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Customer Reviews of The Witches' Hammer

A Very Brave Novel
Beatrice O'Connell is the daughter of a rare book collector. In the opening credits her father receives a gift of gratitude from a patient whose life he saves, a grimoire. This grimoire is not only a rare and priceless book, but also a dark one as its chief concern is the art of black magic. Somewhat predictably Beatrice's who by the way in nice touch by author is named after Dante's Beatrice)father is killed for this book.
So begins a very dense novel. I mean dense in the most literal sense it is packed with conspiracies, ex-naxi intrique, feminism and erotic passages. So this novel has something for everyone right?
Almost unfortunately Hitchcock through her protaganist makes it all too clear who her main audience is ( as one reviewer titled their review "Hear me Roar"). I say unfortunately because I picked up this book due to interesting synopsis on back working at a used book store I thought it was a novel for me. My interest in paranoral and occult also added to its appeal.
While I give credit to Ms. Hitchcock for having a suspenseful fun and well researched; as I could tell it was largely based on fact novel I did find some things that prevented me from giving it five stars. The main point is that Beatrice transforms into a feminist so quickly and completely its almost as if her purpose is to make male readers as uncomfortable and guilty for enjoying the book. I guess I'm saying I think Hitchcock was very brave writing this ( assuming at least part of her is contained within Beatrice's new outlook), but feel saddened she felt she had to be so in your face to get her point across. Like Beatrice almost knocking her ex-husband over the head with frying pan to prove shes changed and became darker in her sexuality with her wolf. I fear Ms. Hitchcock didn't give her male readers' enough credit for getting it. Thereby I think and almost suspect she intentionally alienated a portion of her readership but these musings didn't diminish my enjoyment of the novel in the long run.

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An absorbing read
I was very intrigued and entertained by this novel. I felt that it was well-written, had believable characters, and presented a fascinating story which kept me hooked to the end. I certainly do not believe that the modern world is beyond the sort of fanaticism described in this book. I'm not surprised at the negative reviews from people who are obviously disturbed and/or threatened by its frank and unflinching exploration of the themes of sexuality, witchcraft, and religion. Ms. Stanton has worked to illuminate the complexities of human experience and motive through her characters, and has managed to spin a good yarn in the bargain! She has also tried to avoid having her characters become mere mouthpieces for one perspective. She succeeded admirably in this with her female lead character, allowing her to grow and deepen in her understanding of the conflicting aspects of herself, but was not as successful giving this same capacity to her male characters. Ms. Stanton seemed content to leave them hopelessly stuck in their automatic reactions and compulsions. Despite the feminist male stereotyping, it was a fun read. I will definitely be looking for other novels by this author.

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Hear Me Roar!
After being thoroughly delighted with Jane Stanton Hitchcock's latest novel, "Social Crimes," I couldn't wait to read this earlier outing. Before reading 20 pages of "The Witches' Hammer", I could hardly believe it was by the same author. The plot was sheer comic strip, the characters were one-dimensional, and it had "movie" written all over it. (Though I find it hard to believe even Hollywood would think of taking on this potboiler.)

Totally repressed, gently bred, convent educated Beatrice O'Connell is confronted with the murder of her book collector father the day after he receives an ancient book of evil spells. She feels the police are apathetic and vows to find her father's murderer and is convinced the answer lies in the little book. She descends to Spanish Harlem to meet with an occultist and meets a totally erotic, sensual man. She goes with him and realizes her inner "wolf" woman. She returns from the wild and steamy assignation a charged and changed woman. She discovers an evil cabal within the Catholic Church who are willing to go to any lengths to recover the now lost book. This group wants to return to the practices of the Spanish Inquisition, locate and burn witches, and completely repress women because they are inherently evil. Her allies are her ex-husband and a strange frail little rare bookseller. The evil ones have a big spread in upper New York State that Beatrice infiltrates. The conspiracy is everywhere. The action becomes increasingly bloody and violent when Beatrice is confronted on all sides by malevolence.

I felt like Beatrice stepped into a phone booth and came out in her Superman suit to take on the forces of evil. I could not make the leap of faith that Marion the Librarian is in reality a Wonder Woman/Superman. Feminists would be better served by Pat Buchanan than "The Witches' Hammer" over-the-top silliness. The only thing I learned from this book was the definition of "grimoire." Read "Social Crimes" and give this one a pass.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer