Profile - Repairman Jack

Meet Repairman Jack - a mercenary Mr. Fix-It of sorts. Jack Nelson is the hero of F. Paul Wilson's (M) Repairman Jack novels - a compelling blend of fantasy, suspense, horror and the occult. Jack blends in. He is of average height and weight with brown hair and eyes. He is fit, but there is nothing remarkable about his appearance that would draw attention to his superior fighting and weaponry skills. In the manner of Jack Reacher (M), this Jack lives outside of society and government reach and has no social insurance number. He is not solitary, however, and is often driven in his adventures to protect his loved ones.

Jack Nelson has is first complete outing in The Tomb (M), in which he is employed, for a sizable fee, to protect a New York family who is being terrorized by the guardians of a Hindu temple long ago raided by the family's ancestor. Jack's motivation to right wrongs and his moral ambiguity stem from his witnessing his mother's murder as a teenager. Although his cases tend to be based in the physical world, the supernatural elements become more pronounced as the series progresses with the otherworldly struggle between the Ally and the Otherness.

In his latest and final adventure Nightworld (M)"this apocalyptic horror thriller makes a dazzling finale to Wilson's long-running saga of Repairman Jack and his clash with cosmic titans that began with The Tomb (1984). In modern Manhattan, and around the world, daylight hours are shrinking, signaling the malignant Rasalom's successful deflection of the Ally, earth's cosmic protector. When a bottomless sinkhole opens in Central Park and begins spewing forth monstrous carnivorous insects, Jack; his immortal mentor, Glaeken; and their gang of do-gooder confederates scramble to recruit a young boy endowed with miraculous healing powers and to retrieve a pair of talismanic necklaces that are their only weapons for averting the doom Rasalom has planned for the planet. Wilson grafts drive-in B-movie horrors onto a plot with metaphysical substance, and the result is a carnival funhouse ride of a story that still offers food for thought." - Publishers Weekly

Fans of F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack novels might also enjoy novels by Stephen King (M), Dean Koontz (M) and Richard Matheson (M).