Serial Novels: Repairman Jack

At one point in my life, my 20's, I was never into reading serial novels. Maybe it was because I never chose to read them or maybe I just didn't want to commit to reading several novels. However, since my late 20's on I've found myself getting into a few of these epic stories and franchise characters.

This series of posts will focus on a few of them.

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From the first novel of the Repairman Jack series, The Tomb, author F. Paul Wilson had me hooked.

The basic idea behind the character is as follows: Jack is a "fixer" of people's problems when they cant go to the police. Throughout the series, the reader finds out that Jack has been picked to be an unwilling soldier in a battle or better yet a "bet" between two forces. One force wants destroy all of mankind while the other wants to see mankind survive. Jack finds himself in this situations that are too coincidental for him not to start believing. Naturally this wrecks havoc on his family, which he has sort of been estranged from to for many years, and even more on his girlfriend and her daughter.

For me "just" Jack is one of the most fascinating characters in modern literature. He'd have to be to hold a reader's interest for that many novels, over the coarse of several years. It's fun as a reader to see the how the character has changed over time. The Jack of the first novels is not the same man of the later few. This is due to several supernatural occurrences and personal situations that have happened to him. These things make the character feels real. He's not without flaws or perks; good days and bad days. In fact, he could be any guy you pass on the street living his life. And that is best complement a fictional character can have.


Another series by Wilson, which ties right into the Repairman Jack saga is called "The Adversary Cycle". These books deal more with the battle of the opposing forces and how certain people come into knowing about them. The Adversary is the truly evil force that will stop at nothing to win the battle.

These two series are known as "Grand Unification" in Mr. Wilson's spectacular universe and the vast majority of Wilson's work ties into these intertwining story lines. All the books (which I'm down to the final two in the RPJ series and final three in TAC) are quick and easy to read. They combine multiple genres with ease and contain believable characters. I give these books my highest recommendation.



Repairman Jack Series
1. The Tomb


2. Legacies


3. Conspiracies


4. All The Rage


5. The Haunted Air


6. Hosts


7. Gateways


8. Crisscross


9. Infernal


10. Harbingers


11. Bloodlines


12. By the Sword


13. Ground Zero





Adversary Cycle
1. The Keep


2. The Touch


3. The Tomb
4. Reborn


5. Reprisal


6. Nightworld





RELATED NOVELS -
Young Repairman Jack Series (YA Novels)
1. Secret Histories


2. Secret Vengeance
3. Secret Circles


For more on F. Paul Wilson and these series, go to his website repairmanjack.com