My edition of James Blish's Jack of Eagles is a 1977 Arrow paperback with cover art by Chris Foss. I suspect it was bought for me some time around then. So I must have been twelve or thirteen when I first read it. I actually have a number of Blish novels from that period - all with Foss cover art - as he was one of my favourite sf authors at the time. Which made rereading Jack of Eagles an interesting exercise.

The novel is about Danny Caiden, a young man who develops psychic powers - precognition, telepathy, teleportation, telekinesis, etc. - and subsequently becomes embroiled in a secret war between two groups of powerful psychics, one of which is bent on taking over the world. With the help of a parapsychology professor at a local university, Caiden learns how to control his new-found powers... but it is only when he comes into conflict with the Brotherhood In Psi that he discovers he is the most powerful psi ever.

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Danny Caiden is the Jack of Eagles. However, when the novel starts, Danny is just a writer working for a trade publication. He has always had the talent for finding things. An example is given of a drunk friend at a party ringing up and asking where he has put his ski wax, and Danny tells him immediately what it has fallen in to.

Encountering another friend, he gets to talking about probability, and decides to see what else he can find. In a probability sense this means gambling, on the stock market, and horse racing.

This brings him to the attention of some gangsters, and avoiding them he decides to find out more about psychic abilities, contacting some researchers.

Soon, he learns there is a secret society, the Brotherhood, all composed of people like him. Danny's abilities are growing, making them want to recruit him. He opposes their politicals and ethics of superiority to normal humans, and escapes to discover there is an opposing force to these people.

With abilities rapidly increasing, and the understanding of the mathematics of probability and psi abilities, Danny is able to venture through different realities to attempt to thwart his opponents, and get the FBI to believe he is not a criminal.

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