Synopsis:

A small-time criminal. A has-been rock star. A shadowy government agency. And a severed hand whose dark powers threaten to destroy them all.

When leg-breaker Hutch Holtz rolls up to a rundown apartment complex in Portland, Oregon, to collect overdue drug money, a severed hand is the last thing he expects to find stashed in the client’s refrigerator. Hutch quickly realizes that the hand induces uncontrollable madness: Anyone in its proximity is overcome with a boundless compulsion for violence. Within hours, catastrophic forces are set into motion: Dark-op government agents who have been desperately hunting for the hand are on Hutch’s tail, more of the city’s residents fall under its brutal influence, and suddenly all of Portland stands at the precipice of disaster. . . .

But it’s all the same for Katherine Moriarty, a singer whose sudden fame and precipitous downfall were followed by the mysterious death of her estranged husband—suicide, allegedly. Her trauma has made her agoraphobic, shackled within the confines of her apartment. Her son, Nick, has moved home to care for her, quietly making his living working for Hutch’s boss.

When Hutch calls Nick in distress, looking for someone else to take the hand, Katherine and Nick are plunged into a global struggle that will decimate the walls of the carefully arranged life they’ve built. Mother and son must evade both crazed, bloodthirsty masses and deceitful government agents while exorcising family secrets that have risen from the dead—secrets, they soon discover, that might hold the very key to humanity’s survival.

Can you resist the hand? Find an excerpt from the next Fever House novel at the end of the book.

Sabetha’s Review:

Can I erase reading this book from my memory so I can go back and read it again for the first time?

My favorite part about Keith’s books is that with each one I never know what adventure he is going to take me on, but it’s going to be introspective, character driven, and some sort of 6 degrees of separation type insanity. I live for this web of connections, and this book does not disappoint.

Each character is broken in their own way, trying to make the best decisions they can to reach their personal end goals, and it all blows up in ways that weave them all closer together. It’s magically tragic in all the right ways. Each time a POV character died I internally screamed because I thought for sure they’d be the one to make it to the end. Keith humanizes everyone throughout this morally grey nightmare of events. Leaving me rooting for even the so called villain’s of the story.

When Nick answers the phone my heart stopped. I am at a loss for where a sequel will take us but I can’t come soon enough because that ending. Wow. While it’s a cliffhangers straight from a book lovers nightmare, this overall story is stand alone. Everything to come after this, is a whole new can of worms that deserves it’s own book, and after this blood bath, I’m going to assume it’s own set of characters. Kidding. . . some people survive.

You’ll love this book if you enjoy post post-apocalyptic type books, but from the perspective of ground zero, and getting the inside view from all the various sides with deep character builds.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Read more reviews from Sabetha!