Crisscross

If you have never read anything from the “Repairman Jack Series” by F. Paul Wilson, this would be a good place to start. While it is always easier to begin at the beginning, this being Book 8 in the series, I’ll give you an understanding of the backstory that should allow you to join the long game in progress. And a long game it is.

Against the backdrop of the daily struggles of common men and women, two opposing forces constantly joust for control of our planet. Both entities (the Ally and the Adversary) seem to enjoy the giant chess game that they play but neither party is willing to commit the total assets at their disposal to secure an outright victory. These two opposing forces have been playing this game for several millennia. The surprising thing is that in the grand scheme of our universe, the struggle for control of our world isn’t all that important to them! However it is extremely important to the men and women of earth who are drawn into this conflict.

Our hero is Repairman Jack, a nondescript individual who makes his living “fixing” difficult problems for people who would just as soon avoid contact with law enforcement and/or the press. “Crisscross” is a good example of the author’s body of work because it combines an adventure story with a thriller, links religion and personal gain, examines moves and resulting counter moves — all on a giant chess board composed of kidnapping, blackmail, torture, murder, self sacrifice, and pedophilia.

While in past novels in this series Jack has mostly employed trickery and reverse psychology in attaining his successes, he is now just as likely to “fight fire with fire” in accomplishing his goals. Jack has become more jaded after dealing with several bad actors in the past and seems to be leaning more toward direct and decisive action over manipulation. F. Paul Wilson effortlessly melds Jack’s short game into his long game and takes the reader on an imaginative journey that will likely lead you into purchasing some of his other novels.

The author takes a strong and independent character and charges him with solving intricate tasks, all the while teasing the reader with a taste of the supernatural. His stories are always entertaining, very creative, well written, and full of action and dry humor. Give this one a shot and you will likely become a convert to his unique spin on the world.

To those who know him, Repairman Jack is without a doubt the most beloved of the contemporary fictional figures, bar none. He has a fan club, Stephen King is a charter member, after his first book and a couple short stories, he disappeared for ten years and was bought back by popular demand.

Jack could be described as a fixer – you got problem and for a fee he can fix it, or a champion of the oppressed – you can’t afford a fee, we’ll work something out. To the government he doesn’t exist. He has never collected a paycheck and has never paid income tax. He has no credit, no credit cards, no FICO score, has never voted, has no social security card, has never been arrested, has no driver’s license or passport (at least in his real name). In short he works outside the system totally under the radar.

In Crisscross, Jack has two new clients. One is a strange elderly lady with a dog, named Herta (in the last few books there have been strange ladies with dogs, the last one of which told Jack there would be no more coincidences in his life). It seems her son had joined the fast growing Dormentalist Church and recently she has lost touch with him. The second is a moderately attractive young lady, Maggie, (whom Jack finds out later is a nun) who is being blackmailed for some compromising photos.

To get the lowdown on the Dormentalists, Jack meets with reporter Jamie Grant, who recently ran the first installment of an expos on the Dormentalist Church. He plans on infiltrating the church by joining, to which Jamie informs him it’s not that easy, proceeding to tell him why. Jack, with help from acquaintances, lays groundwork to attract the top gun of Dormentalism, one Luther Bradley by claiming to be one guy while carrying identification which purports that Jack is one Jason Amari, the wealthy son of an even wealthier businessman. Naturally the security chief discovers this and Jack finds himself in with the head honcho, Bradley because of the families apparent wealth.

On the Blackmail end, Jack finds out who the blackmailer is, a crumb named Richie Cordova, who plays at being a private investigator but in reality is a private shake down artist. Jack figures Maggies pictures and others are probably on his computer and he probably has a back up, so he makes arrangement, again with the help of an acquaintance, to introduce a virus into Cordova’s computer and follow him to locate the backup.

Things are moving along swimmingly on both fronts when little by little things start to unravel. The Church security chief, a behemoth of a man named Jensen thinks there is something fishy about Amari and continues to check him out, eventually locating a photo of the reclusive Amari and after having all his blackmail files destroyed by Jack, Cordova discovers that it was done purposely by someone and Maggie was the one that hired him.

CONCLUSION

This story is a little slow getting started but about halfway through it really gets going big time. Wilson does a superb job of merging the two separate undertakings into one remarkably clever ending. As advertised the Domentalist Church is a vessel of the Otherness and Jack must find a way to stop Bradley and save humanity and life as we know it.

As usual, Wilson’s writing style is very reader friendly. Wilson, a physician by trade, (or maybe it’s a sideline by now) is not interested in talking down to his readers but merely telling his story. His writing is fluid and smooth without too much detail and Wilson has always been a great storyteller with some of the most ingenuous and intriguing plots I have read.

I should probably warn you, there is some brutality, though it is a fact and not described and is mild compared to some previous books by Wilson. I have been reading Wilson since he came out with the book “The Keep” twenty five years ago, which was the first of the previously mentioned Adversary Cycle and was followed closely by “The Tomb”, the first Repairman Jack novel.

If you’re looking for something a little different, maybe a little bizarre, this certainly fills the bill. The downside though may be that once you’ve read this novel you may be compelled to go back and see what you missed in previous stories.

Although vaguely reminiscent of the Short Story “A Day in the Life”, this is a fantasticly enjoyable book with a sharp twist at the end. Jack combines two seemingly unrelated jobs…a nun is being blackmailed, whilst another woman- again claiming to be his mother- has lost a son to a mysterious cult. Although continuing the descent toward Nightworld, this book is much more of a stand alone novel than say Gateways, and as such would not be a bad place for new readers to start. Wilson has an incredible knack for creating horrible characters who you cannot help but hate, whilst Jack has the ability to bring them down and give them a justly hideous fate. All in all, this is a very satisfying read, and it leaves you aching for more…

If you’ve not read repairman Jack novels before then your in for a treat. I’ve got every single one and they are all consistently good. Don’t expect high literature, these are easy reading, but do expect to be educated, amused, excited and intrigued. You’ll be drawn into Jacks unusual and often frighteningly strange world, and if you’re like me you may leave somewhat inspired and addicted.

I have never been able to put his books down.

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