Hosts: A Repairman Jack Novel

I guess I am not sufficiently "literary" because I got so frustrated with the internationally acclaimed Swedish police procedural "The Laughing Policeman" that I gave up on it and, rather skeptically due to its 500 page length, picked up Hosts instead. Well, much to my suprise, its great pulp fiction with a nice hard-boiled edge to it. My first Repairman Jack won't be my last...read this if you want something easy.....and enjoyable to read.

This is the best Repairman Jack book yet! It was an interesting change of pace to show Jack vulnerable and almost normal. Yes, the reporter became a pain in the you-know-where once his 15 minutes of fame were up, and maybe a microwave doesn't work for 99 hours, but those things don't matter - it's just a story. But what a story! Wilson takes us for an exciting ride every time. Can't wait for the next one.

When Jeanette Vega is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor she is offered the chance to participate in an experimental treatment program using a tailored virus. A miracle cure follows, but what she or her lover Kate Iverson hadn't bargained for was the strange personality change which followed the treatment. Slowly but surely Jeanette is pulling away from Kate, and joins in a cult-like enclave with her fellow patients. When Kate is given Repairman Jack's card as a possible source of help, she makes contact. To the amazement of both Jack and Kate, they have already met - Jack is the brother who dropped out of their family after their mother was killed.Jack has his own problems to deal with. Caught on a subway train with a mass murderer, he goes into action, shoots the killer and saves dozens of lives. Unfortunately, another passenger is Sandy Palmer, a third string reporter for a New York scandal sheet, who realizes this story is a chance to make it into the big time. Jack, who has made a career out of being totally anonymous, sees only that publicity will destroy his hard won independence. He is willing to do everything in his power to deflect Sandy's well meant attention.In a Manhattan Delicatessen Joe and Stan Koslowski are reading Sandy's report on the train shootings when they realize that the hero Sandy is describing is their old nemesis. The brothers once made a living blowing people up until Jack was hired to return the favor. He left them alive, but destroyed up their home, their stash, and their reputation. Joe, disfigured in the final conflagration has only one thing on his mind - revenge.And spread throughout the city are eight people, all treated by a mutated virus which has changed them utterly. Their brain tumors are gone, but so is their personality. Instead they are united by a telepathic hive mind. The virus that drives them has only one goal, to survive, to mutate, and to spread until it is the master of its world. F. Paul Wilson weaves all these threads together in the kind of tightly plotted novel which is characteristic of the Repairman Jack series. This time, however, Jack may be in over his head. He may be able to stave off Sandy, and he may be able to befuddle the Koslowski's, but he has no hope of finding a cure for a mysterious virus. For once, the Repairman lacks the tools to do the job. It will take far more than Jack to resolve this problem, and he finds himself blocked at every turn.This is a typical Wilson novel, well plotted, but a bit thin in characterization. After five novels in the series Jack had developed little, nor has Gia, his girlfriend. In fact all of the original characters are just as they were. This makes "Hosts" comfortable to read, but the characters are now so familiar they are almost parodies of themselves. The only real twist in this novel is that Jack must come to terms with Kate's homosexuality. A factor that deserved more attention than it received.The Repairman Jack

F. Paul Wilson brings Repairman Jack for another adventure. And his sister too! Finally, we learn more about the personal life of Repairman Jack. This installment plays off the supernatural element introduced in The Tomb and continued in a lesser form in Conspiracies, All The Rage, and now in Hosts. Once you start Hosts, be prepared to read through the wee hours of the morning. The Keep, The Tomb, The Touch and Nightworld were all extraordinary novels. All the Rage and Hosts fall a step below the aforementioned novels, but any novel involving Repairman Jack is addictive . . . and you keeping asking for more.