Book: The Tomb
Author: F. Paul Wilson
Publisher: Tor
I have had this book for a while now, and for whatever reason just got around to reading it recently. The Tomb originaly came out in 1984, and this edition came out in 2004 and says "author's definitive edition" I am not really sure what the diferance is between the orignal version and this one but there are certain parts in this book that you can tell couldn't have been in the 84 version for instance he mentions a playstation, dvd player, cd player things like that wich probably substituted for an Atari or something like that in the original. thats just a guess though because I haven't seen the original. What made this wierd though was that although playstations are around cell phones, and even call waiting doesn't seem to exist, so I almost wish I read the original version because some things seem like they take place now, and some things seem like they took place in the 80's.
There where lot's of things I liked about this book. for instance the main character "Repairman Jack". Besides having one of the coolest names a main character can have, he is also a very fun character to read about. You learn early on in the book of all the weapons he keeps in his apartment and that his job is to help people solve there problems.
In this case Jack needs to find a stolen necklace that belongs to the grandmother of the person who hired him. He also is asked by his ex-girlfriend to help her find her missing aunt. Jacks girlfriend broke up with him when she found out what he does for a living but they still care about eachother, and Jack still has a close relationship with his ex-girlfriends daughter Vicky.
Yes there where lots of things I liked about the book, the action was great. unfortunatly most of the action didn't hapen until the book was almost over. in fact, that impresive arsenal I told you about. All the guns that Jack has in the aparment. The first gun isn't used until there are 75 pages left in the book, and the gun didn't even work. Those last 75 pages are pretty amazing and really saved the book, but to be honest there where times earlier in the book where it felt more like a soap opera than a horror story wich is the section I found the book in at the book store. After a heated argument or something dramatic happened and someone closes the door, the characters actualy turn around and lean there backs against the door just like I remember when I was a kid and my mom was watching days of our lives.
The parts of the book that were good where great. When jack beats the crap out of the guy that stole the necklace. The Scary demon like creatures called "rakoshi" that eat human flesh were pretty awesome bad guys. at 425 pages that book isn't even very long. I would almost recomend it for the good parts alone. Just remember my warning that if you were expecting tons of action like i was you have to wait until the very end to get it. The Tomb is considerd a classic, and it's the only book I have read from Wilson, but it might be the only book i read from him unless someone can convince me to give him another chance.
I agree with your grade of a C-. Like you, the only thing that saved the book was the whole concept of Repairman Jack, a badass average guy who's may goal is to live "off the grid" and not attract attention to himself. This is featured more prominently in the next 2 or 3 in the series (I think there is 8 or 9 right now). The plot and action are also better and the novels, as a whole, become more polished as the series continues. Every now and then the author comes dangerously close to "lovey-dovey" but never quite crosses the line. Eventually you learn that the author has plans for the series to become, at the finale, the ultimate showdown between Good and Evil. To be honest, I'm not sure if I recommend this series. RJ is, maybe, one of the best characters created but the books never really finish with a "POW!" They seem to "sorta finish", sort of like each novel was a chapter. No finiality or finale, and it got old to me after a while...But as I say that, I have to add that I have still read ALL of the RJ books so far...I guess this is a case of a well concieved character saving a poor plot and average writing.
ReplyDeletebtw: There has been talk for a few yrs that RJ will be a feature film eventually.
yeah we seem to think the same on this one. repairman jack is a cool character. I just try to imagine what this would be like if someone like charlie huston wrote it haha. I actualy think a movie version would be pretty cool. I'm not sure if I am going to continue with the series, right now i'm leaning towards no.
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