F. Paul Wilson

'Midnight Mass' is one of those books that should come with multiple trigger warnings for torture, gang rape, sexual slavery, the murder of children, desecration, executed bodies hung from telegraph poles, and cannibalism.

I read to the end of the book because the plot had its hooks in me and I wanted to see how things would work out. With the benefit of hindsight, the knowledge wasn't worth the trauma - which means my experience pretty much mirrors that of the 'good guys' in the story.

In show more his 'Author's Note' at the beginning of the book, F. Paul Wilson explains that 'Midnight Mass' was

'born out of my dissatisfaction with the tortured romantic aesthetes who have been passing lately for vampires. I wanted to get back to roots and write about the soulless, merciless, parasitic creatures we all knew and loved,’

He certainly succeeded in that. There is nothing to like about these vampires and a great deal to fear. They are some of the nastiest vampires I've read about: physically repulsive, merciless, predatory, aggressive, fundamentally selfish but organised, adept at psychological warfare and bent on world domination. Perhaps the scariest thing about these vampires is that they think the same way that the guys behind Bannon do. They set out to destroy hope and trust by weaponising the most violent and selfish elements of humanity and then use fear to keep control.

F. Paul Wilson doesn't stop at one set of monsters. He also gives us the Cowboys / Vichy / Serfs. These are the dregs of humanity - biker gangs, drug dealers, violent criminals, city traders - who keep the vampires safe by day and wrangle the human cattle in exchange for being turned into vampires after ten years of service.

So who does Wilson set against this growing empire of evil? Sadly the 'good guys' read like the start of a joke and they end up being cliché heavy. The 'good guys' are:

A Rabbi who is prepared to wear a crucifix if it keeps vampires away. He was the only good guy I believed in.

A nun turned vigilante assassin who uses her chemistry teacher background to make bombs, napalm and suicide vests.

A Catholic priest with a drink problem, exiled from his parish after being accused of molesting a child.

The priest’s niece a vegan, atheist, lesbian and nunchuck wielding martial arts expert.

F Paul Wilson really puts these good guys through hell and he gives no guarantees that they'll survive the experience.

Wilson describes himself as someone who was raised as a Catholic but is in remission. I was surprised at his very naive portrayal of the two nuns in the book. I've never met nuns quite so unworldly as these two.

The best thing about 'Midnight Mass', the thing that kept me reading to the end, was the cleverness of the plot. The vampire strategy for taking over America was well thought-through, the vampire world-building was effective without getting mired in detail and I was constantly kept guessing about what the good guys would do to oppose the vampires and whether or not they would succeed.

The bad thing about 'Midnight Mass', the thing that almost made me set it aside a couple of times was that the violence was graphic cruel, degrading, frequent and utterly casual. I thought that this was made worse by the unconvincing reactions of the good guys to what was going on. They bounced back too easily. They felt guilty about all the wrong things. They weren't angry enough. All of which tended to normalise what the vampire and the cowboys were doing.


'Midnight Mass' was made into a movie directed by Tony Mandile, who also wrote the screenplay together with F. Paul Wilson. In the movie the good guy characters get compressed from four to two. The rabbi and the nun disappear. The reviews I've read are all of the 'Don't bother with this' kind or worse.

The book is better but it's certainly not for everybody. show less

I have been doing a deep dive into F. Paul Wilson’s Secret Histories and even though I am only five books in I have to say they are a lot of fun. Reborn is the best of the Adversary Cycle so far and what a ride. For those who are not familiar with Wilson’s Books, The Adversary Cycle, Repairman Jack and a smattering of other books and short stories all coalesce into The Secret History of the World. The two series focus on happenings in our world which we might not be aware of. Primarily show more supernatural in scope but focusing on two entities who have been chasing each other, mostly since the beginning of time. Good and Evil. In the midst of all the excitement mere mortals with more than mere mortal talents and ambitions find themselves in the mix. This leads to some very interesting story telling.
The Reborn is dark and disturbing but fun. Wilson has no qualms about getting lost in his writing and fewer qualms about dragging the reader into the deep end of the pool.
The Plot. A young couple inherits an estate from a reclusive family member and while happiness and security may seem like it is around the corner, heartbreak could easily be waiting for them. Throw in some religious fanatics, well placed and ill timed accidents, along with some visuals that will burn through the retina straight into the brain and there you have it.
There are moments in Reborn that will cause the reader to calmly set the book down, look in the mirror and ask themselves….WTF. There are moments in Reborn that will cause the reader to drop the book and question why the writer is torturing you. Wilson has said himself that at times he has found himself walking away from his writing. He insists that it is not gratuitous and is needed for the plot. I one hundred percent agree with these statements. It makes for effective writing. The author is going to give you your due and put you through your paces as he drags you along. He is going to make you believe that what he is writing can and will happen…… “Wait…you mean it can’t?” show less

This is a nice fish outta water tale, with Jack having to take his first plane ride, first trip through TSA, since he dropped out of the quotidian work-a-day life. He is on his way to Florida to see his dad who is in a coma after suffering a hit-and-run accident. Turns out there's a lot more to the accident than just a fender-bender, including a monster alligator with horns like a demon. While Jack tries tot figure it out, he lives in his dad's place at a retirement community, and next-door show more to another in a long line of strange ladies with a dog. This particular lady with a dog gets more time on the page than any of the others 'till now, and we learn quite a bit more because of the focus.

Jack also runs up against a crew of disfigured people who run a little like Dickens' street urchins. But they've been living next to a gateway to the other side and it's had some effects. There are some pretty close connections to the larger Other story here, including - finally - another appearance of the Adversary himself. And it's a nice return for a family member, as Jack gets to know his dad and actually fight along side him.

5 bones!!!!!
Highly Recommended!!!!! show less

This one is the best of the Jack prequels, probably because all of the loose threads from the two earlier books finally getting stitched together. It's also such a success because FPW goes back to something he's really good at - folding in real life events to his fictional narrative. In this case, it's the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Jack thwarts the radicalized Muslim operatives on some level, but not completely. This one is so much fun because Jack seems fully realized at this point - show more and because we see the rage and vengeance start to leak into his psyche and behavior, a quandary he constantly noodles over throughout this book. He also gets ever so close to exposing the Order's involvement, only to let them slip by him without knowing it. But they know that they've come across a formidable opponent.

5 bones!!!!!
Highly Recommended!!!!! show less