Search this site and you’ll find we are big fans of F. Paul Wilson, for his short stories, standalone novels and his-soon-to-be-finishing Repairman Jack series. But there is a set of books on my shelf which I’ve been staring at for close to three years. I’m referring to “The Adversary Cycle,” which starts off with THE KEEP and then the first Repairman Jack book THE TOMB. The early titles are slowly being revised and reissued, mainly to update the stories with the current times, but in this column, I’ll be reviewing the older editions. Be forewarned: Spoilers abound.
THE TOUCH by F. Paul Wilson — The revisions to this novel deal with technology and a few musical references, since iPods and Emminen were not relevant in 1986, when this book first came out. The story deals with Dr. Alan Bulmer, a family physician whose life changes drastically when he is touched by a dying patient in the ER who can cure people by just a touch.
Walt has now passed along that power to Bulmer; as great as that power can be, it’s also a huge downfall, especially when he starts curing patients from lifelong ailments. Word spreads about him, and he is looked upon by his fellow doctors as some sort of charlatan.
Sylvia, a widower with an adopted autistic child named Jeffy, is friends with Bulmer, but isn’t sure if she should let him cure her son, especially after it’s discovered that for everyone he helps, a little bit of Bulmer dies inside. Meanwhile, a senator follows the doc’s strange goings-on, seeing Bulmer as his ticket for a cure. This pretty makes the senator the big baddie of the book.
Like other Wilson books, the story all ties into a larger picture, with characters coming in and out of these novels. But this one can stand alone, since the only person with any connection to the other books was only written about in two recent novels. But that does not mean that characters from THE TOUCH don’t appear on down the line.
The revised edition has a short story at the end called “Dat-Tay-Vao,” which is the tale of how this mysterious power winded up in the United States, by way of a soldier in Vietnam named Walt.
REBORN by F. Paul Wilson — This 1990 novel is a direct sequel to THE KEEP, in the sense certain things come to fruition. The first half focuses on a young man named Jim Stevens, who makes a discovery he wishes he never found out. At the halfway mark in the book, the huge secret is explained.
Before that, JIm is a happy-go-lucky fellow married to Carol. Not everything is as perfect as it seems, for Jim is an orphan who has always tried to find out who his real parents are. That question gets answered when he is called upon for a will reading of a leading scientist who died in a plane crash and left Jim the bulk of his estate. It becomes apparent that this scientist was Jim’s biological father … but then he comes across some old journals which spell out JIm’s secret. For those who don’t want the book spoiled, I suggest you skip to the next paragraph: Jim is not really the scientist’s son, but an exact clone.
What makes matters worse is the secret is made public by a reporter, throwing the rest of the book into a tailspin, since certain people who believe they are chosen to fight the anti-Christ see Jim and his family as the enemy. This one builds on the foundation of THE KEEP, but REBORN can be read as a standalone, even if new readers will miss some of the nuances that tie the two together.
REPRISAL by F. Paul Wilson — For those chomping at the bit to read about these books and not have anything spoiled, come back next week, since I’m about to spoil most of REBORN. This 1992 sequel has two storylines, one about a college student named Rafe, who seems wise beyond his years and just a bit of a bad boy. A concurrent storyline deals with a priest we met in REBORN, who has forsaken his previous life because of horrific events involving his time at working at the orphanage.
These strands tie into what could have been stopped in REBORN: namely, the birth of a baby to Carol, whose husband, Jim, died long before. We follow the life of Rafe and a woman he becomes attached to, while we given small little chapters about Carol and the son she named Jimmy. It becomes apparent Jimmy is unlike any other kid; as a baby, he is able to speak complete sentences and has total disdain for his mother.
I think you can tell where this is all headed. Anyone who has read the Repairman Jack series and THE KEEP will figure out the quasi-surprise. The story never comes right out and says what is really going on until the final 30 pages, when all the pieces are put together and the lines are pretty much drawn to lead into the final conflict in the next book. Wilson does a great job keeping all these balls in the air that he started juggling back with the first installment. He peppers the book with a super-brief cameo from THE TOUCH. Its one of those blink-and-miss-it things, but it gives crucial info.
NIGHTWORLD by F. Paul Wilson — This 1993 effort is what the whole series has been building toward: the final showdown between Rasalom and Glaeken, whom we met so long ago in THE KEEP.
Everybody has a chance to shine, with Repairman Jack being central to it all. With his series, we know what kind of problems he has faced, but they don’t even come close to what happens here, when giant holes start appearing all over the globe, and somehow, the sun is taking longer to rise while the days get shorter.
But back to those holes: Wilson shows off his influences big-time, with all sorts of creepy crawlies coming out at night. At first, it’s flying bugs, which would scare the crap out of anyone, but as the book progresses, the monsters get much bigger and scarier, such as the giant tentacled creatures — a nod to H.P. Lovecraft.
If people go into this thinking it’s all Repairman Jack, he is only part of the story — a crucial part, sure, but he’s still a supporting character. What’s a shame is that people in Jack’s world are pretty much shoved off to safety real quick, which is understandable, since he has always been one to put the two women in his life first. Certain payoffs may upset a few readers. I won’t go any further on why, but the whole horror aspect is upped.
I’m guessing one scene in particular is probably going to be written out in the revised version, since Wilson used it already in BY THE SWORD. Ditto every cultural reference, since Wilson brings up radio stations that no longer exist and stadiums that are completely gone. And Jack is very much a tourist from the early ’90s, unless people are still wearing acid-washed jeans and Hard Rock Cafe T-shirts.
On the whole, if you put all those things aside, the novel is a perfect ending to this cycle. Just don’t get ripped off by some overzealous bookseller; you can still find most of these in used bookstores. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• AFTERSHOCK & OTHERS: 19 ODDITIES by F. Paul Wilson
• ALL THE RAGE by F. Paul Wilson
• BLOODLINE by F. Paul Wilson
• CONSPIRACIES by F. Paul Wilson
• F. PAUL WILSON’S THE KEEP by F. Paul Wilson and Matthew Smith
• GROUND ZERO by F. Paul Wilson
• HOSTS by F. Paul Wilson
• JACK: SECRET CIRCLES by F. Paul Wilson
• JACK: SECRET HISTORIES by F. Paul Wilson
• LEGACIES by F. Paul Wilson
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been waiting to read Night World and would imagine that, with the current storyline playing out in the Repairman Jack series, it will require the most revision of any of Wilson’s books. I’ll probably need to go back and re-read the revised Reborn and Reprisal, too, to get back up to speed on Night World. The Touch is the one book in this series I’ve never read–will have to rectify that situation soon.
Over the past 12 months, I went on a Wilson kick and read the Adversary Cylcle and the Repairman Jack novels. Great stuff. I’m eagerly awaiting that last few Jack books and the revision of Nightworld.
Damn overzealous booksellers!