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Ground Zero: A Repairman Jack Novel (Repairman Jack Novels) by F. Paul Wilson
Book Summary InformationAuthor: F. Paul Wilson Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2009-09-15 ISBN: 0765322811 Number of pages: 368 Publisher: Tor Books
Book Reviews of Ground Zero: A Repairman Jack Novel (Repairman Jack Novels)Book Review: the next-to-the-next-to-the-last novel - Repairman Jack has less time for sidejob fix-its now Summary: 3 Stars
It's almost done now, F. Paul Wilson really making it official in this novel's foreword. The Repairman Jack series culminates with the 15th novel, with GROUND ZERO being the 13th. Debuting in THE TOMB in 1984, our righteous urban mercenary struck an immediate chord with the readers. He next had a supporting role in the 1992-published NIGHTWORLD, the apocalyptic finale to the Adversary cycle. Repairman Jack proving to be uber-popular, F. Paul Wilson decided to backtrack and overhaul continuity. His follow-up Repairman Jack novels, beginning in 1998 with LEGACIES, spring off THE TOMB, with the novels' continuing story arc inexorably looping back towards NIGHTWORLD. These thrillers cast Jack as a more central figure in the ongoing war between two ancient cosmic forces, the malevolent Otherness and the indifferent (and therefore more benign) Ally, with Jack tapped as the very reluctant champion of humanity (or, rather, the backup champion). It's been a very cool retcon job so far.
The Repairman Jack stories have always made my day. Except that GROUND ZERO may be my least favorite RJ novel, although I still liked it. Nothing much happening, action wise, and F. Paul Wilson, as he focuses more on pinning Jack tighter to the Adversary cycle, has gone away from chronicling his street-gritty, non-supernatural fix-its. Mostly I got the sense that this book is just a place holder, with Wilson prepping to really rev things up in the final two RJ novels before the re-issue of NIGHTWORLD (which Wilson states will be heavily revised).
So not one of the best, but GROUND ZERO does offer several treats. If you've read JACK: SECRET HISTORIES, Wilson's first foray into Young Adult fiction territory, then you may get jazzed up because Louise "Weezy" Connell and her brother Eddie reunite with Jack here. And I always relish other characters' impressions of Jack who, remember, is on the surface this unassuming looking guy. But dig a little deeper and people soon learn just how much of an absolute bad mother*****r he is and how ruthless and implacable he can be. Weezy the genius girl who in her childhood was obsessed with the "Secret History of the World" has grown up to become a conspiracy blogger and her controversial online posts regarding the 9/11 attacks have made her a target of some seriously dangerous people. Weezy's last desperate recourse is to call on her childhood friend Jack for help. And in Jack's world of no more coincidences, what are the odds that her wild theories tie in to what's been effing up his life?
Another neat thing is that we finally learn the scoop about the old ladies and their dogs who seem to have haunted Jack all his life. And, as ever, the best character moments surface whenever Jack is hanging out with Gia and Vicky. Can't get enough of Gia and Vicky, and whenever they're in the picture, you're reminded of just how much Jack has to lose with his getting saddled with the saving-the-world stuff.
There's also a brief stint in which Jack, a big time movie buff, flies out to La-La-Land and gets to visit famous Hollywood landmarks and movie tour spots. It's a fun read, and I always get a kick when Jack channels his inner movie nerd.
As this series gets closer to final approach, it's gotten to the stage now where you need a scorecard to keep track of what's what and who's who. Wilson picks up threads from past RJ novels, and new readers may get frustrated and bewildered with the sheer amount of previously introduced plot elements. The Kickers and the Dormentalist cults. Diana the 14-year-old Oculus and her alarming visions. Young Dawn Pickering, pregnant with what could well be the Anti-Christ. The baffling Compendium of Srem. The ageless but aging Mr. Veilleur. The ancient, all-powerful Septimus Order. Yeah, it's a lot of stuff to take in for folks just jumping on board now.
I'm disappointed that Jack doesn't spring into action all that much and that F. Paul Wilson does away with the secondary, more mundane fix-it gigs. And, to be honest, Jack proves to be fairly ineffective in the story's climactic moments. Although another way of looking at it, I guess, is that you can really see how the odds are so stacked against even a resourceful guy like Repairman Jack, who after all is this mere mortal tasked with going up against cosmic forces. And yet I love that I know Jack will never for one second give up the fight.
I absolutely dig Repairman Jack, but I would say, 3 out of 5 stars for GROUND ZERO.
Summary of Ground Zero: A Repairman Jack Novel (Repairman Jack Novels)On September 11, 2001, a man drifts in a boat off lower Manhattan as the towers burn. He removes a small box from his pocket and presses a button. As he waits for the south tower to collapse, he thinks: The vast majority will blame the collapse on the crazy Arabs who hijacked the planes and the Islamic extremists who funded them?the obvious choice. A few will notice inconsistencies and point fingers elsewhere, blaming the government or Big Oil or some other powerful but faceless entity. No one?absolutely no one?will guess the truth behind the who and why of this day. Years later, someone does. Repairman Jack?s childhood friend, Weezy Connell (the genius girl from the Tor Teen novel, Jack: Secret Histories), has started fitting together the pieces of the puzzle and anonymously posting her conclusions on the Web. But she can?t stay anonymous forever. Someone is after her. Jack becomes involved in her troubles and in the paranoid mazes of the 9/11 Truth Movement, where conspiracy theories point in every direction. They?re all wrong. The truth is stranger, darker, and more evil than anyone can imagine. It involves the cosmic shadow war into which Jack has been drafted. And if the plot behind it--millennia in the planning--succeeds, it will forever change life on this Earth.
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