Product Description

F. Paul Wilson's engaging, self-employed, off-the-books fixer, Repairman Jack, returns for another intense, action-packed adventure just a little over the border into the weird, in The Haunted Air. 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, including Legacies, Conspiracies, All the Rage, and Hosts. "Repairman Jack is a wonderful character, ultracompetent but still vulnerable. Wilson strolls into X-Files territory and makes it his own, keeping the action brisk and the level of suspense steadily rising," said the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle.

Repairman Jack doesn't believe a house can be haunted. But he's about to change that tune . . .

It started off as a lark, a late-night jaunt from a boring party to the home of a psychic medium, with Jack dragged along as a reluctant participant. But as soon as Jack and Gia step across the threshold, the house and the earth itself shake to the accompaniment of a tortured scream.

Menelaus Manor sits atop a major geologic fault known as Cameron's Line. But that's not it's only problem. The house has a horrific history. Its original owner died of cancer; his son blew his brains out in the basement; the couple that bought it next were found dead in their bed with their throats slashed; shortly thereafter a child was horribly mutilated in an upstairs bedroom.

The current owners, Lyle and Charlie Kenton, clever practitioners of spiritualist hocus-pocus, use high-tech tricks to dupe their marks. Perhaps they're too good: they've lured too many clients from other mediums and are now under attack. Unable to go to the police for fear of exposing their own scams, they hire Repairman Jack to fix their problem.

Jack takes the job, figuring he'll straighten out the situation by engaging in one of his favorite pastimes: scamming a scammer. But soon he learns that this fix-it involves more than professional jealousy in the spook trade. The earthquake marked the awakening of something in Menelaus Manor, something that used to be someone, an entity full of rage and brought back for a specific purpose.

But this entity has an agenda all its own . . .

Before he's finished Jack will travel from the seamy world of psychic scams to the inner circle of a well-connected murder cult, and finally into the dark heart of madness where he must strike a deal with a rage-filed entity returned from the dead.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49787 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-19
• Released on: 2004-04-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 544 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780812557312
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
This sixth novel in Wilson's gutsy Repairman Jack series (after Hosts) teams the righteous urban mercenary with his strangest bedfellows yet: a pair of sham spirit mediums who openly operate their occult con game out of a brownstone in Queens. His hardboiled skepticism notwithstanding, Jack takes the case of brothers Lyle and Charlie Kenton, who've been threatened by other Big Apple pseudo-psychics for horning in on the lucrative seance scene. No sooner has Jack begun using the tricks of the spiritualist trade on the Kentons' persecutors than real ghosts begin popping up along with a secret cult of ritual child murderers. As though this weren't enough, Jack is also confronted with imminent and unexpected fatherhood, which may force him to forsake the anonymity crucial to his underground enterprises. Readers know they can count on Wilson to weave the most unruly narrative strands into a tight Gordian plot and he doesn't disappoint here. Though heavy with talk and weak attempts at hip-hop jargon, the tale still speeds briskly to its spooky climax, subtly referencing other books in Wilson's canon (notably The Keep) and developing Jack's role as a warrior against the malignant cosmic force he calls "the Otherness." 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.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"F. Paul Wilson is a hot writer, and his hottest, and my favorite, creation is Repairman Jack."-Joe R. Lansdale

"Jack is righteous!" -Andrew Vachss
-- Review

Review

Customer Reviews

Repairing Queens
Wilson's series is always engaging, with his New Jersey born Jack the rebel repairer. This one is outstanding, and moves from both his standard Manhattan and suburban settings to the borough of Queens. Lyle and Charlie Kenton are very attactive additions to the series; I hope to see more of them!

There are weaknesses. Wilson isn't entirely comfortable with the Kenton brothers, and his ghastly version of Detroit black street language is a distracting nuisance. Lyle, the very upwardly mobile, articulate, and sharply intelligent con artist, is more realistic. Gia from Iowa remains as boring as her unbearably cutesy daughter, but the reader can skip past her.

Otherwise it's a lively, exciting, well-developed novel, with flashes of acid humor. The settings are very well-handled, and the pacing is breathless. Grab a copy for the beach or subway!

Now when will Dr. Wilson set a story in the Bronx? We have Edgar Allan Poe's cottage and Woodlawn Cemetery, so well written of in Peter Beagle's _A Fine and Private Place_, to tempt him!

Excellent Contribution to a Marvelous Series!!!
This is the latest Repairman Jack novel, a series which combines noir/mystery/crime novel with elements of horror and science fiction. Jack is one of the combatants in the battle between the Otherness and the Ally, a battle that's been raging throughout Wilson's novels and serves to tie most of them together into one continuum. In this book, Jack is faced with impending fatherhood and what that will mean to his shadowy, off-the-books existence. He also has to deal with the apparent ghost of a young girl who is haunting the house of a con-man/ psychic and his born-again brother, as well as a mysterious man who hires him to shadow his "brother" and prevent him from committing any crimes during the next full moon. All of this material comes together in a very satisfying way, leaving one wanting more. Wilson is one of those writers who just doesn't write fast enough.

Jack is a great creation, sort of the Equalizer crossed with the X-Files, and if you haven't experienced this series yet, you owe it to yourself to seek it out (other titles are _The Tomb_, _Legacies_, _Conspiracies_, _All the Rage_, and _Hosts_).

Best in the series so far
F. Paul Wilson continues his popular (and constantly improving) Repairman Jack series while putting his own stamp on the familiar haunted house tale. Repairman Jack is absolutely the most intriguing series character running today -- a mercenary with no official identity but a solid moral foundation, he "fixes" situations that are outside the realm of normal legal channels and that generally involve some supernatural elements. And I wait eagerly for the release of each succeeding entry.

The Haunted Air is by far the best novel in the series that I have read since the inaugural The Tomb. I thought Hosts was great until I read this one. Wilson has really caught his stride and is able to further develop the characters of Jack, his girlfriend Gia (and her daughter Vicky), and his friend and supplier Abe -- as well as their relationships to each other -- while continuing to invent plausible fantastic scenarios that put them deeper and deeper in peril. The Repairman Jack series can always be counted on for thought-provoking storylines as well as heart-pounding, pulse-racing, eye-widening climaxes.

Two brothers, Lyle and Charlie Kenton, run a sham psychic business out of their historic home, Menelaus Manor, under the names Ifasen and Kehinde, respectively. They have, over the years, quickly boosted their clientele by stealing them from competing psychics, and somebody has decided to get revenge. Drive-by shootings and mysterious door openings and closings are only the beginning. Once Jack gets involved, however, the intensity is turned way up as he decides to confront the suspects -- a competing psychic -- on her own turf; he gets to scam the scam artist.

Further investigation brings up secrets about the house, its previous owner, and a spirit out for revenge. On top of all this, Gia fears she may be pregnant. How can a child have a father with no identity? Would Jack be willing to give up his Repairman Jack lifestyle to become Citizen Jack?

It is this extra layer of emotion that raises The Haunted Air above the usual fare. Wilson gets into the minds of his characters, especially tricky with a man like Jack who is such a physical presence, and lets us know how they feel about the events, as well as taking us on a rollercoaster ride of fear, thrills, and suspense--all the while dropping clues to the upcoming confrontation with The Otherness--making sure to deliver a whiz-bang conclusion that tops anything else he has written.