The Fellowship of the Hand

Carl Crader Mysteries #2

by Edward D. Hoch

Two computer cops race to protect a presidential election against tampering.

Radiation leaks in Chicago. Assassination attempts on Venus. Bombings in Washington, DC. Any crime that involves a computer falls under the jurisdiction of New York's Computer Investigation Bureau, and in the far-off days of the mid-twenty-first century, more criminals rely on digital tools than ever before. For Earl Jazine and Carl Crader, technology is not just their beat; it is their best weapon in the war against mayhem.

Today, mayhem takes the form of a threat to the nation's electronic voting system. Thousands of ballots have been programmed into the FRIDAY-404 election machine, pledging votes to Jason Blunt and Stanley Ambrose—two men who aren't even running for president. Jazine and Crader have only a few weeks until election day, but they must put an end to this audacious fraud before democracy itself goes up in a puff of pixelated smoke.

Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller

198 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Edward D. Hoch is one of the most honored mystery writers of all time.

* 1968 Edgar Allan Poe Award (Mystery Writers of America): "The Oblong Room", The Saint Mystery Magazine, July 1967
* 1998 Anthony Award (Bouchercon World Mystery Convention): "One Bag of Coconuts", EQMM, November 1997
* 2001 Anthony Award (Bouchercon): "The Problem of the Potting Shed", EQMM, July 2000
* 2007 Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award (awarded 2008): "The Theft of the Ostracized Ostrich", EQMM, June 2007
* Lifetime Achievement Award (Private Eye Writers of America), 2000
* Grand Master (Mystery Writers of America), 2001
* Lifetime Achievement Award (Bouchercon), 2001

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been intrigued by the work of Edward Hoch for a while so when I stumbled across this book (for the latest time as the cover is very distinctive and one that I am sure I have seen many times over the years) I decided to give it a go. Now this is the middle of a trilogy of books )following one of the characters Carl Crader), just my luck I decide to pick it up half way through although to be fair there is no issue reading them in any order you wish.

The story is quite dated but in some interesting ways quite current in some of the topics discussed - its one of those stories which can swing from being scarily prophetic to laughably off the target in as many pages which I guess is part of the appeal of speculative fiction.

So yes a fun story but one that I felt suffered at the hands of time a little

[Rees Pozzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I finished it in one sitting so it can't have been so bad.

The tech is weird though, in a state where huge underground bunkers full of computers exist that can predict anything, people are still using magnets to override security features? Odd.


It has the typical vintage sci-do effect of only using women in the books as something to trap or lure males and cause problems through the bedroom - guess that's part of reading the older ones

Overall not bad, enjoyable read with some good concepts about the use of computers in the future, character lines a bit thin and some of the plots too quickly resolved too. Quickest prison break in history goes to this book I think.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

the fellowship of the hand

It was truly a mystery story. I always try to guess the murderer but this story kept you guessing. I can’t put it down If you like mystery this book is for you.

[Michael Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sci-fi story about a world where Canada and the US are one country and computers are used to run just about everything. All elections are tabulated by a universal computer system that counts votes at a node and then sends the totals to the central unit in DC. Other major systems are also computer based and a group of citizens feel that the system is too flawed and inhuman in its approach to health services, the general economy and just about everything. Not a bad story because Hoch writes mysteries and this is a detective story with a science fiction setting.