View source for The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox short story | <!-- See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]] or [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Books]] -->
| name          = The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands
| author        = [[Stephen King]]
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| genre         = [[horror fiction|horror]], [[short story]]
| published_in   = ''[[Shadows 4]]'' <small>(1st release)</small>,<br>''[[Skeleton Crew (short story collection)|Skeleton Crew]]''
| publisher     = 
| publication_type = [[Anthology]]
| media_type    = Print ([[Paperback]])
| pub_date  = [[1982 in literature|1982]]
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = 
}}

"'''The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands'''" is a short story by American  writer [[Stephen King]], first published in the 1982 horror anthology ''[[Shadows 4]]'', edited by [[Charles L. Grant]]. It was collected in ''[[Skeleton Crew (short story collection)|Skeleton Crew]]'' in 1985.

==Plot summary==
At a [[private club]] in [[Manhattan]], an elderly man named George Gregson recounts a card game he played many years ago where he met an odd man named Henry Brower who refused to touch anyone, recoiling from contact in fear. After Brower wins the game, another player, Jason Davidson, leaps up and shakes his hand enthusiastically, causing Brower to scream and bolt from the room. Gregson then makes it his mission to find him and give him his winnings. It's revealed shortly thereafter that Davidson had died of a [[brain aneurysm]]. Gregson speaks with an old associate of the man, who tells him that Brower was cursed by an Indian [[shaman]] after an unfortunate incident in [[Bombay]] in which he accidentally caused the death of a boy. From that moment on, Brower has been cursed to cause the death of any living thing he touches. Gregson then attempts to track down Brower and meets an innkeeper who tells him that he discovered Brower dead in the inn, one hand firmly clasped in the other.

== Relation to other works ==
Like the novella "[[The Breathing Method]]" from King's collection ''[[Different Seasons]]'', the story takes the form of a [[Story within a story|nested narrative]] told in a strange 'club' in Manhattan.

==Adaptations==
"The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands" started principal photography on June 3, 2022, from Capital B Films. The screenplay was adapted from the Stephen King short story by Nicholas Bromund, who also directs, and co-written by Guthrie Roy Hartford.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bromund |first=Nicholas |title=The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16211010/ |type=Short, Drama, Thriller |publisher=Capital B Films |access-date=2022-04-29}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[The Breathing Method]]''
* [[Stephen King short fiction bibliography]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://stephenking.com/works/short/man-who-would-not-shake-hands.html "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands" at StephenKing.com]
* {{ISFDB title|40717|short=yes}}
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q128600978}}

{{Skeleton Crew (short story collection)}}
{{Stephen King}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Man Who Would Not Shake Hands, The}}
[[Category:1982 short stories]]
[[Category:Horror short stories]]
[[Category:Short stories adapted into films]]
[[Category:Short stories by Stephen King]]
[[Category:Short stories set in New York City]]