Lord John and the Hand of the Devils

By: Diana Gabaldon

Narrated by: Jeff Woodman

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Diana Gabaldon, the number-one New York Times best-selling author of the Outlander saga and a Quill Award winner, delivers a treat for her many fans - a collection of three novellas starring the ever-popular Lord John Grey.

In these tales, Lord John vows to avenge a murder, investigates a terrifying "night-hag" on the battlefields of Europe, and discovers treason in His Majesty's ranks.

©2008 Diana Gabaldon (P)2008 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Gabaldon brings an effusive joy to her fiction." (Publishers Weekly)

"Gabaldon's strengths are on full display....Deftly written, pleasantly concise stories about the ghosts of desire, each with its own discrete merits." (Kirkus Reviews)

Just ok

The narrator was great but as any fan of Diana knows she is very wordy and I found my mind wondering during the stories I enjoyed the first story the best followed by the last story and then the middle story which of course was the longest one.

Great Novellas!!

It was delightful and refreshing to have the opportunity to delve into the exploits of Lord John. He is probably my favorite character in the series. His personal life is always a cause for intrigue and danger. Mix this with his military career and the responsibility the adjoins his family name.
Kudos for packing so much into so little!! I rather enjoy the need to "keep up" instead of the repetition of the large novels.
I look forward to more!

Gabaldon Glistens

I have marvelously savored each of Diana’s delights, read & this was no exception. Thanks truly!!

heads up

You should read all the other Lord John stories before this one or the frequent references will just confuse. Also note that the the first two stories ( Hellfire and the Succubus) are available also on audible so if you are a big Gabaldon fan you will only be getting this book for the third story.

I can never think of a good "headline"

I love it when a team comes together. I've been very much a fan of Diana Gabaldon for some time, and I like Lord John Grey very much. And as it turns out I utterly love Jeff Woodman's narration. He's wonderful. He has excellent timing, a marvelous gift for character, and, clearly, a sense of humor that suits Grey down to the ground. He reminds me a great deal of Simon Vance, actually, to the point that I double checked to make sure it wasn't he under a pseudonym. It wasn't. The only issue I have with the narration is a handful of repeated lines, where apparently an editor failed to delete out–takes. Odd.

I have to say, it had been a while since I met up with Lord John, and I had forgotten much of it. Honestly, it is a bit thick that bloody well everyone falls in love with Jamie Fraser.

Then again, he is Jamie Fraser, so...

I plan on using the word "absquatulating" as soon as conveniently possible. Possibly in conversation. Why have a reputation for weird without capitalizing on it?

- "Lord John and the Hellfire Club" felt familiar – oh, that's why. It's not a spectacular story – though part of that might have been me thinking "isn't this an awful lot like that other story, and what is going to happen to make this different?" When in fact (perils of the audiobook) it was the story I was thinking of, which I did not realize for some reason was part of this collection, and so of course nothing happened to make it different from, er, itself. I'm not even going to try to unravel that sentence.
- "Lord John and the Succubus" – That was different. Lord John was not in what I've felt to be his natural element here. The setting and the path of the story are unlike the other stories, but it's fun, and unpredictable.
- "Lord John and the Haunted Soldier" – Such beautiful story–telling. It was entirely natural, no chunks of information floating by, tension maintained throughout. Eerie, with the underlying certainty that there had to be some rational explanation … unless there wasn't… The emotions are honest, and the story leaves a mark. Excellent.

This right here is one of the hazards of becoming addicted to audiobooks. I think I could get the books and stories cheaper in ebook form, or even by trolling used bookstores or what–have–you. And I'm all about the cheaper. (I have no money.) But Audible offered this collection (in a sale), and I knew that Jeff Woodman was going to be one of those narrators in regards to whom money is (almost) no object. I want everything he's ever read. Oh dear.

Liked this a lot!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

While I had read that some people did not care for the narrator on these books, I like him a lot! I like learning more about Lord John's earlier years, and find him to be a very well rounded and real character. Enjoyed the book very much!

What does Jeff Woodman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Love the various voices he uses in developing the personality of the characters - it isn't the same as when I read them.

I wanted to like this more

Lord John is interesting, but these are stories which are more about what happens to and around him, than stories about him.
Not as engaging as the Outlander stories, but well written as one would expect from Diana Gabaldon.

great narrator

I'm officially a Diana Gabaldon fan! This is a fun book, three short stories, historic, mysteries, and Lord John is an investigator. This narrator is fast becoming one of my favorites, too.

Really Great Entertainment

I've been listening to the Lord John stories in chronological order, skipping from book to book so that I could see how successive stories reference previous ones. I've loved how the author continues to evolve Lord John and uses earlier events to explain the characters actions, as would happen with a real person. And the truly vivid descriptions are so easy to imagine that often the character's emotions become viceral for me. It's what makes listening to Gabaldon's books so appealing.

Love the tales

Lord John is always fun. Hot water seems to be his metier.

The audio needs work. Many glitches.