Any Repairman Jack fans out there? A friend suggested I read some of F. Paul Wilson's books, and what a great suggestion that was. I've recently finished reading The Tomb and Legacies.

Repairman Jack is definitely a hero for contemporary times.

I've been reading F. Paul Wilson for 20 years. He's one of my favorite authors.

I started reading his early science fiction: The LaNague Trilogy made up of Healer, Wheels Within Wheels and An Enemy of the State. This is great "idea" sci-fi, particularly the last book.

Then he went into horror and wrote what was arguably the best horror novel ever written, The Keep. This ended up being the first in a series of six books of which The Tomb was the second and the first Repairman Jack novel. RJ also appears in the last book of the series, Nightworld.

He wrote a War-Thriller-Fantasy-Horror novel called Black Wind. Very good and not quite like any other book you've ever read.

He then wrote a bunch of medical thrillers (he's an M.D.), some which were written with co-authors. They're mostly O.K. but not his best stuff.

In between all this he has written numerous short stories, many of which are collected in such books as Soft and Others and The Barrens and Others. His stories also pop up in many anthologies. He's also edited some good horror anthologies.

In the last few years he's been concentrating on Repairman Jack, writing Legacies, Conspiracies, and All the Rage. IMO, All the Rage is the best RJ novel to date.

The latest RJ novel, Hosts, is due in a regular edition in November. It was published in a special signed limited edition (475 copies) in June. I haven't bought the LE or read it yet. I'm looking forward to it.

Many of Wilson's books are out of print but all should be easy to find on sites like half and abebooks.

I'm reading The Keep right now and then I'll pick up the rest of the Adversary cycle books before returning to Jack. I'm really surprised that he's escaped my attention in the past, as his style and stories are what I like to read.

i'm reading "The Keep" at the moment, but i think it's only fair at best. perhaps the last 90 pages or so will get better, but much of it was too unengaging. the daughter's inner voice, in particular, is very cheesy and simplistic.



i like it fine when Molasar is around, but the characterization (and resultant dialouge and inner voices) is just too simplistic for my tastes.

DJ

I haven't read the newest RJ novel yet, but I have loved all the others.

My friend asked me how they were and the best thing I could tell him was it was The X-Files meets Spencer For Hire.

-Steve

Just Legacies so far, but I'm on the lookout for more.

I Just finished all the books in the Adversary Cycle. I'm pretty impressed. I was wondering how seemingly unconnected books like The Keep, The Tomb and The Touch were going to be drawn together, but it was done very well.

I thought Reborn and Reprisal were the weakest of the 6. I really enjoyed Nightworld though, and having to wade through Reborn and Reprisal were worth it to get to Nightworld.

One of the things I really liked about Nightworld was how he would change his 'voice' when switching between the characters from previous novels. Instead of using one voice throughout which wouldn't have done justice to the previous books the switching made it more realistic as the characters changed, IMHO.

Glad you liked them.

I read these a long time ago, mostly when each came out so I didn't always remember everything from one to the next.

I would rank them:

1) The Keep
2) Night World
3) The Tomb
4) (tie) Reborn / Reprisal (they're sort of a blur together to me)
6) The Touch

I really do not think The Touch is a very good book. But The Keep is quite possibly my favorite horror novel and Nightworld is almost as good. It's worth reading the weaker middle books to get from the first to the last.

I agree with your top 3, although I don't know which order to put them in as favorites. The Touch was the worst out of the first 3 books, but I definitely liked it over Reborn/Reprisal which definitely bled together for me too.

I've got to give credit to The Touch for its' ability to standalone, whereas Reborn and Reprisal really don't at all. They're like the gateway books for the series to get you to Nightworld, and don't offer much except for back story, and a whole lot of it.

is it necesary to read The keep before The Tomb???

No

I like the Repairman Jack novels and the short story in The Barrens and Others but sometimes they seem to be a little formula driven. I've also read some of Wilson's other stuff as well and he's a good author but not someone I'll go out of my way to read.

ok..i was told there were elements of the Keep plot in the Repairman Jack novels

There are some references that readers of "The Keep" would recognize in "The Tomb". But they're just side things - "The Tomb" has new characters and a new story. It's by no means necessary to read "The Keep" first. Though if you like the genre (and maybe Wilson's writing) "The Keep" is an excellent book (and the movie doesn't really do justice to it).

Damn, resurrected after SIX YEARS.

I've read all of the RJ books in that span.

i did a search on repairman jack before i asked the question..
people get testy sometimes when you start a new thread
anyway i picked up The Keep along with The Tomb since they were only 4.99 new..havent seen paperbacks that cheap in long time

well I was VERY underwhelemd by The Keep..hope the Repairman Jack novels are better..just started the Tomb..we shall see

I'm currently reading Bloodline and while it's pretty good this whole series is getting very stale.

I thought the 2 most recent books in the series were quite good, after the previous few had been disappointing.

most series with that many books do...take the Sharpe series for example...so do they just become formulaic after awhile?

How would you classify the Repairman Jack series? Sci-Fi? Mystery/Suspense?

They keep popping up in my suggestions on Amazon recently but I can't tell if it is something I would enjoy.

Maybe more of a Cross-Genre Action Thriller.

They're thrillers with supernatural elements.

Yes, I'd say that's about right. I actually prefer the non-supernatural aspects of the books, usually involving Jack's "fix-its".

I've read them all to date, and I've read the entire "adversary cycle" books and and have a hard time reconciling what has been going on with Jack and Rasalom and with what goes down in NIGHTWORLD (which I think sucked...a huge letdown from a really good wind up) soooo...although I know how it all (supposedly) ends, I'll continue with RJ books for now...although with the latest developments its unlikely we will see much of Jack in his standard profession anymore.

well I was just as underwhelmed with the Tomb as I was with The Keep..I see no reason to go further in this series..at times i felt like I was reading a Young Adult fiction book