The Tomb (Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack) by F. Paul Wilson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Tomb (Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack)
Book Review: Not a bad first impression -- 1st Repairman Jack novel
Summary: 4 Stars
Although "The Tomb" is the 1st of the Repairman Jack novels, it was the 4th one I read, after "Legacies", "Conspiracies", and "All The Rage". Serving as a basic introduction to the character, "The Tomb" lays out a great deal of the origins and motivations for Jack's lifestyle and beliefs, as well as introducing some of his recurring adversaries. Generally, I prefer when this kind of info is gradually leaked over the span of a series, than spelled out in the initial effort. Since I didn't read The Tomb first, Jack was more enigmatic in the other books, than after reading it. Even when events/people from The Tomb are referenced in later works, the un-initiated (like I was) can still follow along.
Wilson has really hit his stride, and the later books develop Jack beyond "The Tomb". I recommend trying out the books "Legacies", and "Conspiracies" first, and then reading "The Tomb", to fill in the gaps before tackling "All The Rage", "The Haunted Air", or "Hosts".
No matter what order it's read, "The Tomb" is still a solid effort in Thriller/Fantasy. Like all the Repairman Jack novels, it's a quick page-turner. The strength of Wilson's writing can cause a captive audience syndrome in his readers whenever Jack is involved.
Book Review: Fun but not fantastic
Summary: 3 Stars
After all the hype about the character of Repairman Jack and the series of books I decided to hunker down and read "The Tomb".Short review: it's Kolchak The Night Stalker plus The Equalizer, is what RJ is trying to be and fails on many levels.
The characters are flat, and not nearly as fleshed out as they should or could be. You never get a real sense of RJ's mind. It's all surface details. The story while interesting is predictable but at one point, page 252, the end of Chapter 7 is what lost the whole novel for me. There's an opportunity there for a fantastic twist on the story adding action, tension and revelation but Wilson ignores it for some unfathomable reason. Instead Jack and the plot plods along after that point until Jack gets the info himself rather than what would have been the info coming to him.
It boggles my mind how it was missed and is in fact such a glaring missed opportunity it's now an example of how not to pad out a novel for me.
Such a waste. Chapter Eight could have been so fantastic.
The novel is written well, sprinkled with flashbacks and memories too often rather than digging into RJ's or any character's head. After the last page RJ was still enigmatic and that's the place for a filmed version of RJ, not in his debut novel. There are better novels out there and better characters for you to spend time with. Sorry, Jack.
Book Review: Repairman Jack - An Icon in the Making!
Summary: 5 Stars
For the life of me, I can't understand the folks who haven't been captured by the spell of Repairman Jack, especially in this first appearance. The Tomb is a classic peice of "Pulp" fiction, and Jack is an Icon for our times! Wilson has created a character that is unlike any other, and at the same time has spun a tale that is captivating and compelling. The pages flew by! I've read "The Tomb" 5 times, and each time it's been time well spent. The only thing you need to enjoy this is an imagination!Book Review: The Tomb - The Debut of Repairman Jack!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
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".
Book Review: Good, but not great
Summary: 3 Stars
On the one hand, the book moved right along and kept me interested. It was well-constructed and had some appealing characters and situations. On the other hand, I never really fell under its spell. I never lost the feeling that the story was reading was artificially contrived by a writer of popular fiction. While I did enjoy the book, if I hadn't read it, I wouldn't really have been missing anything.And I still don't know what the title had to do with anything.