Hosts
A Repairman Jack Novel
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4.6 • 47 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From New York Times bestselling author F. Paul Wilson, Repairman Jack is back in the urban adventure thriller, Hosts.
As his fans know, Repairman Jack doesn't deal with electronic appliances; he's a situation fixer, no matter how weird or deadly a situation may be. Repairman Jack has no last name, no Social Security number, and no qualms when it comes to getting the job done--even if it means putting himself in serious danger.
After fifteen years of separation, Jack is contacted by his long-lost sister, Kate, to help her track down the source of her girlfriend Jeanette's sudden trance-like behavior. Referred by a mysterious stranger who gives only Jack's name and phone number, Kate is shocked to find out that the "repairman" she seeks is none other than her little brother--and not altogether happy to find out what little "Jackie" has been doing with himself for all these years.
With Jack leading the way, Kate finds out that Jeannette's behavior can be traced back to the experimental therapy she underwent for a brain tumor: now Jeannette's brain and those of several other subjects are infected by a mutated virus. Like any good virus, it wants to multiply--and if Jack can't stop the virus in its path, there will be deadly results.
Meanwhile, Jack is traveling on the 9 train when suddenly a passenger goes berserk and starts shooting at random--leaving Jack no choice but to throw himself into the spotlight by putting the shooter down. Worse for Jack, one of his fellow passengers is a reporter for the local tabloid, The Light, who sees Jack's heroism as his ticket to journalistic stardom. The reporter promises to make Jack a celebrity hero, a household name--which could mean the end of Repairman Jack as we know him.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wilson's latest Repairman Jack thriller (after All the Rage) shows the long-running series still creatively malleable and full of surprises. Each begins with the identity of the latest person to seek the urban mercenary's unorthodox skills: his beloved sister Kate, who's unaware at first it's her younger brother's job to "fix" problems and injustices that fall outside the usual legal boundaries. Kate asks Jack to investigate an apparent cult that her lover, Jeannette, has fallen in with while recovering from experimental viral treatment for a brain tumor, and Jack finds that the virus, tainted with a contaminant that has made it sentient, is organizing infected human hosts into "the Unity," a hive consciousness single-mindedly devoted to spreading itself throughout the world. Though the Unity's insidious ramblings about the joys of collectivism recall classic SF parables of communist mind control, Wilson swathes Unity's rhetoric around several interlocking subplots Kate's coming out as a lesbian, Jack's avoidance of a crusading reporter whose efforts to lionize him in print would destroy his anonymity to leaven the fantastical intrigue with provocative observations on the roles that individuality, privacy, self-interest and self-sacrifice play in our society. Wilson's fans, who know to expect nonstop action and a hero who can seem a "cryptofascist comic book character," will no doubt be pleased by the more humanized Jack on display here, as well as an ending that packs an emotional wallop even as it sets the stage for his next eagerly anticipated adventure.
