08-09-2026, 10:53 AM
The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson
It's the initial book in the Repairman Jack series. Repairman Jack popped up in one of the Joe Ledger series so I thought I would check him out. It has to be odd for Maberry to use a character from another author, but here we are.
Repairman Jack repairs peoples problems. Tragedy at an early age got him into this line of work. He lives off the grid. He doesn't have papers. He barely answers his phone. On the heels of a bad break up, Jack has to find the missing aunt of his ex-girlfriend. He also needs to find a stolen necklace by midnight of an old dying India woman. Jack is hired by her stick up the butt grandson, here in New York as part of the UN mission.
Who could have guessed that both mysteries would be tied together? Well, anyone who has ever read a book before. I saw most of the amazing plot points coming from a mile away. I kept waiting for some mystery or suspense or Jack doing cool things, but no. I spent a lot of the booking waiting for the big reveals to support what I already suspected.
Part of the problem but not glaring is this book came out in the late 1980s and what might have been revelatory in case of action is no longer the case. Maberry does a lot better with these types of supernatural stories but I'm sure his roots lie in Wilson's stories. Sadly, I ready Maberry first.
It's the initial book in the Repairman Jack series. Repairman Jack popped up in one of the Joe Ledger series so I thought I would check him out. It has to be odd for Maberry to use a character from another author, but here we are.
Repairman Jack repairs peoples problems. Tragedy at an early age got him into this line of work. He lives off the grid. He doesn't have papers. He barely answers his phone. On the heels of a bad break up, Jack has to find the missing aunt of his ex-girlfriend. He also needs to find a stolen necklace by midnight of an old dying India woman. Jack is hired by her stick up the butt grandson, here in New York as part of the UN mission.
Who could have guessed that both mysteries would be tied together? Well, anyone who has ever read a book before. I saw most of the amazing plot points coming from a mile away. I kept waiting for some mystery or suspense or Jack doing cool things, but no. I spent a lot of the booking waiting for the big reveals to support what I already suspected.
Part of the problem but not glaring is this book came out in the late 1980s and what might have been revelatory in case of action is no longer the case. Maberry does a lot better with these types of supernatural stories but I'm sure his roots lie in Wilson's stories. Sadly, I ready Maberry first.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm