Death was imminent. Maeve Sinclair was now a carrier of this infection and must be found. Different factions comb the mountainous terrain in search for her. Dr. Ben Walker, a self described "weird shit expert" is summoned. Walker is "curious and buzzing with anticipation". Besides Walker, a security team of Blackcoats, foreign operatives and police hunt for Maeve. Walker wants to save her, others are weaponized and have a different agenda.

"Red Hands" by Christopher Golden is a top notch thriller. The implications of contamination and spread of this bacterial infection are "edge of the seat" horrifying, the writing compelling and unputdownable! The characters both principal and secondary are well developed. Some were admirable, loving and caring, while others were despicable. The ending of the tome was unexpected, jaw dropping. Christopher Golden's novel could be an awesome cinematic adventure. I would certainly welcome it! Highly recommended!

I received a free ARC of "Red Hands" by Christopher Golden from Macmillan in an exchange for an honest review. Thank you Net Galley.