Infernal

I read the first Repairman Jack novel, The Tomb, years ago. It felt like I read it when I was about sixteen, but it was only published in 1998, so I must have been closer to 25. I remember liking it a fair bit. That was before the events of 9/11, which I think contributed to a substantial change in tone in this book, Infernal.

It's amazing, the level of Gary Stu (masculinization of the concept of a Mary Sue, for those who aren't familiar) feeling I got from the protagonist in this book -- not in overt, blatant ways so much as in little hints and general feel, including some reflection of his supposed awesomeness in the character of his girlfriend, who inspired stupidly obsessive love at first sight in other characters, didn't look show more pregnant at six months, and so on. I could have handled that, though. It could still be a solid three-star novel ("liked it" on the Goodreads scale) if that was the biggest problem. The story just was not as compelling as I'd hoped, though, and the ultimate supernatural danger at the eventual center of the plot was dull and off-putting as a seemingly pointless anti-MacGuffin that (literally) just hovered obnoxiously in the pages and afflicted people with a cheese-ass growing mark. The author made some effort to explain the improbable coincidences and absurdities by applying some ex post facto "this is too much to be a coincidence, there must be some secret conspiracy" suggestion at the end, but it was both too much and too little to just accept that ham-handed apology for the plot.

Then, of course, there's the weird post-9/11 salting with steaming piles of War-On-Tourism cheerleading crapped all over the story, plus some attendant racism that almost (but not quite) tried to apologize for itself. Seeing the main character seem interested in keeping his (literal) partner in crime from visiting injustice on the innocent just because they're "Arabs" (often using much less polite terms) was encouraging for a moment, until the token protestations that they had to be sure turned into "Well, no biggie, kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out!" motivation and behavior that really did nothing to truly justify the actions until long after it was too late to fix things if it turned out they were wrong. Yeah, the Goodreads rating went right down the shitter, there.

I still read to the end, because by the time the final nail got pounded into this coffin it was close enough to the end that it's worth just being able to say I finished it when talking about how bad it was. The ending was not well-handled, even aside from the failings I described above, and ultimately Tom (the real hero of the story in some ways, and the only character who grew as a person) was just a caricature who had a caricature-quality moment of redemption. The innocent young girl was kind of a caricature, too, for that matter.

I suspect the main reason this book has such good reviews on average is the simple fact that, for the most part, anyone reading this book has read eight of them before it, which means these are people who have already proven they love this author's work. Usually, people who hate an author's work drop out much earlier in an unloved series, leaving only the true fans to give ever-higher average reviews, as fewer and fewer of the readers are of the sort who'd give books in the series less than five stars every time. This book certainly wasn't worth more than three even if you don't have the same specific distaste for the author's bigotry-by-proxy. I like a good anti-terrorism yarn, if well-handled; people who kill innocent bystanders (e.g. terrorists) piss me right off. The anti-terrorism parts of this novel were not that, though. They were just rank bullshit.

Yeah, fuck this book.

I now wonder whether The Tomb wasn't very good after all. I suspect the series just got more threadbare as it went on, and the author turned into some kind of neocon or neolib after 9/11, though. In any case, I won't seek out any of the books between the two I've read, or any following books, at this point. show less

This is the most disjointed entry in the Repairman Jack series so far, almost certainly because of the self-imposed restrictions set in place by the author himself. All of Jack’s solo adventures (not counting the prequels) take place between his debut in The Tomb and the conclusion of the Adversary Cycle, Nightworld--written in 1984 and 1992, respectively. Infernal came out in 2005, with six more volumes to follow.

As usual, the story opens coldly realistic, as befitting an urban fix-it man and sometime avenger. It’s not long before the mystic and otherworldly elements come into play. There are problems, story wise, with both aspects of Jack’s world.

Almost immediately Jack’s father dies in a hail of terrorist bullets at New show more York’s La Guardia Airport. As Jack mourns he sets about finding those responsible. But the quest for vengeance is quickly set aside. The story turns out to be more about Jack’s brother, a sleazy Philadelphia judge whose past is about to land him permanently in jail. In using the supernatural as a means to escape his earthly woes, he promptly endangers Jack’s girlfriend and her daughter, the only two people left whom Jack loves.

The terrorist getting away virtually unscathed is the byproduct of telling a larger overreaching story, and they’ll probably be dealt with in a forthcoming book. Therein lay the point. The story’s problems are only problems to the uninitiated. Jack knows exactly where to find a particular “séance” that leads him to an ancient book with possible solutions, and this come off as very convenient. It also stretches credibility that Jack has seen this book before and knows exactly where to find it. But only in this particular novel. Again, there is a bigger picture. This has all been established in previous novels.

This is not the place to be dropped into Jack’s world. And I suspect this to be true of the rest of the novels going forward. So go back to the beginning. Repairman Jack is a fascinating character and Wilson is master storyteller. It’s still a trip worth taking. But in the proper order. show less

Book #9 in the Repairman Jack series highlights F. Paul Wilson taking Jack in a different direction. While the book was good there some parts that read like they were an afterthought and were added just because. The story in itself was good enough. Wilson did not need a mad Italian thrown in the mix. While the book was darker and overall intended to be a tear jerker…I did not shed a tear. The guy at the end got what he deserved. This almost read like Clive Cussler tried to write Dean Koontz book…minus a golden retriever. It does seem natural that the books are getting darker. Darker things are afoot and will only continue to be so until the end.

This wasn't my favorite RJ book. I really hated Jack's brother and hated being in his head. His sudden change of heart at the end felt contrived. But it was nice to see the Kenton brothers again.

A later entry in the Repairman Jack series about Jack the vigilante-for-hire who fixes situations, not toasters. Grieving overt his father's loss, Jack agrees reluctantly to help his brother, Tom, a corrupt judge, retrieve hidden funds and disappear. But Tom also has his eye on something else that ups the stakes and threatens everything Jack holds dear. An interesting inner portrayal of the brother, the usual action-filled story with Jack's own oddball allies, and a nice ending. Repairman Jack is the best. By this time the supernatural element has grown in importance. This is my second reading of this book. Makes me want to reread some others, aside from the many-times=read The Keep and The Tomb which launched Jack's series, as well as show more the series-ender. show less

When I got to the end of this book, I immediately wanted to start reading #10. Unfortunately, #10 is only out in hardcover right now (I collect this series in regular old paperback).
Of all the various series I read, Repairman Jack is the most original and least repetitive, with only a few characters (not a whole cast of clowns) that the reader needs to remember and keep track of.
My husband recently started reading again, and when he asked two weeks ago what he should go for, I gave him the first Repairman Jack book, The Tomb. He is about to start book #3 tomorrow. ‘nuff said.

One of the weaker entries in the series. Jack's father is caught in a terrorist attack, and he reunites with brother Tom, a sleazy judge. Tom talks him into going to Bermuda to access a hopefully-secret account and winds up roping him into a quest for a mysterious shipwreck that hides an object much better forgotten forever.