Customer Rating:
Summary: More Jack
Comment: Repairman Jack is back and in action again. This time we get to meet his sister and through her, learn more about Jack's background and history. A very good story in a very good series that will kepp the reader on the edge of her/his seat!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Jack stumbles in a rocky outing
Comment: A woman's lover starts acting very strangely and she is advised by a mysterious stranger to call Jack. She does and when they meet in person, both are shocked to discover that this is Jack's sister, Kate, who he hasn't seen in many years. Needless to say, he takes the case and soon learns that the lover is one of eight people infected with a virus that creates some sort of hive mind among all who carry the disease. The infected essentially become a new species whose primary goal is to spread the virus to all of humanity and create a world of total unity in thought and action. There is also a subplot involving a reporter who witnesses Jack in action and wants to make him famous.

The story of Hosts has potential but never quite lives up to it. Jack's sister is surprisingly bland and the infected lack the physical power to threaten Jack or the cunning to artfully trap him. I also found it odd that the infected didn't go out of their way to start infecting at least a handful of additional people. Instead, they put all their efforts into a plan that will lead to mass infections in the near future. While that plan is good, they know they are in danger and to ensure survival of the virus they should have taken short-term measures as well. Not doing so made it radically easier for them to be destroyed and they really should have anticipated that risk.

By far the worst part of the book is the heavy-handed moralizing about Kate and her lover. It turns out that Kate is a lesbian and the author wants to make absolutely sure that everyone who reads this book understands that it's okay to be gay. There are a couple of chapters that read like a bad after school special as the preaching goes on and on to make sure that readers don't miss the point. I didn't find the concept offensive, just ham-handed in it presentation and completely forced in a way that detracted from the story of the novel. If Mr. Wilson wants to engage in social commentary, I would suggest he learn how to weave it into the story in an entertaining way instead of just browbeating his audience.

This book was a disappointment to me. The best Repairman Jack novels such as The Haunted Air : Repairman Jack (Repairman Jack) (Repairman Jack) are truly outstanding but this one is far less entertaining. I would not recommend this book to newcomers and suggest that fans read any of the others before this one.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Jack and the Body Snatchers
Comment: The genres may be different, but lately I have found that a couple of the series I have enjoyed the most in the past few years have both featured a character named Jack: Lee Child's Jack Reacher books and F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack books. Hosts, the fifth in the series, is as much fun to read as the others have been.

In this novel, Jack gets a phone call from the sister Kate who he hasn't seen since he parted ways with his family after his mother's death. It is an accidental encounter: when she reached out to Repairman Jack, she had no idea it was her estranged brother. She just thought that he could help her get her lover Jeanette back from an apparent cult.

Jeanette has recently recovered from a brain tumor, having been treated with an experimental virus. The virus worked but had an unusual side effect: it has linked Jeanette with others who were similarly treated into a kind of hive intelligence called the Unity. It's bad enough that Jeanette is seemingly emotionless, but her little group has the intent of spreading the virus and essentially forcing everyone into the Unity.

Kate is one of the first targets, and Jack, after trying to help, is second on the list. In certain ways, it is Invasion of the Body Snatchers, though the conclusion is reminiscent of another classic novel/movie which I will not name lest I spoil things (those who've seen it or read it will easily recognize it). In a subplot, Jack's attempts to keep hidden from the government are threatened after he performs a heroic act; this threat to his freedom needs to be dealt with, but is rather irrelevant if he can't save the world too. (There is a rather nightmarish chapter that shows what would happen if the Unity succeeds.)

Although Hosts works as a standalone story, there are references to other books that makes it better if you've read the other books. In particular, there is the larger story of Jack's run-ins with the Adversary (first seen way back in the non-Jack novel, The Keep). Whether this is your first F. Paul Wilson novel or not, however, this novel is a fast and fun read that should be enjoyed by most supernatural thriller fans.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Another Excellent Adventure
Comment: This here's another excellent Repairman Jack adventure. If you haven't read any of Repairman Jack, don't start here. Start with "The Tomb". I've read 6 of them and am working my way up to the current books. This series just keeps getting better and better. Highly addictive as well as Highly Recommended.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Repairman Jack Hosts another Winner Adventure!
Comment: F. Paul Wilson's 5th book in the Repairman Jack series is another surefire winner. Although my wife and I thought it the weaker of the five we've thus far have read, we still thought it a great read.

In Hosts, Jack not only saves a subway full of people from a crazed Host-minded thug, but gets almost found out by the authorities by a young man who had sat next to Jack who happened to be a newspaper reporter.

Although a small time writer/reporter for a small time paper, the man named Sandy palmer becomes an overnight celebrity. It gets him recognized. It gets him laid. It gets him wanting more. Thus making Jack's life hell. Lots of neat stuff here in this storyline thread. He actually kinda becomes Superman's Jimmy Olsen.

Then there's the reader's introduction to Jack's long-lost sister, Kate. Kate becomes reunited with jack from sheer happenstance, and their reunion is great to read about. Kate is divorced with two teens, who has now recently discovered that she is gay, and currently in love with a woman who has totally transformed into a stranger. And they need help.

It turns out that a virus from the Otherness is at work. And Jack is thrust into a private war with a hive minded people called the Unity. There are numerous twists and turns here, and the story is a very good one. But just in F. Paul Wilson fashion, the author only hints to bigger things to come. Small revelations are shown here, along with a huge surprise ending that we didn't expect.

Can't wait to read the next installment.

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