[.ca] Gateways: A Repairman Jack Novel (ISBN 0765346052)

We Love Repairman Jack!:
If you have been reading the Repairman Jack novels, you don't need to read any further...in fact, you are probably already putting this one on hold for yourself or checking it out (if it's on the shelf). If you are new to the series or haven't heard of it yet, this is a good one. Jack's story started in The Tomb way back in 1984. At one point it seemed to have ended (with the world as we know it) in Nightworld in 1992/1993. But Wilson (thankfully!) has decided to go back and fill in the missing years of Jack's life between The Tomb and the beginning of the Nightworld trilogy. This is (I believe) the sixth of those fill in the blank novels. Jack is fix-it man. If someone is blackmailing you, you call Jack to...take the pressure off. He is an "invisible" man. He has no social security number. He looks like your average Joe. But he's an amazing fighter and arms expert. Since The Tomb, though, he has been running in to supernatural problems. It helps to read the books in order, but it's not 100% necessary. In this installment, Jack leaves his beloved New York city (and his near complete anonymity therein) to fly to Florida to check on his Dad who has had a run in with--well, I won't spoil anything, but I will say it is connected to Jack's main adversary "The Otherness" Check out the series if you haven't. Stephen King is the president of the Repairman Jack fan club. If you read one, you'll be a member too!

Repairman Jack:
I have to agree with Kathleen Griffin's note that you should first read "The Barrens." It lends appreciation to this Repairman Jack piece. Jack heads down to Florida after his father is involved in an auto-accident. There are no more coincidences for Jack, of course, and he finds more going on with his dad than he would ever have expected. The repairs in Gateways are personal and not as layered as those in The Haunted Air or Hosts (for example), but the personal information on Jack's life and the much-needed reconnection with his father make this a more-than-worthwhile read. And, afterall, it is Repairman Jack, and F. Paul Wilson doesn't disappoint here. It'll keep you going from start to finish.

Not The Maytag Repairman!:
Repairman Jack is not an appliance repairman as his father has been led to believe. He fixes things that no one else can fix--things that might involve--well--going outside the law. Things that might involve going up against ultimate Evil. In this book, ultimate Evil resides in a sinkhole in the Florida Everglades, right behind the retirement village where his father was living just prior to his near-fatal accident. And of course, Repairman Jack is quickly drawn into the scene and its ever-widening net of sinister complications. Jack is one of the most intriguing characters in current literature and author F. Paul Wilson's signature character. A man with no legal identity, no social security number, he operates in a shadow-land outside the law, yet always fighting for justice. And while Jack is very good at his peculiar line of work, he also yearns for a normal life, with a normal family. So, will Evil be defeated? Will Jack figure out how to emerge from the shadows and marry his long-time girlfriend? Will he even survive? Will existence as we know it survive? You will just have to read the book to find out. Author Wilson is a great story-teller who will keep you turning the pages. I recommend this one. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

Gates of Hell:
Warning: You should first read Wilson's brilliant short story "The Barrens." The novel will impress without that background, but with it there are greater depths and the mention of nexus points are more ominous. Jack reluctantly encounters his family when his father, recently relocated to a Florida retirement community, is in a terrible car accident. After supercilious years of looking down on his father as an innocent unacquainted with "real" life, Jack discovers a ruthless, extremely self-disciplined, and honorable man. This Korean War veteran and Marine sniper is his father -- and unrealized role model. The Everglades are wonderfully evoked here, with touches of Zora Neale Hurston's lush description. The novel picks up the pathos of the "clan" of nexus-deformed persons trapped by their "home." Carl, the only one to escape to near-normal life, is touching and charming. Anya is a great creation, and her dog Oyv is perfect. Apparently she'll turn up in the future -- but could Wilson bring back Oyv too?

Excellent Repairman Jack Story:
Repairman Jack is back! This time he travels out of New York to the edge of the Everglades in Southern Florida, where his father is hovering near death following a hit and run accident. Jack moves into the Gateways, his father's retirement community, for the duration of his visit. After talking to residents and employees at the Gateways, having a few unpleasant encounters with a band of mutants living in the Everglades, and uncovering a series of suspicious deaths of the community's elderly residents, he fears that his father's accident was deliberate. He soon decides that things need repairing there too. It appears that the Otherness is back, and Jack has been drawn here to confront the ultimate evil once again. This novel is full of interesting characters. First there's the mutant clan leader Semelee who has special gifts that she is certain set her apart as a Chosen One, and who targets an unwitting Jack as her soul mate. Then there's Anya, an eccentric Gateways resident who watches over Jack and his father and whose green lawn in the midst of drought indicates that she may be more than she seems. Wilson delves into Jack's past and treats the reader to more on the mysterious man's background. And finally, there are some surprising discoveries about Jack's father that indicate that Jack didn't fall that far from the family tree. Now that Jack and his father have come to know each other better, they have a reconciliation that adds depth to the story. The Everglades, in a mingling of the natural and the supernatural, provides an exotic and colorful backdrop for this tale. Otherworldly lights appear semiannually from a sinkhole deep within its wilderness. It harbors fantastic creatures both real and surreal. The Otherness is exerting its influence on both man and beast there. There is information about its natural wonders here too. Even though I am a South Florida resident living in a city bordering the Everglades, I learned some fascinating new facts about its ecology. I recommend this as a great horror story, thriller, and source of background information on the enigmatic Jack. It is hard to put down, and it definitely deserves its 5 star rating. Eileen Rieback