Look out old Jackie is back!

Another Repairman Jack novel is out - The Dark at the End. And I'm reading it, just like I've read almost every one of F. Paul Wilson's novels. I have been reading his books for years, ever since I picked up Legacies at the Gerrard Ashdale branch of the TPL many years ago. I've read every Repairman Jack book to date, except the one I'm currently reading and the two new teen fiction novels (Secret Circles and Secret Vengeance; Secret Histories was pretty good!). I've read The Adversary Cycle. I've read Sims, Virgin, and Black Wind. I even read Implant and tried, but failed, to read Midnight Mass (vampires? Boring...) while I was waiting for the next Repairman Jack novel to be released. I think I've read more books by Wilson than any other author! Wow!


Overall, I really enjoyed The Adversary Cycle. I loved The Keep (the opening scared the hell out of me); I found Reborn a little too much like Rosemary's Baby (an opinion I've seen posted elsewhere), although I read it so long ago I remember very little, and The Touch dragged on a bit; Reprisal had some painfully disturbing parts (bone-chilling, creepy) while other parts just dragged on a bit too long... The original Nightworld was amazing. Absolutely satisfying story. I purchased the revised version from Borderlands Press last year, even though I really wanted the original, and I was disappointed at the heavy Jack-focus. Wilson had written Nightworld long before the many Repairman Jack books (except The Tomb which is part of the Adversary Cycle and introduced Jack). I think I'm just a bit irritated with and a little tired of Jack now. I think I agree with a review I'd seen on Amazon where the reviewer said that Repairman Jack was much more interesting when the stories didn't tie so heavily into the Secret History of the World; when they stood alone and didn't involve the Dormentalists, The Kickers (I wish I could kick them), and The One. They were just creepy because of some otherness that couldn't be pinned down. I already know how it ends. I must be feeling a bit like Wilson himself, who says in the prologue of The Dark at the End "I need to move on". But he's writing two other prequels that show us how he came to meet Julio and Abe and become the Jack that we know because the fans have asked for it.

Perhaps I'm also a little tired of all the focus on the Jack because I really like the other characters of The Adversary Cycle, particularly Father Bill, and Glaeken. The way they all came together in the original Nightworld was just great. Each character is unique and interesting in their own way, not just Jack. That being said, I'm still going to read all the remaining Repairman Jack novels just so I can say I've read them all. I don't actually own any Repairman Jack novels (I own Virgin, Sims and Nightworld) which I plan to rectify this holiday season. I think I'll buy Conspiracies.

Images from www.repairmanjack.com/ (You don't know Jack!)