Review: Dead Man's Hand by Eddie Jones

Dead Man's Hand by Eddie Jones
Publisher: ZonderKidz
Publication Date: October 23, 2012
Book Format: ARC
Number of Pages: 223
Synopsis: It's All Just a Show...Right? 'This is an authentic old west ghost town, son. Around these parts the dead don't stay dead.' Nick Kindle's vacation at Deadwood Canyon Ghost Town takes a deadly turn toward trouble when the fifteen-year-old finds himself trapped in a livery stable with the infamous outlaw Jesse James. The shooter whirls, aims and... vanishes. Great theatrics, Nick thinks, except now he's alone in the hayloft with the bullet-riddled body of Billy the Kid. And by the time the sheriff arrives, the body disappears. Soon Nick is caught in a deadly chas---from an abandoned gold mine, through forbidden buffalo hunting grounds, and across Rattlesnake Gulch. Around every turn he finds another suspect. Will Nick solve the murder? Will his parents have him committed? Or will the town's infatuation with Hollywood theatrics conceal the real truth about souls, spirits and the destiny that awaits those who die.

My Review:
I received Dead Man’s Hand by Eddie Jones from ZonderKidz publishing and this is my honest review.

Dead Man’s Hand is a story about a young boy named Nick Caden who thinks of himself as a detective. (his family and friends think otherwise) Anyways Nick and his family decide to go on vacation to Deadwood Canyon Ghost Town, which Nick isn’t too excited about until he is convinced that he has witnessed a murder in the towns barn. This causes Nick to want to investigate and that is exactly what he does.

Lets talk about Nick, his character is pretty entertaining. I loved that no matter what people told him he never gave up. So many people were against him being a detective at first (even his own family) so watching him do whatever it took to uncover the murder it was courageous on his part and I really like that in a character. 

The plot of this story intrigued me a lot because in the press release it is stated that if you like mysteries and crime TV that you’ll love this book. That statement alone made me want to read this book, because ever since 4th grade every time my teacher asked me what types of books I liked my answer would be mysteries. This also led to my collection on Nancy Drew, and The Hardy Boys books. Also I am obsessed with crime TV shows my netflix is filled to the brim with every crime show it has and I cannot get enough of them. So as you can imagine, I really enjoyed this book.

The only thing that I was a little disappointed about with this book is that also in the press release it said that this series was supernatural, and while reading I didn’t really come across any supernatural elements. Sure the characters talked about ghosts, and there was a haunted place in the book but there wasn’t enough about these things for it to be supernatural in my mind. It says though that the whole series is supernatural so hopefully book too will be better in that department. 

Nevertheless I started this book and had it finished in less than 24 hours (told you I liked mysteries) I found myself right along with Nick trying to figure out who I thought was the killer but Jones did a great job keeping the killer underwraps because at the end when I found out who the killer was I was totally dumbfounded! I did not expect the killer to be who he was. The story gets a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I can’t wait to read book 2 which I already have in my possession! 

My Rating!