Customer Reviews

Hosts

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you haven't read any of the Repairman Jack books, you don't know what you're missing. Buy them at Amazon today! Start with The Tomb and work your way up Hosts, the latest installment in the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson. It proves that you can't keep a good man down!

Of all the trains in the city, the gunman just had to pick the one that Jack was riding. Jack saves a trainload of passengers in the first few pages of the book, almost has his identity blown by an overzealous reporter and then has to help his long lost sister get her friend out of what appears to be a weird cult. Jack is back and at his best. Get ready for a wild ride that only Repairman Jack can provide. I couldn't put this one down! This has something for everyone. Die-hard Jack fans will learn more about his past and be delighted to know that he's got some adventures ahead! Looks like the Otherness has a thing for him and it's not letting go. I can't wait for the next book!

I'm a Repairman Jack fan. So I enjoyed this book. If you're also a fan, you'll probably enjoy it, too. But many times I wanted to grab author Wilson by the lapels and say, "What the beejeebers are you doing?" Because the subtitle of this book should be, "Repairman Jack gets stupid."

Jack does have several wonderful moments -- with the subplots, especially. But he spends most of this book being uncharacteristically and inexplicably (not to mention unforgiveably) dense. The only rationaliziation for his obtuseness is to stretch the book out, and Wilson is usually above such sloppy plotting.

For any less enjoyable character and writing, this would rate only two stars. Since Jack remains so much fun, this squeaks by with three.

When Jeanette Vega is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor she is offered the chance to participate in an experimental treatment program using a tailored virus. A miracle cure follows, but what she or her lover Kate Iverson hadn't bargained for was the strange personality change which followed the treatment. Slowly but surely Jeanette is pulling away from Kate, and joins in a cult-like enclave with her fellow patients. When Kate is given Repairman Jack's card as a possible source of help, she makes contact. To the amazement of both Jack and Kate, they have already met - Jack is the brother who dropped out of their family after their mother was killed.

Jack has his own problems to deal with. Caught on a subway train with a mass murderer, he goes into action, shoots the killer and saves dozens of lives. Unfortunately, another passenger is Sandy Palmer, a third string reporter for a New York scandal sheet, who realizes this story is a chance to make it into the big time. Jack, who has made a career out of being totally anonymous, sees only that publicity will destroy his hard won independence. He is willing to do everything in his power to deflect Sandy's well meant attention.

In a Manhattan Delicatessen Joe and Stan Koslowski are reading Sandy's report on the train shootings when they realize that the hero Sandy is describing is their old nemesis. The brothers once made a living blowing people up until Jack was hired to return the favor. He left them alive, but destroyed up their home, their stash, and their reputation. Joe, disfigured in the final conflagration has only one thing on his mind - revenge.

And spread throughout the city are eight people, all treated by a mutated virus which has changed them utterly. Their brain tumors are gone, but so is their personality. Instead they are united by a telepathic hive mind. The virus that drives them has only one goal, to survive, to mutate, and to spread until it is the master of its world.

F. Paul Wilson weaves all these threads together in the kind of tightly plotted novel which is characteristic of the Repairman Jack series. This time, however, Jack may be in over his head. He may be able to stave off Sandy, and he may be able to befuddle the Koslowski's, but he has no hope of finding a cure for a mysterious virus. For once, the Repairman lacks the tools to do the job. It will take far more than Jack to resolve this problem, and he finds himself blocked at every turn.

This is a typical Wilson novel, well plotted, but a bit thin in characterization. After five novels in the series Jack had developed little, nor has Gia, his girlfriend. In fact all of the original characters are just as they were. This makes "Hosts" comfortable to read, but the characters are now so familiar they are almost parodies of themselves. The only real twist in this novel is that Jack must come to terms with Kate's homosexuality. A factor that deserved more attention than it received.

The Repairman Jack novels started out as horror stories with a strong supernatural bent, and have gradually become suspense stories with a slight touch of the spooky. The only hint of the weird is a strange Russian lady with a white Malamute who warns both Kate and Jack of trouble. It is she wo tells us that there is more to come. This has been an eminently readable series, and I look forward to far more of Repairman Jack.

Marc Ruby - for The Mystery Reader

I found All the Rage's plot a little annoying; yet the characters and circumstances were so up beat and dynamic who could fill to enjoy the book? Hosts though...Seemed to be a repetition of many of the major plot points of All the Rage worse it didn't have the dynamics. I never thought I'd give a Repairman Jack book three stars; but with great reluctance...I do.

See storyline above.

In this Repairman Jack novel we learn a bit more about his family. His divorced lesbian sister is the one in need of repair on this go round, though Joe and Stan, the arsonists from a previous novel, do make a rather large cameo appearance (and then disappearance).

I usually rate Wilson's novels with five stars, but this just didn't have the oomph I'm used too. As mentioned by a previous reviewer, it lacked certain repairs. Sure there was suspense, and it sure moved at a quick pace, but this supernatural thriller didn't have quite enough closure. I will, of course, read the next novel in this series, with just a little apprehension, not much, just a little. I think the editors at Forge slipped a little bit also with some of the spelling. One more gripe. There is no microwave oven, in home, that will run 99 hours.

Still highly recommended...because it's F. Paul Wilson.

This was my First F. Paul Wilson novel, and my first introduction to Repairman Jack - and I'm hooked! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel even with no prior knowledge of Repairman Jack - the situation fixer.

Repariman Jack is called in to action when a hitman starts taking out innocent passengers on a subway. Gunning down the shooter - Repairman Jack is dubbed 'The Savior' - a title which although flattering threatens to wreck havoc on the lifestyle he has built for himself...out of the eye of authorities. Witnessed by an ambitious reporter with dreams to make it big, Repairman Jack struggles to stay out of the limelight.

Meanwhile, a call from a new client to help with a bad situation leads to an out of the blue meeting with his long lost sister, Kate. Kate's girlfriend Jeanette has become involved in something sinister following a brain tumour operation (which Kate suspects is a cult), and Kate wants to get to the bottom of the situation fast. Who better to solve a bad situation than Repairman Jack.

Hosts is a fast paced, sci-fi thriller which will leave you craving more of the incredible Repairman Jack - I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

This is not one of my favourite Repairman Jack's novel. Too much focussed was given to the story of the journalist and his pursuit of the Savior. I would have preferred if more emphasis is given on Jack's 'fix-it' jobs. Maybe that's why Jack's heroism did not really shine in this novel.

F. Paul Wilson brings Repairman Jack for another adventure. And his sister too! Finally, we learn more about the personal life of Repairman Jack. This installment plays off the supernatural element introduced in The Tomb and continued in a lesser form in Conspiracies, All The Rage, and now in Hosts. Once you start Hosts, be prepared to read through the wee hours of the morning. The Keep, The Tomb, The Touch and Nightworld were all extraordinary novels. All the Rage and Hosts fall a step below the aforementioned novels, but any novel involving Repairman Jack is addictive . . . and you keeping asking for more.

...Or so says the mysterious Russian lady whose presence sets the strange events of Hosts, F. Paul Wilson's 5th Repairman Jack novel, in motion. Urban mercenary Jack is unwittingly hired by his older Sister to investigate a strange cult her lover Jeanette has (seemingly) joined. As usual with Jack, there's more than meets the eye with this case: All of the Cult members are patients of the same Doctor, and they've all been on the receiving end of an experimental Cancer treatment. The Virus used to treat the Cancer has been tainted by "Ms. Aralo" (Longtime Jack fans will recignize the letters in that name...), and soon the patients are joined in a Hive-mentality that threatens to mutate into an air-borne virus that could signal the end of life as we know it by eradicating individual thought and making Humanity drones and slaves to "The Otherness". Good thing Jack's on the case....

Hosts is probably the weakest of the Repairman Jack novels to date, but it's still head and shoulders above most horror or suspense novels. As usual, Wilson does a great job of making his characters seem like real,three-dimensional people, and he peppers the book with enough sub-plots (Revenge-seeking arsonists, a Reporter who discovers Jack's identity, the introduction of Jack's Sister) to keep the story moving along briskly. By the end of the book, the reader has learned a lot of new information about Jack, and the stage is set for more battles against The Otherness. As another reviewer pointed out, the hardcover is filled with typos and name transpositions, which is really sloppy. These were hopefully corrected in later printings. This was especially jarring when reading about the sibling arsonists, whose names kept getting switched around....Otherwise, Hosts is a pretty good read, and sure to please longtime Repairman Jack fans and newbies alike.

One of my favorite series features Repairmen Jack. He "fixes" things and frequently those things concern insidious evil that can cost many innocent victims their life. In this, the fifth episode, Jack must deal with several threats. First of all Jack must protect his identity when he saves a subway carload of passengers from a crazed killer. Second, he must battle a virus, which threatens to take over the personality of the victims and potentially infect the whole human race robbing them of individuality. This would change mankind as we know it. Third, he must reestablish ties with an estranged sister who is under immediate threat from the virus.

F. Paul Wilson writes a highly effective thriller, which is quite typical of this series. They have in common a scientific horror, which can include monsters or deviant drugs with many lives at stake. Characters are very effective, yet, some are more reminiscent of those found in comic books. The pacing never wanes right up to the usual explosive and fiery conclusion. This is no masterpiece but it is pure entertainment and that alone is no small feat.