Repairman Jack
Back in 2016 I felt a craving to read a horror story taking place in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. I did a bit of a search and one anthology caught my eye: The Barrens and Others by F. Paul Wilson. I hadn't read this author before, though I did find myself enjoying the stories. Then I got to one of the stories which came with a forward mentioning that the character in the next story was someone a lot of his fans had pleaded for more stories of, so the author wrote a short story... and then found himself writing a whole series with the character as the protagonist. I read the short story and it definitely peaked my interest, I was curious to read more. I found that the character originally appeared in book two of the author's grand series (The Adversary Cycle) and his fate was kinda up in the air by the end of that book but because of his popularity he was brought back and had his own series which ended up paralleling the final three years of The Adversary Cycle. And I don't know how much the final book of that series (Nightworld) was revised to accommodate that change but wiki says it was "heavily revised" in the 2012 edition.
Just to give you an idea, the first book with the Repairman Jack was in 1984, then the short story where he reappeared was in 1998 - however the final book in the Adversary Cycle (where Jack appears as one of the major characters) was written in 1992... so I'm kinda curious what differences the two versions have.
Anyways I had found myself a new book series to read - The Repairman Jack series, and book fifteen ends just a few months before the events of Nightworld; on my commute home from work today I finally finished book fifteen - The Dark at the End. Now I just need to go back and finish the final four books of The Adversary Cycle (I ended up reading Jack's first book/AC's second book The Tomb, then completed the first book in the Adversary Cycle titled The Keep - which takes place about sixty years before Jack's story)... this may be a little tougher series to complete because the library I've been using doesn't seem to have any copies of the remaining books in the series.
Definitely recommend this series - it's sorta a hodge-podge of mystery, fantasy, and scifi with an increasing horror element that takes more center stage as the final book approaches. The main character is someone who will grow on you, a mercenary who uses brains and brawn. I haven't read the series outside one of the short stories but I've gotten the sense it's a little bit like the Dark Tower series from Stephen King.
Just to give you an idea, the first book with the Repairman Jack was in 1984, then the short story where he reappeared was in 1998 - however the final book in the Adversary Cycle (where Jack appears as one of the major characters) was written in 1992... so I'm kinda curious what differences the two versions have.
Anyways I had found myself a new book series to read - The Repairman Jack series, and book fifteen ends just a few months before the events of Nightworld; on my commute home from work today I finally finished book fifteen - The Dark at the End. Now I just need to go back and finish the final four books of The Adversary Cycle (I ended up reading Jack's first book/AC's second book The Tomb, then completed the first book in the Adversary Cycle titled The Keep - which takes place about sixty years before Jack's story)... this may be a little tougher series to complete because the library I've been using doesn't seem to have any copies of the remaining books in the series.
Definitely recommend this series - it's sorta a hodge-podge of mystery, fantasy, and scifi with an increasing horror element that takes more center stage as the final book approaches. The main character is someone who will grow on you, a mercenary who uses brains and brawn. I haven't read the series outside one of the short stories but I've gotten the sense it's a little bit like the Dark Tower series from Stephen King.