The Tomb [Paperback]

F. Paul Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1984

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.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Berkley (November 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425072959
• ISBN-13: 978-0425072950
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,364,365 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born toward the end of the Jurassic Period and raised in New Jersey where I misspent my youth playing with matches, poring over Uncle Scrooge and E.C. comics, reading Lovecraft, Matheson, Bradbury, and Heinlein, listening to Chuck Berry and Alan Freed, and watching Soupy Sales and horror movies. I sold my first story in the Cretaceous Period and have been writing ever since. (Even that dinosaur-killer asteroid couldn't stop me.)

I've written in just about every genre - science fiction, fantasy, horror, a children's Christmas book (with a monster, of course), medical thrillers, political thrillers, even a religious thriller (long before that DaVinci thing). So far I've got about 33 books and 100 or so short stories under my name in 24 languages.

THE KEEP, THE TOMB, HARBINGERS, and BY THE SWORD all appeared on the New York Times Bestsellers List. WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS won the first Prometheus Award in 1979; THE TOMB received the Porgie Award from The West Coast Review of Books. My novelette "Aftershock" received the 1999 Bram Stoker Award for short fiction. DYDEETOWN WORLD was on the young adult recommended reading lists of the American Library Association and the New York Public Library, among others (God knows why). I received the prestigious Inkpot Award from San Diego ComiCon and the Pioneer Award from the RT Booklovers Convention. I'm listed in the 50th anniversary edition of Who's Who in America. (That plus $3 will buy you a girly coffee at Starbuck's.)

My novel THE KEEP was made into a visually striking but otherwise incomprehensible movie (screenplay and direction by Michael Mann) from Paramount in 1983. My original teleplay "Glim-Glim" first aired on Monsters. An adaptation of my short story "Menage a Trois" was part of the pilot for The Hunger series that debuted on Showtime in July 1997.

And then there's the epic saga of the Repairman Jack film. After 14 years in development hell with half a dozen writers and at least a dozen scripts, THE TOMB is finally moving toward production as "Repairman Jack" from Beacon Films and Touchstone. The plan is to make Jack a franchise character. (Gotta tell you: all the years of this has worn me out.)

I've done a few collaborations too. One with Steve Spruill on NIGHTKILL, and a bunch with Matthew J. Costello. Matt and I did world design, characters, and story arcs for Sci-Fi Channel's FTL NewsFeed, a daily newscast set 150 years in the future. An FTL NewsFeed was the first program broadcast by the new channel when it launched in September 1992. We took over scripting the Newsfeeds (the equivalent of a 4-1/2 hour movie per year) in 1994 and continued until its cancellation in December 1996.

We did script and design for MATHQUEST WITH ALADDIN (Disney Interactive - 1997) with voices by Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters, and the same for The Interactive DARK HALF for Orion Pictures, based on the Stephen King novel, but this project was orphaned when MGM bought Orion. (It's officially vaporware now.) We even wrote a stageplay, "Syzygy," which opened in St. Augustine, Florida, in March, 2000.

I'm tired of talking about myself, so I'll close by saying that I live and work at the Jersey Shore where I'm usually pounding away on a new Repairman Jack novel and haunting eBay for strange clocks and Daddy Warbucks memorabilia. (No, we don't have a cat.)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Tomb - The Debut of Repairman Jack!!!, January 18, 2006

By 

Mr D. "Artist/Designer/Kibitzer" (Cave Creek, Az United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tomb (Paperback)

I hope you enjoy this review of 'The Tomb', one of my all time favorite horror books.

This is the first book involving, the very popular fictional character, Repairman Jack, a character that has become one of the most beloved literary creations since James Bond.

Repairman Jack is an unobtrusive looking guy who has slipped in under the government radar. He doesn't exist as far as the government knows. He has no social security number, no credit cards, pays no taxes, pays cash for everything always keeps a low profile.

Jack "The Equalizer". If you remember the TV show of that name from several years ago, that is what Jack does. No he's not "The Equalizer" but if you've been wronged and you've got the money, Jacks available and Jack can be deadly. He can be your worst nightmare but as nightmares go everything is relative and Jack takes second fiddle in this book!

Jack has a girlfriend named Gia (they are currently estranged) who has a daughter named Vickey. Jack loves Gia deeply and adores Vickey and would lay down his life for either and in this story he almost does. Now Vickey's father's surname is Wesphalen. None believe it but the Wesphalen family is living under a curse, precipitated by the murderous acts committed by a greedy ancestor over a hundred years ago in India.

Kusum Bhakti, an East Indian priest of a tiny sect that worships the bloodthirsty deity Kali and his sister Kolobati are descendants of the victims of the atrocities perpetrated by this elder Wesphalen. They have come to New York City to carry out their vendetta and wipe out the rest of the Westphalen line. Kusum has brought with him the Rakoshi, vicious, flesh eating monsters, to accomplish this horrible undertaking.

Rakoshi are huge (over eight feet tall) hideous, malodorous, perversions of the humanity created eons ago by the Otherness. The "Otherness" or "The Other" as it is named in other books is discussed at length in my recently completed review on "Nightworld"

Coincidently, Kusum hires Jack to locate the thief that mugged his aged grandmother and stole a necklace which is a family heirloom. Jacks thinks lightning just might strike twice so he dresses up like an old lady and sure enough our perp. attacks him. Jack quickly turns the tables and after a couple broken bones convinces the perp. to relinquish his ill gotten gains. Funny thing, the perp. claims the victim was young.

In fact, the aged grandmother is Kolobati, Kusum's younger sister and both of them are almost 150 years old. They maintain their young appearance because of the necklaces they wear (the family heirlooms) and of course when the mugger took the necklace, Kolobati began to age immediately.

When Jack returns with the necklace, Kusum is ecstatic and Jack walks away a few thousand richer and now has to visit Gia and Vickey. Gia called while Jack was on the Mugger case and needed to see him.

Gia Westphalen had broken off her relationship with Jack but called when one of Vickey's two aunts disappeared. She's decided Jacks line of work, which she abhors and is the reason she broke with Jack, might be helpful to locate the Aunt. Unfortunately the aunt is long gone and the other aunt is next and Jack and Gia get dragged into a battle with Kusum and supernatural creatures, the Rakoshi to save the last remaining Wesphalen - Vickey

Conclusion

Not for the faint of heart this story gets quite scary as our hero Jack must confront a nest of monsters but an excellent fast paced read that I personally have read four times. For horror fans this is essential reading!!!!

This novel has ultimately been listed as one of six books that form the Adversary Cycle. I don't think it started out that way but it ended up that way. It and "The Touch" are self contained reads that can be taken that way with no further reading, however they must be read sometime before reading the final book of the series "Nightworld".

4.0 out of 5 stars A CURSE FROM THE PAST INVADES THE PRESENT..., August 22, 2005

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Tomb (Paperback)

The horror genre is enriched by this book, which is inventive and original. Though the book is plot, rather than character, driven, it does not suffer for its lack of character development. The reader is kept too busy thinking about the plot to worry unduly about character development. Such is the power of this unusual and compelling horror story.

The plot is relatively simple. The horror reaches out across the world from India to the United States. A heinous defilement and murders by British soldiers in a temple in mid-nineteenth century India unleashes a curse that is to follow the descendants of the leader of the attack. Coupled with that curse is an entourage of creatures of unimaginable horror that have once again risen to do the bidding of one who would avenge past wrongs. With great power, however, comes great responsibility.

Enter Repairman Jack, a man who works to right what once went wrong and who earns his living by his wits and by his ability to defend himself to the death, if necessary. If one has a problem, he will fix it. When he agrees to help a one-armed Indian gentleman, Kusum Bahkti, retrieve a necklace that is a priceless family heirloom, he soon discovers just how priceless it is.

Jack suddenly finds himself thrust into the middle of a series of almost inexplicable events. Besieged by mysterious disappearances, rank odors, unusual substances of Indian origin, he finds that the necklace holds the key to an ancient horror. He then comes up against the most formidable foes he has ever encountered. He must find a way to vanquish these hellish creatures or risk losing those whom he loves.

Highly original and inventive, this is a pretty well written horror story that should keep even the most jaded of readers turning its pages. It is also the book that introduced Repairman Jack, a popular character that would go on to have a series of books revolve around him.