A review by friends2lovers
Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon

adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Lord John and the Hand of Devils contains three stories from the Lord John Grey series, a spin-off of the Outlander series in which Lord John is a secondary character. I read these stories (in italics) in chronological order along with the first two novels (in all caps) in the series.

1756 | Lord John and the Hellfire Club | 3★
1757 | LORD JOHN AND THE PRIVATE MATTER | 3★
1757 | Lord John and the Succubus | 4★
1758 | LORD JOHN AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE | 4.5★
1758 | Lord John and the Haunted Soldier | 2★ 

As Gabaldon says on her website, “they’re structured more or less as historical mystery.” Each follows roughly the same premise: someone dies and Lord John figures out who’s responsible. The stories are set during the timeline of Voyager; the first story, Hellfire Club, takes place right after Ardsmuir prison is closed and John returns to London. There is no overarching plot to the series, but I do recommend reading them chronologically because characters are introduced and then return later, or events transpire that come up again in other stories.

As for the stories in this book: Hellfire Club is a decent introduction to the series; Succubus is my favorite because of the gothic vibes and spending so much time with Stephan von Namtzen; Haunted Soldier has a boring mystery plot and is a pretty lackluster follow-up to Brotherhood of the Blade. In Haunted Soldier, I was particularly annoyed by John’s continued pining over the homophobic asshole Jamie Fraser, and the way Percy seems to have been completely forgotten. Overall, Hand of Devils gets an average of 3-stars. 

I’m on the fence as to whether I’d recommend this book/series. I love the character Lord John—he’s witty, complex, and I enjoy his POV. However, I’m tired of John’s (and Gabaldon’s) obsession with Jamie Fraser and so I’m wary about continuing the series since it seems Jamie is featured more prominently in the following books. Still, I’m glad I read these three books because I now have a better understanding of John’s family and backstory. After finally reading Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (Outlander #8), I was especially curious about John’s past with Percy. Because of the close connection and crossover with the Outlander series, I’m not sure if the Lord John series will be of much interest to readers unfamiliar with Outlander. 
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