Hosts

Rating:
Summary: Jack rocks!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome read!
Review: This was my First F. Paul Wilson novel, and my first introduction to Repairman Jack - and I'm hooked! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel even with no prior knowledge of Repairman Jack - the situation fixer.

Repariman Jack is called in to action when a hitman starts taking out innocent passengers on a subway. Gunning down the shooter - Repairman Jack is dubbed 'The Savior' - a title which although flattering threatens to wreck havoc on the lifestyle he has built for himself...out of the eye of authorities. Witnessed by an ambitious reporter with dreams to make it big, Repairman Jack struggles to stay out of the limelight.

Meanwhile, a call from a new client to help with a bad situation leads to an out of the blue meeting with his long lost sister, Kate. Kate's girlfriend Jeanette has become involved in something sinister following a brain tumour operation (which Kate suspects is a cult), and Kate wants to get to the bottom of the situation fast. Who better to solve a bad situation than Repairman Jack.

Hosts is a fast paced, sci-fi thriller which will leave you craving more of the incredible Repairman Jack - I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

Rating:
Summary: The Return of Repairman Jack
Review: 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 novels started out as horror stories with a strong supernatural bent, and have gradually become suspense stories with a slight touch of the spooky. The only hint of the weird is a strange Russian lady with a white Malamute who warns both Kate and Jack of trouble. It is she wo tells us that there is more to come. This has been an eminently readable series, and I look forward to far more of Repairman Jack.

Marc Ruby - for The Mystery Reader

Rating:
Summary: Jack has changed...a little bit
Review: While I deeply enjoy Repairman Jack novels, I have to oject to certain characteristics displayed by R. Jack in Hosts... I find it hard to believe that Jack would react so slowly to the murders on the train (six killed, one wounded) before taking action, and that on top of that he would yelled angrily at the crowd of people. Jack is an understated fellow, and while he harbors anger, it's not generally towards victims, regardless how stupid they may be. (Look back, for example at the very first novel, the Tomb. In the beginning of the book he cheats common street thugs out of the money they are stealing from a trusting victim. Jack never shows disdain for the victim's inability to prevent his own victimization.) Some of his actions/reactions seem to belong to a less controlled, less "with-it" Jack. I hope Mr. Wilson returns the Jack I know and love, after all, part of Jack's charm is his ability to control and funnel his anger and express it creatively, as opposed to just lashing out.

Rating:
Summary: Save me, Repairman Jack!
Review: Wilson excels at writing this type of fantastic situation, a combination of suspense, mystery, and the supernatural which is common for Jack, and makes for riveting reading.

In it we meet Jack's sister, Kate, whose partner, Jeanette, is experiencing a personality change. She is really acting differently than normal, including being seemingly led around by Terrence Holdstock, who holds meetings in his apartment where it seems that people just sit around, acting strangely.

It seems that Jeanette recently had an experimental treatment for a brain tumor. A virus infected the treatment and is turning her and the other patients into the Village of the Damned. Kate wants Jeanette to return to herself, but Jeanette sees no problem, despite the fact that every so often, she screams for Kate to help her.

Earlier that day, Jack had been the one person to stop a man's psychotic shooting rampage on a subway car--a subway car that just happened to also contain a tabloid reporter looking to make his name, and who is now looking to interview Jack for the front page. This definitely does not fit in with Jack's plans for anonymity.

Add to this a mysterious Russian lady who tells Jack he is the world's only hope and a couple of bomb experts seeking vengeance on a previous case that ruined them and Jack certainly has his work cut out for him.

It has been said that, although proficient at all genres, Wilson is at his best when mixing genres. And this type of mystery-suspense-horror-medical thriller is a perfect example. One both never and always knows what to expect from F. Paul Wilson.