Complete Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson: “My wordview creeps into my fiction, of course.”
Author photo by Ellen Datlow
A look at the book series where F. Paul Wilson explores the evil of man—and the supernatural evil that man keeps alive.
“I can’t imagine not writing. If I can intro you to a different way of looking at life and society than you were allowed to see in the state-run schools, fine...”
F. Paul Wilson is the New York Times bestselling author of horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, and virtually everything in between. Growing up in New Jersey, he spent his childhood poring over Uncle Scrooge and E.C. comics, reading H.P. Lovecraft, Richard Matheson, Ray Bradbury, and Robert A. Heinlein, listening to Chuck Berry and Alan Freed on the radio, and watching Soupy Sales and horror movies. (In one week, he is said to have watched King Kong 11 times.)
Wilson’s fiction includes the Repairman Jack novels (including Ground Zero, The Tomb, and Fatal Error), the Adversary cycle, and a young adult series featuring the teenage Jack.
Wilson’s 1981 novel The Keep was adapted into a 1983 movie that was “visually striking but perfectly incomprehensible.” It opened to horrendous reviews, and the author takes no responsibility for that adaptation. The good news is that Wilson recently announced that a new movie adapting the book is coming from Greg Nicotero.
Wilson has won the Prometheus Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Inkpot Award from the San Diego ComiCon, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers of America, among other honors.
“I can’t imagine not writing,” Wilson told More2Read. “Yes, it’s work, and it’s frustrating at times, but so is anything worth doing. I’m here to entertain, make you turn the pages. I want to own you for a while. My wordview creeps into my fiction, of course. If I can intro you to a different way of looking at life and society than you were allowed to see in the state-run schools, fine, but I’m not out to sell you anything.”
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About the Repairman Jack series
Repairman Jack doesn’t deal with electronic appliances—he’s a situation fixer, no matter how weird or deadly a situation may be. Repairman Jack has no last name, no Social Security number, and no qualms when it comes to getting the job done—even if it means putting himself in serious danger.
“Repairman Jack is a wonderful character, ultracompetent but still vulnerable,” said the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle. “Wilson strolls into X-Files territory and makes it his own, keeping the action brisk and the level of suspense steadily rising.”
First introduced years ago in the bestseller The Tomb, Jack has been the hero of a series of exciting novels set in and around New York City. With the Repairman Jack series—a spin-off of the supernatural horror series The Adversary Cycle—bestselling author F. Paul Wilson explores the evil of man…and the supernatural evil that man keeps alive. The Manhattan-based urban mercenary who calls himself Repairman Jack makes his living “fixing” situations for people who cannot find help elsewhere…
“One of the best all-out adventure stories I’ve read in years.”
—Stephen King, author of the bestsellers The Stand, Fairy Tale, Holly, and the Dark Tower series“Repairman Jack is one of the most original and intriguing characters to arise out of contemporary fiction in ages. His adventures are hugely entertaining.”
—Dean Koontz, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Strangers“Repairman Jack is one of my favorite characters—I’m full of happy anticipation every time I hold a new RJ novel in my hands.”
—Charlaine Harris, creator of the True Blood series“One of the all-time great characters in one of the all-time great series.”
—Lee Child, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series
Find out more about the character in the new essay Repairman Jack (Mysterious Profiles). Wilson tells the real and fictional origins of the mysterious man who battles criminals and the supernatural.
In 1984, Repairman Jack debuted in Wilson’s horror thriller The Tomb. Jack would go on to star in 23 novels, 10 short stories, and a graphic novel. But how did the antithesis of James Bond and Jason Bourne get his start in the battle between good and evil?
In this essay, Wilson lets his readers in on how his beloved hero came to be. Wilson begins his personal story after he scored a hit with The Keep, when he found his inspiration for his next book in a dream. He discusses selecting and researching a monster, as well as developing Jack, his supporting cast, and settling on a villain. He also shares how the first title in the series came to be—it wasn’t always The Tomb. Wilson closes with Jack’s fictional backstory and his thoughts on Jack’s potential future—if there is one…
Find the essay Repairman Jack (Mysterious Profiles) on Amazon
Find out more about the novels in the series below…
The Complete Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson
Much to the chagrin of his girlfriend, Gia, Repairman Jack doesn’t deal with appliances. He fixes situations—situations that too often land him in deadly danger. His latest fix is finding a stolen necklace which, unknown to him, is more than a simple piece of jewelry.
Some might say it’s cursed, others might call it blessed. The quest leads Jack to a rusty freighter on Manhattan’s West Side docks. What he finds in its hold threatens his sanity and the city around him. But worst of all, it threatens Gia’s daughter Vicky, the last surviving member of a bloodline marked for extinction.
Review: “When magic and mythological monsters get mixed up with his career and his love life, Repairman Jack gets as freaked-out as you or I would be. The difference is his incredible toughness, bravery, and single-minded determination. When he sets his mind on getting something done, he gets it done. If it’s impossible, maybe it takes a bit longer.” (MuggleNet)
Repairman Jack isn’t your average appliance repairman—he fixes situations for people, often risking his own life. Jack has no last name, no social security number, works only for cash, and has no qualms when it comes to seeing that the job gets done.
Dr. Alicia Clayton, a pediatrician who treats children with AIDS, is full of secrets, and she has just inherited a house that holds another. Haunted by painful memories, Alicia wants the house destroyed—but somehow everyone she enlists to help ends up violently killed. The house holds a powerful secret, and Alicia’s charmless brother Thomas seems willing to do anything to get his hands on that secret himself.
But not if Repairman Jack can find it first!
Review: “I really enjoyed The Tomb, but it was this book [Legacies]—the second in the series—that sold (me) completely on reading the entire saga. As strong as The Tomb was, Legacies is a much stronger book and really defines Jack as a character in deeper way.” (The Vegan Revolution...With Zombies)
Looking for clues to the mysterious disappearance of leading conspiracy theorist Melanie Ehler, Jack attends a convention of bizarre and avid conspiracy theorists. It’s a place where aliens are real, the government is out to get you, and the world is hurtling toward an inevitable war of good versus evil incarnate.
Jack finds that nobody can be trusted—and that few people are what they seem. Worse yet, Jack’s been having vivid dreams that make him wonder whether he’s headed for a clash with his own past—maybe The Tomb’s evil rakoshi beasts aren’t through with him quite yet…
Review: “I recommend this thrilling segment.” (MuggleNet)
All the Rage (Repairman Jack #4)
Jack is back! In the new Repairman Jack thriller, Jack fights a new street drug, Berserk.
Can you imagine a new chemical compound, a non-addictive designer drug that heightens your assertiveness, opens the door to your primal self, giving you an edge wherever you compete? Whether on the street or the football field, in a classroom or a boardroom. Wouldn’t you be tempted to try it—just once? What happens if it releases uncontrollable rage and makes you a killer?
Jack finds himself fighting against the makers and sellers of this dangerous new street drug. The drug brings out the user’s most aggressive behavior, gifting the user with a God-like feeling—useful in small doses, but also capable of sending the user into a mindless, destructive rage. After checking around, Jack realizes that the drug comes from a most surprising source—a source that may have deadly effects on Jack’s life and the lives of those he cares most about.
It’s up to Jack to destroy this source, put an end to it and save countless lives—even though it may cost him his own...
Review: “Wilsonskillfully juggles subplots whose unpredictable collisions and complications further accelerate the relentless momentum of Jack’s labors. What’s more, he weaves seamlessly into the story’s fabric pet social critiques that in past episodes have stuck out like cranky harangues. A satisfying open-ended climax sets the stage for yet another chapter in Jack’s compelling saga.” (Publishers Weekly)
After 15 years of separation, Jack is contacted by his long-lost sister, Kate, to help her track down the source of her girlfriend Jeanette’s sudden trance-like behavior. Referred by a mysterious stranger who gives only Jack’s name and phone number, Kate is shocked to find out that the “repairman” she seeks is none other than her little brother—and not altogether happy to find out what little “Jackie” has been doing with himself for all these years.
With Jack leading the way, Kate finds out that Jeannette’s behavior can be traced back to the experimental therapy she underwent for a brain tumor: now Jeannette’s brain and those of several other subjects are infected by a mutated virus. Like any good virus, it wants to multiply—and if Jack can’t stop the virus in its path, there will be deadly results.
Meanwhile, Jack is traveling on the 9 train when suddenly a passenger goes berserk and starts shooting at random—leaving Jack no choice but to throw himself into the spotlight by putting the shooter down. Worse for Jack, one of his fellow passengers is a reporter for the local tabloid, The Light, who sees Jack’s heroism as his ticket to journalistic stardom. The reporter promises to make Jack a celebrity hero, a household name—which could mean the end of Repairman Jack as we know him.
Review: “The suspense in Hosts is the book’s strength. This is very much a horror novel that has a very tense ending. The family connection is an important a vital aspect of this novel. An important step for taking the Jack novels up a notch.” (The Vegan Revolution...With Zombies)
The Haunted Air (Repairman Jack #6)
Repairman Jack returns for another intense, action-packed adventure just a little over the border.
In Astoria, Queens, the lively ethnic neighborhood just across the river from Manhattan, a house is being haunted by the ghost of a nine-year-old girl in riding clothes. More than two decades before, she’d been abducted from stables in Brooklyn. Now it’s up to Jack to uncover the truth of her story and liberate the pretty, blond spirit.
Perhaps the answer is in the odd little store called the Shurio Coppe? Ah, but that would be telling.
Jack does things no human being should be able to do, but we watch, in horrified fascination, as the forces of evil seem about to triumph and fill the world with eternal darkness. And then…but you must read the book.
Find The Haunted Air on Amazon
Review: “Above all, the novel enhances the enigma of Jack, a hero who commands respect despite his curmudgeonly disdain for contemporary culture, his morally ambiguous work-for-hire ethic and his unsettling appeal to the vigilante in every reader.” (Publishers Weekly)
Jack learns that his father is in a coma after a car accident in Florida. They’ve been on the outs, but this is his dad, so he heads south. In the hospital he meets Anya, one of his father’s neighbors. She’s a weird old duck who seems to know an awful lot about his father, and even a lot about Jack.
Jack’s arrival does not go unnoticed. A young woman named Semelee, who has strange talents and lives in an isolated area of the Everglades with a group of misshapen men, feels his presence. She senses that he’s “special” like her.
Anya takes Jack back to Dad’s senior community, Gateways South, which borders on the Everglades. Florida is going through an unusual drought. There’s a ban on watering—everything is brown and wilting, but Anya’s lawn is a deep green.
Who is Anya? Who is Semelee, and what is her connection to the recent strange deaths of Gateways residents-killed by birds, spiders, and snakes during the past year? And what are the “lights” Jack keeps hearing about? Lights that emanate twice a year from a sinkhole deep in the Everglades—lights from another place, another reality.
If he is to protect his father from becoming the next fatality at Gateways, there are questions Jack must answer, secrets he must uncover. Secrets—Jack has plenty of his own, and along the way he learns that even his father has secrets.
Review: “Gateways grabs the reader with its solidly woven plot and delivers a dose of atmospheric suspense that reflects the unsettled waters of the Everglades, an intriguing backdrop for a worthy addition to this excellent series. New readers will enjoy the story while old-timers will delight in new revelations and the ever-expanding web of connections that is the universe of F. Paul Wilson and his archetypal creation, Repairman Jack.” (Russell Madden)
Repairman Jack takes on two cases at once…
The first involves a nun being blackmailed by someone who has photos of her she doesn't want made public. What’s in those photos, she won’t say, but with her meager savings just about exhausted, she hires Jack to help her.
The second seems straightforward enough, as an elderly woman hires Jack to find her missing son. But to locate his quarry, Jack must infiltrate the inner reaches of the Dormentalist Church, a secretive, globe-spanning cult whose members include some of the biggest and most powerful names in entertainment, sports, and politics. Ruthless in its pursuit of critics and enemies, the Church hides a sinister agenda known only to its ruling elite.
But Jack can be ruthless, too, going to darker lengths than ever before as he crisscrosses the two fix-it jobs to settle the deadliest of scores!
Review: “In many ways this is the novel I have been waiting to read since the start. It is in many ways a crucial turning point in the saga, but what is amazing is just how many of the novels present yet another turning point for the main character. You know Jack is going to survive to fight another day, so Wilson very smartly finds ways to ratchet up the tension for Jack.” (The Vegan Revolution...With Zombies)
Infernal (Repairman Jack #9)
The ninth Repairman Jack novel brims with murder, international terrorism, sibling rivalry, and a truly infernal device.
A mutual tragedy throws Jack together with his brother Tom, a judge from Philadelphia. They’ve never been close, and it doesn’t take Jack long realize that’s a good thing. Tom and he are opposites.
Still, Tom convinces Jack to go on a trip to get to know each other better. He has a map locating a wreck off the coast of Bermuda and wants Jack to help him find it. Reluctantly Jack agrees. But instead of treasure they find a strange object, part organic, part manmade, known as the Lilitongue of Gefreda.
Ancient lore claims that it is a means “to elude all enemies and leave them helpless.” The big question is, why does Tom want such a thing?
And if the Lilitongue lives up to the legend, where does it take you? No one seems to know. Matters take a bizarre and dangerous turn-no surprise for a Repairman Jack novel—when someone accidentally activates the Lilitongue.
Review: “Anonymous hero goes through some family issues, recovers treasure, fights terrorism. Some things work (especially the well-rendered brotherly relationship), but a lot (such as Jack’s joyfully racist mafioso buddy Joey) fails to connect.” (Kirkus Reviews)
Harbingers (Repairman Jack #10)
A hang-onto-your-hat-and-heart thriller of triumph and tragedy that barrels along at F. Paul Wilson’s trademark breakneck pace.
It starts off so simply: Jack, still feeling down after the tragic events of Infernal, is hanging in Julio's when a regular named Timmy asks him for help. His teenage niece has been missing since this morning; the police say it's too early to worry, but Timmy knows something bad has happened. Jack says he'll put the word out on the street. This innocent request triggers a chain of seemingly coincidental events that lead Jack into the darkest days of his life.
As has become evident in the series, Jack has been singled out, unwillingly, as the champion of one of the two supernatural forces contending for control of all human life on Earth. Neither of these forces are good or evil, just dangerous and amoral. They value and notice individual humans about as much as we do mosquitos.
Jack is desperate—and the last thing you want to do is make Jack desperate. That’s when things begin to blow up and people begin to die…
Review: “Wilson brings Jack to new heights in this novel. His formidable writing skills put his hero through the wringer as never before, proving the adage that a hero is measured by his enemies. When those enemies should have been friends, the struggle can be all the more painful. It’s not nonstop action, however. Not to spoil anything, but this novel contains some of the most heartbreaking work Wilson has ever penned. It’s brilliant work.” (SF Revu)
Jack has been on hiatus since the events in Harbingers. With his lover Gia’s encouragement he dips a toe back into the fix-it pool. Christy Pickering’s 18-year-old daughter is dating Jerry Bethlehem, a man twice her age. Christy sensed something shady and sinister about him, so she hired a private investigator to look into his past.
But the PI isn’t returning her calls. Will Jack find out why?
Jack learns there’s a very good reason for the unreturned calls: The PI is dead, a victim of a bizarre water-torture murder. As Jack delves into Jerry Bethlehem’s past he learns that the man is not who he says he is.
Who—and what—he is will have a devastating effect on Jack’s life and future, adding another piece to the puzzle of who he really is and why he’s been drafted into this cosmic shadow war.
Review: “I’m still really enjoying this series and can’t wait to see what happens next.” (Book Shark)
Jack is hired to find a legendary Japanese sword, a katana stolen from the Hiroshima Peace Museum and brought to New York City. Central characters include the members of a weird Japanese cult, a young Japanese businessman and his three Yakuza bodyguards, plus Hank Thompson, the Kicker cult leader from Bloodline.
The cult, the businessman, the Yakuza, and the Kickers are looking for the sword as well.
Also in the mix is the pregnant teenager carrying a child, loaded with abnormal DNA, who will be a decisive force in the cosmic shadow war raging behind the scenes. She becomes a pawn in the game, hunted by both sides.
Following his usual m.o., Jack maneuvers all sides into a bloody melee from which he plans to waltz away with the fabled katana. Of course, when things don't go as planned, Jack must improvise (and he hates to improvise).
By the Sword takes F. Paul Wilson’s trademark breakneck pacing and interweaving storylines to a new level.
Review: “After reading this novel, I believe we now tend to get a much better perspective of the battle that’s been going on for 15,000 years for control of mankind and the planet. I found myself feeling more comfortable in preparation for the upcoming ending of the Repairman Jack series. I guess things are starting to make sense to me now.” (Horror Novel Reviews)
Ground Zero (Repairman Jack #13)
Jack finds the secret behind 9/11 in the new dark thriller in the bestselling Repairman Jack series from F. Paul Wilson, Ground Zero
On September 11, 2001, a man drifts in a boat off lower Manhattan as the towers burn. He removes a small box from his pocket and presses a button. As he waits for the south tower to collapse, he thinks: The vast majority will blame the collapse on the crazy Arabs who hijacked the planes and the Islamic extremists who funded them—the obvious choice.
A few will notice inconsistencies and point fingers elsewhere, blaming the government or Big Oil or some other powerful but faceless entity. No one—absolutely no one—will guess the truth behind the who and why of this day.
Years later, someone does. Repairman Jack's childhood friend, Weezy Connell (the genius girl from the Tor Teen novel, Jack: Secret Histories), has started fitting together the pieces of the puzzle and anonymously posting her conclusions on the Web.
But she can't stay anonymous forever. Someone is after her. Jack becomes involved in her troubles and in the paranoid mazes of the 9/11 Truth Movement, where conspiracy theories point in every direction.
They're all wrong. The truth is stranger, darker, and more evil than anyone can imagine. It involves the cosmic shadow war into which Jack has been drafted. And if the plot behind it--millennia in the planning--succeeds, it will forever change life on this Earth.
Review: “I’ve become a big fan of F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack novels over the last several books for both the overarching story and the eponymous main character. But how can Wilson handle something as horrible as the attacks on the World Trade Center? In Ground Zero, Wilson manages to play with the Truther movement and make it interesting yet avoids giving it any actual credence. That takes talent in a writer, and it makes this book an excellent novel.” (Curled Up With a Good Book)
Jack is back.
Wilson never said he was through with Repairman Jack. He said he was through turning in a new novel every year. He also said when a story came along that was right for Jack, he’d write it.
The Last Christmas is that story.
It’s late December between Ground Zero and Fatal Error, a winter of discontent for Jack who’s perhaps spending too much time hanging at Julio’s. An old contact, Edward Burkes, convinces him to take on a missing-person fix. As usual, nothing is as it seems, and the missing person isn’t exactly a person. In fact, it’s like nothing anyone has ever seen.
And in the middle of all this, the mysterious Madame de Medici hires him to safeguard a valuable object. Simple, right?
Not even close.
Yep, Jack is back and, as usual, weird trouble is on his heels.
Find The Last Christmas on Amazon
Review: “This new case—avoiding spoilers—fits very nicely into the cosmic conflict Jack is embroiled in, as he’s on the hunt for a thing of terrible cosmic power, a near cousin to something which has already had a dreadful impact on his life. In classic Jack fashion, Wilson mixes elements of the thriller/suspense genre with government intrigue, weird science, and cosmic horror.” (Cemetery Dance)
The End of the World is at hand!
Munir Habib’s life has become a nightmare. His tormentor has warned Munir not to report the kidnapping of his family, or else they will pay a terrible price.
A friend realizes something is terribly wrong and tells Munir he doesn’t have to go to the cops. There’s a guy who fixes situations like this—Repairman Jack.
Jack is backed into helping Munir despite his ongoing involvement in the cosmic shadow war between the Ally and the Otherness. Or perhaps because of it. He’s chafing at being forced into the defensive role of protecting the Lady, the physical embodiment of the consciousness of the planet Earth.
Meanwhile, the Septimus Order and the Kickers are seemingly working in concert on a plot to extinguish the Lady and open the way for the Otherness to take over our reality.
To top it all off, Dawn Pickering finally goes into labor and delivers a baby she only glimpses as it’s whisked away, and is terrified by what she sees. Later she’s told the baby died, but she doesn’t believe it. Neither does Weezy. Neither does Jack.
All these interlocking plots mean doom for humanity. But Jack never gives up or gives in.
Review: Repairman Jack fixes our world for the 14th time—one more to go. Obviously, Wilson wants to save the best for last, but that leaves the underfed penultimate novel in need of a literary Repairman Jack. (Kirkus Reviews)
Bound by his promise to Glaeken, Jack has refrained from making any direct moves against Rasalom. But things have changed so there’s nothing holding Jack in check any longer.
Other changes are occurring as well. Jack is healing at an accelerated rate—much like Glaeken did when he was immortal. This can only mean that Glaeken’s time is almost up and when he dies, Jack takes his place.
Rasalom continues to plot against the Lady. Twice she has died and returned; a third time and she will be gone, leaving a clear path for the Otherness to infiltrate this reality. But Ernst Drexler, formerly Rasalom’s go-to guy for logistical support, fears he will be left out in the cold when the Change comes. He forms an uneasy alliance with Jack, who is preparing to face their old enemy.
Meanwhile, Dawn Pickering is searching for her supposedly dead baby. The trail leads her to a mansion in a remote Long Island coastal town, where she discovers a truth she could have never imagined.
Now the stage is set for Jack’s massive assault on Rasalom. Jack knows he’s got just one shot. But it’s not just a matter of taking out Rasalom: he also must safely retrieve Dawn’s child and minimize collateral damage.
So, he comes up with a foolproof plan.
But fools are always with us….
Find The Dark at the End on Amazon
Review: “Sometime around when I started the series, the author heavily revised Nightworld to provide the proper conclusion to this series and tie all of his Adversary Cycle books together. As the actual penultimate chapter of the Repairman Jack series, [The Dark at the End] was a good installment....Instead of having the stop a plan or bad guy from doing something terrible (well, I guess that’s still the motivation here) the plot is driven by the good guys actively planning to vanquish/depower/kill the bad guy. That was a refreshing change for the series.” (Book Shark)
This is the way the world ends—not with a bang but a scream in the dark.
It begins at dawn, when the sun rises late. Then the holes appear. The first forms in Central Park, in sight of an apartment where Repairman Jack and a man as old as time watch with growing dread. Gaping holes, bottomless and empty…until sundown, when the first unearthly, hungry creatures appear.
Nightworld brings F. Paul Wilson’s Adversary Cycle and Repairman Jack saga to an apocalyptic finale as Jack and Glaeken search the Secret History to gather a ragtag army for a last stand against the Otherness and a hideously transformed Rasalom.
Review: “Nightworld has action, horror and thrills throughout and is well worth a read. Those looking for a typical Repairman Jack novel may be disappointed, but if you pick up the five other novels in the "Adversary Cycle" first you will have a good time with this one.” (Horror DNA)
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