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david_agranoff's review
4.0
Bloodline by F.Paul Wilson
****
The 10th Repairman Jack Novel Harbingers was pretty hard to top. The Brutal twists and turns that all had horrible and deep effects on the life of the title character. I mean wow, I think Harbingers was no doubt the best entry in the series so far. I knew That the next book Bloodline would have the tough job of following up and moving the story forward.
the events of the novels are starting to run together and it's almost impossible to talk about the plot to this one without spoilers I'm going to try. As the novel begins Jack and his new young family are trying to over come the awful events of Harbingers. Jack is approached for a fix-it job, a rich woman is looking for dirt on the older man dating her 18 year old Ivy league bound daughter. Sounds easy enough right, but Jack should remember what the Lady with the dog keeps telling him..."there are no coincidences in your life anymore."
He should have listened because once he looks into the case he discovers that is of course relates to the secret history of the world and the conflict with the Otherness. As this novel unfolds it's various threads I had the same thought I often do when reading novels in this series-- It's too much much and this is never going to weave together. Alas there is good reason that Wilson teaches plotting at the Borderlands writers book camp, to quote the cheezy Bond theme "no body does it better..." He is a master as it weaved together i was shaking my head in disbelief...It actually works.
the ending is heartbreaking and wicked. Just when I thought this was the repairman jack novel that wasn't going to work, or that it would be cheezy Wilson pulls it out perfectly. Really at the heart of this novel it's about DNA, I have a feeling that Wilson was thinking about what it is inside us that makes us a good or bad person. Are we born that way? Can the things in our DNA that make us good or bad be enhanced or suppressed.
If there is a weakness to the novel is how quickly the events of the last novel seemed to be pushed past, (although he makes up for this in the next two books) It didn't distract from the novel over all. The repairman Jack series continues toward the end with intensity, well done.
****
The 10th Repairman Jack Novel Harbingers was pretty hard to top. The Brutal twists and turns that all had horrible and deep effects on the life of the title character. I mean wow, I think Harbingers was no doubt the best entry in the series so far. I knew That the next book Bloodline would have the tough job of following up and moving the story forward.
the events of the novels are starting to run together and it's almost impossible to talk about the plot to this one without spoilers I'm going to try. As the novel begins Jack and his new young family are trying to over come the awful events of Harbingers. Jack is approached for a fix-it job, a rich woman is looking for dirt on the older man dating her 18 year old Ivy league bound daughter. Sounds easy enough right, but Jack should remember what the Lady with the dog keeps telling him..."there are no coincidences in your life anymore."
He should have listened because once he looks into the case he discovers that is of course relates to the secret history of the world and the conflict with the Otherness. As this novel unfolds it's various threads I had the same thought I often do when reading novels in this series-- It's too much much and this is never going to weave together. Alas there is good reason that Wilson teaches plotting at the Borderlands writers book camp, to quote the cheezy Bond theme "no body does it better..." He is a master as it weaved together i was shaking my head in disbelief...It actually works.
the ending is heartbreaking and wicked. Just when I thought this was the repairman jack novel that wasn't going to work, or that it would be cheezy Wilson pulls it out perfectly. Really at the heart of this novel it's about DNA, I have a feeling that Wilson was thinking about what it is inside us that makes us a good or bad person. Are we born that way? Can the things in our DNA that make us good or bad be enhanced or suppressed.
If there is a weakness to the novel is how quickly the events of the last novel seemed to be pushed past, (although he makes up for this in the next two books) It didn't distract from the novel over all. The repairman Jack series continues toward the end with intensity, well done.
mistymassey's review
4.0
It's Repairman Jack, so what's not to love? I'd have given five stars, except for the "Clive Cussler" move about halfway through.
ceilmary's review against another edition
5.0
This is an audiobook re-read of the Repairman Jack series. I read them years ago and enjoyed them, but over the years I have forgotten the details. The books follow Repairman Jack, a guy who "fixes" things. He has no identity in the system, using fake ids and guile to get by. As the series progresses, it becomes more fantastic...the Other plays a bigger part and Jack gets more involved in the "game" the Ally and the Other are playing. This is a solid entry in the series.
acknud's review against another edition
5.0
Now the plot really thickens. It seems that everyone living has a sampling of something called oDNA. This is a leftover in humanity from the first age. People who have more of this special DNA tend to have a tendency toward violence. Guess who has a whole boatload of it! The sick perverted redneck genetics experiment puts this novel high on the interesting list.
jmcguoirk's review against another edition
4.0
"But this illusion of connectedness had to go. Technology—especially the Internet—gave the illusion of bringing people together when actually it was isolating them." Ha! As I post this to the interweb. Thanks FPW. Out.
krisrid's review against another edition
2.0
While there were some good things about this book, overall I was disappointed.
I have not read the Repairman Jack series in order, and I accept that I have probably missed out on things as a result.
First, the good - I like the character of Jack. He is an outside the "regular" world and because of that, he can do things and act in ways that normal detectives couldn't and it is believeable. Although Jack is very flawed and broken there is nevertheless an honourableness about him. He tries hard to do the right thing as he understands it in the very bizarre situations he finds himself involved in. I like the way an unorthodox character lives in a mostly orthodox world.
The actual plot of this story was also clever interesting, exciting and enjoyable to me. The problem was that the author seemed determined to drag it out, and pad it up with what felt - at least to me - like interminably detailed and drawn out descriptions of everything that is going on. A plot point activity that should have taken a page or even a paragraph instead took pages and pages. I don't need the book to feel like it's in slow motion. I want to know what happened and I'd like to know that sometime today. I found the extended everything to be very annoying particularly by the end. I was thinking "For cripes sake! Just tell me what happens already!!" Normally, I would just skim through what I don't care about, but unfortunately I listened to this on audiobook, and I wasn't able to fast forward.
I also found the violence in this book to be excessive. I understand that the world Jack lives in is a violent one, and I have no problem with violence when it fits into the story in a natural and believeable way. What bugged me here was that, again, the detail and the extending of scenes where violence happened seemed to go on forevery with inordinant amounts of specifics. I found it fairly gory and disturbing and it distracted me from the overall story rather than feeling just like a natural part of the plot. Anything that feels forced takes me out of the story and is always a negative for me.
This book also committed what is - to me anyway - a cardinal sin of a book - it didn't actually END! I know this is a series, and I understand that with a series the author is going to leave you wanting more and create some unresolved aspects so you read the next book. However, I believe the best authors can manage to end the current book, at least partly while still keeping you wanting more. A flat out cliff-hanger where the reader gets no resolution on the current story and has no idea how the characters end up is frustrating and disappointing to me and that is exactly how this book left me feeling after it ended.
I've realized this is not the series for me. I won't be reading any other Repairman Jack books unfortunately.
I have not read the Repairman Jack series in order, and I accept that I have probably missed out on things as a result.
First, the good - I like the character of Jack. He is an outside the "regular" world and because of that, he can do things and act in ways that normal detectives couldn't and it is believeable. Although Jack is very flawed and broken there is nevertheless an honourableness about him. He tries hard to do the right thing as he understands it in the very bizarre situations he finds himself involved in. I like the way an unorthodox character lives in a mostly orthodox world.
The actual plot of this story was also clever interesting, exciting and enjoyable to me. The problem was that the author seemed determined to drag it out, and pad it up with what felt - at least to me - like interminably detailed and drawn out descriptions of everything that is going on. A plot point activity that should have taken a page or even a paragraph instead took pages and pages. I don't need the book to feel like it's in slow motion. I want to know what happened and I'd like to know that sometime today. I found the extended everything to be very annoying particularly by the end. I was thinking "For cripes sake! Just tell me what happens already!!" Normally, I would just skim through what I don't care about, but unfortunately I listened to this on audiobook, and I wasn't able to fast forward.
I also found the violence in this book to be excessive. I understand that the world Jack lives in is a violent one, and I have no problem with violence when it fits into the story in a natural and believeable way. What bugged me here was that, again, the detail and the extending of scenes where violence happened seemed to go on forevery with inordinant amounts of specifics. I found it fairly gory and disturbing and it distracted me from the overall story rather than feeling just like a natural part of the plot. Anything that feels forced takes me out of the story and is always a negative for me.
This book also committed what is - to me anyway - a cardinal sin of a book - it didn't actually END! I know this is a series, and I understand that with a series the author is going to leave you wanting more and create some unresolved aspects so you read the next book. However, I believe the best authors can manage to end the current book, at least partly while still keeping you wanting more. A flat out cliff-hanger where the reader gets no resolution on the current story and has no idea how the characters end up is frustrating and disappointing to me and that is exactly how this book left me feeling after it ended.
I've realized this is not the series for me. I won't be reading any other Repairman Jack books unfortunately.
scottk1222's review against another edition
5.0
Book #11 out of 15. *** Sigh *** What can I say about a series I know is going to end within 4 more books. It is kind of a bittersweet statement, because even though you know the series is going to end , you also know that F. Paul Wilson will NOT let it end in a whimper. I am soooo grateful to whoever it was who told me about Repairman Jack/ F. Paul Wilson, to them I will always be grateful ( even though I am not sure how I found out about either).
IMHO, it takes a great author to have 11 books that I have read, and I have only found one of the 11 relatively boring. That means he more or less wrote 10 books that all had the same appeal and That is saying something. Bloodline does NOT stop that trend, I was a bit let down because the Otherness did not have a huge appearance in this book , but on the other hand it let us a little further into who/what Jack might be /will become. The escalation factor in this series is phenominal. I would be hard pressed to say that you could read one and not be curious the next time you were at your local bookstore and saw a new one.
Jack is such a regular guy it sometimes surprises me that he has been chosen, but then you see the zeal with which he protects Gia and Vicky , and even Abe to some extent and you see he has many layers ( like an onion. I feel as if I know these people. I have been following their lives for a couple of years now. It will be sad to see them go. Thank GOD I have 4 more installments to go, before we say Good bye.
IMHO, it takes a great author to have 11 books that I have read, and I have only found one of the 11 relatively boring. That means he more or less wrote 10 books that all had the same appeal and That is saying something. Bloodline does NOT stop that trend, I was a bit let down because the Otherness did not have a huge appearance in this book , but on the other hand it let us a little further into who/what Jack might be /will become. The escalation factor in this series is phenominal. I would be hard pressed to say that you could read one and not be curious the next time you were at your local bookstore and saw a new one.
Jack is such a regular guy it sometimes surprises me that he has been chosen, but then you see the zeal with which he protects Gia and Vicky , and even Abe to some extent and you see he has many layers ( like an onion. I feel as if I know these people. I have been following their lives for a couple of years now. It will be sad to see them go. Thank GOD I have 4 more installments to go, before we say Good bye.
careythesixth's review against another edition
3.0
Not bad, but not knock out of the park awesome either. feel like this is a transition book - the first that really didn't have a complete resolution. But I've also been pretty distracted lately, so maybe I would have liked this more if I had been able to read it straight through without interruption. It has a pretty awesome creep factor going on though. I'll be starting By the Sword tonight.
mikekaz's review
4.0
With BLOODLINE, you can see the final act of the Repairman Jack series begin. Wilson has talked about how everything will lead up to a grand conclusion in Nightworld which will be rewritten to better tie in to all the previous novels. By leaving some of the plot lines open at the end of the novel, we can see how events will start to cumulate.
BLOODLINE has Jack being hired by Christy Pickering to break up her teenaged daughter Dawn's relationship with a much older Jerry Bethlehem. It turns out that Jerry is on a mission from his father to create a baby with a large amount of "other" DNA and who will end up being a key factor in the fate of the world. We are also introduced to the Kickers movement which in addition to the oDNA seems to be tapped into the Otherness that is guiding Jack's nemesis across the novels.
While it doesn't sound it from my description above, this book is grounded in reality a bit more than the more supernatural-based two previous novels. Jack's actions have a more concrete goal and a more immediate effect on his future than previous novels. Plus he starts to accumulate mysterious items which we know will become important by the end.
BLOODLINE has Jack being hired by Christy Pickering to break up her teenaged daughter Dawn's relationship with a much older Jerry Bethlehem. It turns out that Jerry is on a mission from his father to create a baby with a large amount of "other" DNA and who will end up being a key factor in the fate of the world. We are also introduced to the Kickers movement which in addition to the oDNA seems to be tapped into the Otherness that is guiding Jack's nemesis across the novels.
While it doesn't sound it from my description above, this book is grounded in reality a bit more than the more supernatural-based two previous novels. Jack's actions have a more concrete goal and a more immediate effect on his future than previous novels. Plus he starts to accumulate mysterious items which we know will become important by the end.
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