"The Long Way Home" arose from the aphorism about no good deed going unpunished. Jack is not a do-gooder per se. He fixes problems on a cash-and-carry basis. He's not a crime fighter; in fact, he's a career criminal. He does his damnedest to avoid the police. So I figured putting him in the position where he's the only one who can help a downed cop would create a lot of dramatic tension. It does.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice small story
Comment: I bought this from amazon.com, downloaded it, and had a lot of fun, especially with Jack crawling around tight spaces. I'm not ordinarily a fan of the short story, but my numero uno book series will always be the Repairman Jack novels. Therefore, if F. Paul Wilson decided to write a 50 word Repairman Jack short story, I would buy it. Wilson could pep up the phone book. He's that good a writer.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Comment: This Amazon Short is an outstanding introduction to the character - even if you're unfamiliar with the continuing history of Repairman Jack. It moves swiftly; never a dull word or moment in this story. If you ARE familiar with him this Short is a great snapshot of just one evening in Jack's life; the one where his greatest fear, successfully avoided for years, is realized by one heroic act.

Read this - it's short, it's great, and it will likely leave you wanting more. For anyone who doesn't know Jack (sorry about the cliche') start with F. Paul Wilson's THE TOMB and go from there. It's a really great read!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Five Star Series!
Comment: "The Long Way Home: A Repairman Jack Story" is just a tease. It is a short story of another of Repairman Jack's adventures. It is a must read if you are a fan of the series. For those of you who have not been introduced to Repairman Jack, it will have you ordering more.

Jack is a sort of a mercenary for hire. He has many identities. He lives off the grid and takes on anykind of job legal or illegal. In this short story, Jack is minding his business on his way home when he sees an armed robbery take place. He decides to step in, despite his best judgement, and his gets himself into a terrible mess. I won't spoil the story for you, because it has a couple of twists that I know you will enjoy.

Give it a try. I'm sure it will have you addicted to Repairman Jack, just like I am.

Other Repairman Jack adventures you should read: Infernal, Gateways and Nightworld.

Jennifer

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Long-Necked, Dark-Amber Bottles Go With What? Smoky Rooms & Red Meat?
Comment: A quick-capturing conversation between Jack and Julio (Repairman and Puerto Rican tavern owner) opened this plot with the cozy heat of feisty friendship, a lime-slice-tang of character development, and the smoldering intrigue of a Yuppie offer to purchase Julio's tavern (as a cocoon for a disdained bistro). Undercurrent emotion and underlying themes surged a quick fizz (Coal & Coca-cola) for an enthralling ride-along retaining a wide-eyed focus to the end of THE LONG WAY HOME.

This Amazon Short was not what I had expected; it was my first sample of a Repairman Jack story (a series which works a fetching concept). F. Paul expounded well here on some of Jack's angles, pulling me into and through this triage story, leaving me wanting to know more about what forced Jack into his low profile (almost "no profile") existence.

Well-designed, crisp sentence clips quickened the pace throughout these 33 fast-rapping pages:

>> Jack was halfway across the street when he heard a boom. He knew that sound. Shotgun. Instinctively he ducked behind the nearest parked car on the far side. The sound had been muffled. An indoor shot. <<

Intrigue was intensified through an exquisite economy of syntax: >> Years of hiding in the cracks, of forging an existence in the interstices of society would be wiped away. And then the IRS would get involved, wondering why this man had no Social Security number. They'd begin investigating every nook and cranny of his entire 1040-less life. <<

Fast, appropriate, and "whew" describes the way twists were worked out in this plot.

>> "No, thanks, da..t! Just evening up. You didn't have to do what you did but you did; I don't have to do what I'm doing, but I am. Like you said: Quid pro quo. This for that. Now get out of my sight." <<

That wasn't the end of the story; it was nearer the middle. The end kicked in the title in a pleasantly surprising shift which symbolically caught the essence of Jack's plight in a dry, cool conclusion I hadn't anticipated. The passage quoted below wasn't the end, either, but it teases closer:

>> The fusillade slammed Fat Henry back against the doorframe, his sawed-off went spinning, and then he was turning and falling and rolling down the steps. It was over in seconds. No Peckinpah slo-mo. No ballet-like turns. Quick, graceless, ugly, and red. He hit the sidewalk face first and never moved again. <<

Yep, WAY HOME was not what I expected, and, yes, better than. The 33 electronic-text-segments drove the "page-down" key more quickly than even some of the 10 page Shorts I've read, which, when providing a slower read did that with an easy grace I needed at-the-time, and relished. This time I was thankfully surprised to be caught and pulled through the quick-shift, ebony-edged, red-tinged plot.

F. Paul Wilson is a very talented, seasoned writer, with a unique style perking hot in Repairman; I might not have met up with F. Paul's work if I hadn't taken THE LONG WAY HOME this time, in my current choice of a Short. I'm headed to Amazon's pages to study the list for the Jack series, checking out its number of novels, publication dates of each, and noting titles for the pilot and latest release.

This Jack guy might develop (for me; he probably has already for other P.I. enthusiasts) develop as much appeal as Robert B. Parker's Spenser. For my tastes, it wouldn't be easy to slide-into-base anywhere near the subtle complexities of Spenser. But the next-city-over from Spenser's ball park would certainly provide an equally worthy hot dog. Pass the Mustard! Hiss the steam!

My apologies, but I'm hoping Jack's Hard Boiled sulfur won't be overdone for my edible-pansy tastes, for which I often cringe, in shame of a lack of grit(s). Does Jack cook? Or does he make do with long necks, rotten eggs, and short runs? (Please excuse my addiction to tangy description quips; this one should not be taken as an insult to F. Paul, not at all! I look forward to adapting to whatever style he operates in this series.)

Curious,
Linda Shelnutt

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great 15 minute escape
Comment: First experience with this author and character. Great 15 minute escape for short story lovers, particularly sci-fi or future urban fans. For .49, you don't have to overthink this one.

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