World Famous Comics: Conspiracies (Repairman Jack)
Conspiracies (Repairman Jack)
By: F. Paul Wilson Publisher: Tor Books Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Tor Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 416 Publication Date: September 30, 2008 Release Date: September 30, 2008
Repairman Jack, F. Paul Wilson's vigilante hero from the New York Times bestseller The Tomb, returns in a thriller that thrusts him back into the weird, supernatural world that he thrives in.
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.
Amazon.com Review: Don't bother calling Repairman Jack if your washing machine is busted. Jack is a fixer of a different nature: he investigates crimes that go beyond the norms of traditional law. In 1984's The Tomb, Jack tracked down a prized (and cursed) family heirloom; in 1998's Legacies, he sniffed out the sinister secret behind a man's last will and testament. The enigmatic sleuth makes his third appearance in Conspiracies. "I don't do missing wives," Jack protests at first, but the bizarre circumstances surrounding Melanie Ehler's disappearance convince him to help out the woman's distraught husband.
Melanie is a leading voice in the conspiracy-theory movement, a true believer that crop circles, UFOs, and even El Niño are all part of the same vast plot against humankind. She dubs this her "Grand Unification Theory," or GUT. One week before announcing the GUT theory to the world, Melanie vanishes and Jack is plunged deep into her weird world as he attends the conference where Melanie was due to speak. Jack is initially amused by the eccentricities of the alien abductees and Satanic cult survivors Melanie counted among her colleagues; but an apparently supernatural force, a murder, a disappearing corpse, and a creature straight from the bowels of hell put his skepticism to the test.
Conspiracies is another tightly plotted thriller from F. Paul Wilson, tinged with enough horror and supernatural suspense to please both mystery lovers and horror hounds. Repairman Jack reigns as one of the most alluring and mysterious private investigators in the business. --Naomi Gesinger
One of the best Repairman Jack novels For those who are new to the series, Repairman Jack doesn't officially exist. He has no social security number, no tax records, and no legal identity of any kind. Jack has spent his adult life trying to disappear from society, even distancing himself from his family. He's also a man that people come to for help with problems. For a fee, Jack will "repair" the situation. Conspiracies is Jack's third outing and in some ways it marks the true beginning of the series. He is hired to find a woman named Melanie Ehler, a paranormal researcher who has gone missing for several days. In the process of investigating, Jack is introduced to a world of conspiracy buffs that seem totally nuts. Except for the fact that each of them seems to have at least shreds of disturbing truth in their stories and they're all bound up with Melanie's disappearance.
This is a key book in the Repairman Jack series. It introduces Sal Roma (aka The One) as well as the concept of The Otherness that play such a large part in later books in the series. Jack got a taste of the supernatural when he fought the rakoshi in The Tomb (Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack) but he's really thrown into the deep end of the pool here as he is faced with a reality that he can barely understand, let alone accept.
Conspiracies is a high point of the series and I highly recommend it. Established readers will love it and it is a great entry point for those unfamiliar with Repairman Jack. The story moves along at a good pace, tension slowly builds throughout, and the climax delivers a fitting payoff to all that buildup.
Jack's back Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
This is the third time we encounter Repairman Jack, and the third time is the charm. I fell in love with Repairman Jack from the first moment I met him in THE TOMB, and I fall a little more in love with each installment.
Jack can fix just about anything, but don't bother calling him if your dishwasher is leaking all over your kitchen floor or your toaster quit toasting and started smoking. Jack fixes things of a more sensitive nature...
This time, Jack is hired to find a missing wife. In his search, he must delve into a strange world of conspiracy theories bringing him close to the supernatural once again. Attending a convention of conspiracy buffs where the missing wife in question was expected to introduce her monumental theory connecting everything from UFO's to who really killed JFK provides Jack with plenty of leads. Amused by a lot of colorful characters he meets along the way, he still manages to come face to face with the darkest evil. Not to mention a very disturbing talking monkey.
Wilson captivates us once again in a story that will thrill and chill satisfying fans of horror and suspense alike. We see a lighter side of Repairman Jack and his typical quick witted dialog in CONSPIRACIES as well as supernatural and sci-fi elements that will propitiate just about anyone.
With a tight plot that is funny and very well crafted, skeptics and believers (Mulder's and Scully's?) alike will have a fantastic time!
Best yet This is the third Repairman Jack book and I like this one the best so far. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Conspiracy Theories Abound!! F. Paul Wilson's 3rd Repairman Jack novel is yet another solid ongoing tale of Repairman Jack's slow unveiling of who he really is.
Although seemingly bigger in scale than the last book, Legacies, this 3rd entry into the series left me and my wife wanting more. As always. But moreso here because Wilson creates in this novel a bigger scheme and theme for the series, giving readers only a taste of bigger surprises to come for what he obviously has in store for readers of Repairman Jack.
Always thus far being the illustrious storyteller of solid, action/adventure, supernatural tales, F. Paul Wilson builds his main character - along with the few main characters that Jack surrounds himself with - with ever-growing characterization. This is smart writing. Keeps the reader not only engaged, but wondering what shifts and changes will occur with each new novel. Will Jack and Gia get married? Will Jack quit being The Repairman? Will new gateways open all over Earth, making the emergence of the Otherness creep fully into the world?
These climatic things to come - or will they? - keep the readers so obviously wanting more. My wife and I absolutely love this series and have already purchased the next five. Can't wait to get to them!
But the only reason that my wife and I didn't give this novel a full 5 stars is because we felt that Jack didn't react believable enough towards fighting against strange, alien-like creatures that are so obviously not of this world. He doesn't tell his true love, Gia, or close friend Abe. Why not? At least Gia has come across the otherworldly creatures of the Rakoshi, so why not confide in her? Jack's reaction to all of the other people who believed in differing conspiracies, from UFO's to numerous other types, then his facing off of a transforming monkey, along with Men In Black that are seemingly unstoppable, and just walking away from it all without reacting more strongly to it all just came off too breezy for us. But perhaps in the next novel Wilson will show this...?
If you love your series truly exciting and surfing the edge between fantasy and sci-fi, as well as fiction and horror, with loads of supernatural overtones, then this series is for you.
Get into Repairman Jack. Believe us, you won't be sorry.
Jack and the Giant Conspiracy Over the years, F. Paul Wilson has written quite a few books (over thirty, based on the list at the beginning of my edition of Conspiracies). Many of these books fit into a single world where a dark force known as the Otherness wreaks havoc, especially with its primary agent, The Adversary. Among these books is the series featuring Repairman Jack, a sort-of urban vigilante who rights wrongs, but usually only for cash. Although the first Repairman Jack book - The Tomb - is also considered part of Wilson's Adversary Cycle, the link is not immediately apparent. It is with Conspiracies that Jack is finally drawn into the broader Otherness mythology (and in which The Tomb's link is finally explained).
Conspiracies is the third Repairman Jack book, following the aforementioned Tomb and the nonsupernatural Legacies. In this novel, Jack is hired by Lew Ehler, whose wife has disappeared. At first, this seems like a simple case, even though Jack thinks Lew is crazy: since his wife Melanie disappeared, Lew only got one message from her, through his TV, telling him to hire Jack.
Melanie is a member of SESOUP, an organization whose members believe in various conspiracies. There are believers in UFP conspiracies, "New World Order" conspiracies, Satanic cults and other fringe ideas. Shortly before her disappearance, Melanie was going to propose a Grand Unified Theory that would tie all the various ideas together. Since some of SESOUP's members are not all that stable, anything that threatens their own theories may cause them to go over the edge; this, at least, is what Jack thinks. There is also SESOUP's head, Salvatore (or Sal) Roma, a person who Jack finds rather sinister (and whose name holds a hidden significance for readers of Wilson's other books).
This simple missing persons case turns out to be anything but simple, as strange, supernatural events occur and Jack is plagued by very realistic nightmares (involving events from The Tomb). There is the strange device that appears in Jack's hotel room, the evil monkey familiar of Roma's and the very mysterious men in black.
One big theme in this book is Wilson's general indictment of these grand conspiracies. Most of the ones presented within (which are similar to some very real ones) demonstrate the paranoia of the theorists. At the same time, Wilson is not overly harsh, and presents many of the SESOUP members as somewhat disturbed but also sympathetic.
Admittedly, I started this series with book seven (Gateways) before backtracking to The Tomb, so I can see some of the directions Wilson is going in. This book stands alone as a good story, while also drawing the reader into something bigger. As is typically the case, this is well written and a real page-turner. Although it does stand alone, I think this works best for readers of The Tomb and Legacies; for such readers, this book should be quite enjoyable.
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