The Haunted Air (Repairman Jack Novels) [Hardcover]

There are weaknesses. Wilson isn't entirely comfortable with the Kenton brothers, and his ghastly version of Detroit black street language is a distracting nuisance. Lyle, the very upwardly mobile, articulate, and sharply intelligent con artist, is more realistic. Gia from Iowa remains as boring as her unbearably cutesy daughter, but the reader can skip past her.

Otherwise it's a lively, exciting, well-developed novel, with flashes of acid humor. The settings are very well-handled, and the pacing is breathless. Grab a copy for the beach or subway!

Now when will Dr. Wilson set a story in the Bronx? We have Edgar Allan Poe's cottage and Woodlawn Cemetery, so well written of in Peter Beagle's _A Fine and Private Place_, to tempt him!

Jack is a great creation, sort of the Equalizer crossed with the X-Files, and if you haven't experienced this series yet, you owe it to yourself to seek it out (other titles are _The Tomb_, _Legacies_, _Conspiracies_, _All the Rage_, and _Hosts_).

The Haunted Air is by far the best novel in the series that I have read since the inaugural The Tomb. I thought Hosts was great until I read this one. Wilson has really caught his stride and is able to further develop the characters of Jack, his girlfriend Gia (and her daughter Vicky), and his friend and supplier Abe -- as well as their relationships to each other -- while continuing to invent plausible fantastic scenarios that put them deeper and deeper in peril. The Repairman Jack series can always be counted on for thought-provoking storylines as well as heart-pounding, pulse-racing, eye-widening climaxes.

Two brothers, Lyle and Charlie Kenton, run a sham psychic business out of their historic home, Menelaus Manor, under the names Ifasen and Kehinde, respectively. They have, over the years, quickly boosted their clientele by stealing them from competing psychics, and somebody has decided to get revenge. Drive-by shootings and mysterious door openings and closings are only the beginning. Once Jack gets involved, however, the intensity is turned way up as he decides to confront the suspects -- a competing psychic -- on her own turf; he gets to scam the scam artist.

Further investigation brings up secrets about the house, its previous owner, and a spirit out for revenge. On top of all this, Gia fears she may be pregnant. How can a child have a father with no identity? Would Jack be willing to give up his Repairman Jack lifestyle to become Citizen Jack?

It is this extra layer of emotion that raises The Haunted Air above the usual fare. Wilson gets into the minds of his characters, especially tricky with a man like Jack who is such a physical presence, and lets us know how they feel about the events, as well as taking us on a rollercoaster ride of fear, thrills, and suspense--all the while dropping clues to the upcoming confrontation with The Otherness--making sure to deliver a whiz-bang conclusion that tops anything else he has written.