Bloodline (Repairman Jack)

F. Paul Wilson's latest and 11th Repairman Jack novel is yet another earmark for superior storytelling in this genre - or any other for that matter! Even though we love high-octane action/adventure stories, usually filled with loads of sci-fi/fantasy or supernatural elements, (which the Repairman Jack series only touches upon), F. Paul Wilson proves to us yet again that a writer doesn't have to beat you over the head with these elements to make a great story. Kinda like most Hollywood movies. Too much special effects to carry the movie and not enough GREAT acting and storytelling and/or character building. (The Lord of the Rings trilogy proved you can do all this!) What we are trying to convey is: even though Wilson likes to tease and ease his way with this series into getting to that seemingly inevitable clash meeting between Jack and the leader of the Otherness, along with the future of the Earth's destructive changing from the Adversary, Wilson keeps the reader fully immersed with Jack's ever-changing persona and his relationship with Gia and himself. That keeps this series not only fresh, but keeps sales rankings high and readers coming back for more. Kudos to you, Mr. Wilson. BLOODLINES goes where we didn't even dream it would go. We thought this was going to be about the bloodline of Emma, Jack's and Gia's soon-to-be-born daughter. But it is anything but! True to Wilson's immense writing talent, Bloodline goes into different and new territory, but manages to tie together more ties to the past 10 novels. It is filled with suspence from the 1st page to the last. It is never dull and chock-full of interesting new characters of all varieties. The ending was terrific, leaving us jonesing big time for the next Repairman Jack novel. Can't wait to see how Jack deals with his new findings of his bloodline.

F. Paul Wilson's eleventh title in the Repairman Jack series features Jack's return (after his "hiatus" since Harbingers). A troubleshooter for hire based in New York City, Jack, mid-thirties, has cared for his lover Gia the last three months since her hit-and-run accident. Feeling edgy, he longs to resume his trade, and at Gia's urging, accepts a case from Christy Pickering. Christy is distraught over her eighteen-year-daughter Dawn dating an older man, Jerry Bethlehem. She hired a private investigator who grabbed her money but never reported back. Jack's investigation soon runs into a shadowy messianic cult known as the Kickers led by Hank Thompson. Genetics and a bit of science fiction come into play. Thompson and Bethlehem target Dawn for insemination, and her offspring will purify their "bloodline" empowered by oDNA, a strain derived from a cosmic force known as the Otherness. Meanwhile U.S. government scientists at the secretive Creighton Institute are also feverishly investigating oDNA, and Bethlehem is their guinea pig. Jack assembles all of the pieces in this cross-genre caper. Author Wilson's conversational prose, skillful pacing, and relentless protagonist Repairman Jack combine to propel a first-rate narrative in this successful, enduring series.

I'm glad to see Jack back to what seem like his regular fix-its, though they are now more and more connected. This one continues where Harbingers left off and Jack is still reeling from a tragic event. However, this time, Vicky and Gia take a back seat to the story and I'll have to admit I breathed a sigh of relief. I read these stories for the action and mystery, not for the soap opera. Yeah, it's nice to know a few things about his personal life, but don't dwell on it. Bloodline brings up some more questions to go with the answers. It is all linked. My only problem is there's a hint of an ending to the series in a few months of story time. I hope that is not true as I want this series to continue for a lot longer. However, I know how hard it is to consistently come up with fresh stuff for a tried-and-true character. This is a competent and very well-done continuation of the Repairman Jack saga and I was not a bit disappointed in the usual "leave us hanging for the next one" ending. Highly recommended.

F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack series is one of the most well-written and enjoyable of its type out there. For anyone who isn't familiar with it - though it is likely someone reading a review of the eleventh book in the series is - think Dashiell Hammet meets HP Lovecraft, with a lighter tone than either. (In this novel he even playfully includes a hack scifi writer named P. Frank Winslow as a minor character.) Wilson maintains his usual readable standards in Bloodline, with the basis for the next sequel, also as usual, laid out in the last chapter. Jack, an urban mercenary of sorts, but one who is selective about his clients and methods, takes on an apparently simple case; once again, and not as a coincidence, it blows up into something involving unseen forces - not quite supernatural in the usual sense, but otherworldly nonetheless. All in all, this is a solid addition to the series. However, though I have no wish to deprive Mr. Wilson of a future downpayment on a beach house on the Jersey shore (and Jack is his creation to do with as he likes), as a reader I am at the point similar to an hour into a monster movie when, as viewer, I am getting impatient for the big lizard to rise out of the sea and trash Tokyo already. A storm has been building in the last few Repairman Jack novels. I await the author's unleashing of it, even though that probably means wrapping up the series.

In earlier installments of this outstanding series, author F. Paul Wilson would often weave two storylines, one with a foot in the so-called real world, the other grounded in the world of the supernatural. His last two books, however, have placed more emphasis on the supernatural. In INFERNAL, Jack was stricken by a mystical malady which threatened to erase him from this plane of existence; in HARBINGERS, he was forced cut a deal with the otherworldly Ally to protect all he held dear. In BLOODLINE, Wilson switches gears a bit, grounding the story in stark, but still dangerous, reality. Still dealing with the fallout of the harrowing events chronicled in INFERNAL and HARBINGERS, Jack accepts a job that, at least on the surface, seems just the thing to help him ease back into the repair business--he's asked by protective mother Christy Pickering to break up her teenaged daughter Dawn's relationship with Jerry Bethlehem, a much older man of questionable morals. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Something that John D. MacDonald's quixotic Travis McGee might handle with aplomb, no doubt (Bethlehem being, in many ways, eerily reminiscent of the loathsome Junior Allen of DEEP BLUE GOODBYE fame). Of course, this being the world according to Jack, the situation is not as clear cut as it seems. Bethlehem turns out to be a hardened, dangerous criminal, released from prison because he agreed to take part in a scientific study. Jerry, you see, is unique because his genome shows evidence of "other" or "o" DNA, a trait which causes extreme, explosive aggressiveness. The scientists studying him are fascinated by the research possibilities. Jerry, on the other hand, cares little about his genetic background--he's on a mission given to him by his psychopathic father, and his target is eighteen year old Dawn Pickering. As Jack unravels the mystery surrounding Bethlehem's twisted quest, he uncovers unsettling information that will change him forever. As always, Wilson provides entertaining and intelligent reading--he hasn't lost his any of his edginess as the series has progressed, he's only gotten sharper and more proficient at providing shocking twists that will leave readers shaking their heads, first in utter disbelief, then in admiration. Wilson's no frills style makes him easy to underestimate as a writer, but he always delivers the goods--his annual forays into Jack's universe have become events, as his ever growing legion of fans flock to see where he's going to take them next.