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Freedom Book of the Month for October, 2002:
The Haunted AirJack's back, and just in time for Halloween enjoyment! "Jack" is Repairman Jack, the major character in a series of "horror" novels by F. Paul Wilson. While this will get me some quibbles from Jack fans, The Haunted Air, the latest of the Repairman Jack (or "RJ," as fans refer to them) novels, may be Wilson's best in the series. (If you aren't familiar with the series, you may wish to skip ahead to this month's Way Back feature, where I describe and summarize the series.)
Much more a fast-paced action thriller than horror, The Haunted Air continues in the RJ series, picking up some time after the conclusion of the previous novel, Hosts. Jack's moping after the untimely death of his sister, and trying to come to terms with some unwanted news he received at the same time. A trip to a scamming psychic proves intriguing, and ultimately launches Jack into another confrontation with the "Otherness." A challenging concept to explain, it's the dark side in Wilson's unique and interesting take on the ages-old rivalry between good and evil. Jack has somehow been pegged as a VIP on the good side, which makes him an enemy of Otherness denizens.
Jack's personal life has also become more complicated in The Haunted Air, with his lover, Gia, becoming drawn into one of his fixes. And can it really be that Jack is contemplating getting into the system, after being successfully outside it for so long? The challenges seemingly never end, yet Jack manages to keep a handle on them as he does his business and tries to come to grips with the new directions his life seems to be heading.
Already known among libertarians for his terrific science fiction (such as Wheels within Wheels, An Enemy of the State, and The Healer) F. Paul Wilson keeps a steady undercurrent of freedom-oriented ideas flowing in all the RJ novels. One result is that much of it is practically oriented, rather than preachy sermons that are likely to turn non-libertarian readers off. In The Haunted Air, Wilson also deftly weaves an examination of epistemology throughout the book. Wilson is masterful at rendering complex characters and keeping them true, and creating atmosphere so rich that it can be difficult to shake loose from one's mind when one must put the book down.
If you've not read any of the Repairman Jack novels yet, do yourself a favor -- do it right and start at the beginning, with The Tomb, and work your way to The Haunted Air. You'll understand a lot more in The Haunted Air (although nothing is dependent upon having read the preceding novels), and will likely find yourself thinking about various freedom-related issues in new ways. F. Paul Wilson proves himself a master not only of fiction, but also of working in important libertarian ideas in the most unusual places.
from Amazon Books, $17.47.
More book information for October 2002
edited by Sunni Maravillosa
September 2002: Lead Astray and Out of Bounds, Out of Control by Peter Samuel and James V. DeLong respectively
August 2002: Boston's Gun Bible II by Boston T. Party
July 2002: Economics for Real People by Gene Callahan
June 2002: Net Assets by Carl Bussjaeger
May 2002: The Ballad of Carl Drega by Vin Suprynowicz
April 2002: Toward Liberty: The Idea that is Changing the World edited by David Boaz
March 2002: Liberty for Women edited by Wendy McElroy
February 2002: The State vs. the People by Aaron Zelman and Claire Wolfe
Freedom Book of the Year, 2001: Hope by Aaron Zelman and L. Neil Smith
January 2002: Death by Gun Control by Aaron Zelman and Richard W. Stevens
December 2001: The American Zone by L. Neil Smith
November 2001: Ayn Rand and Business by Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni
October 2001: Junk Science Judo by Steven J. Milloy
September 2001: Jonathan Gullible by Ken Schoolland
August 2001: Hope by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman
July 2001: Dissenting Electorate edited by Wendy McElroy and Carl Watner
June 2001: Tethered Citizens by Sheldon Richman
May 2001: Lever Action by L. Neil Smith
April 2001: The Cato Handbook for Congress from the Cato Institute
March 2001: The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand by David Kelley
February 2001: Crypto by Steven Levy
January 2001: Total Freedom by Chris Matthew Sciabarra
Freedom Book of the Year 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
December 2000: The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto
November 2000: Escape from Leviathan by J.C. Lester
October 2000: The Art of Political War by David Horowitz
September 2000: An Enemy of the State by Justin Raimondo
August 2000: The Triumph of Liberty by Jim Powell
July 2000: A Generation Divided by Rebecca Klatch
June 2000: Law's Order by David Friedman
May 2000: Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
April 2000: Reciprocia by Richard G. Rieben
March 2000: The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers by Ayn Rand
February 2000: Addiction is a Choice by Jeffrey A. Schaler
January 2000: Revolutionary Language by David C. Calderwood
Special December 1999 Feature: The Freedom Book of the Year: Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998 by Vin Suprynowicz
November 1999: Conquests and Cultures by Thomas Sowell
October 1999: A Way To Be Free by Robert LeFevre, edited by Wendy McElroy
September 1999: Assassins (Left Behind) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
August 1999: Don't Shoot the Bastards (Yet): 101 More Ways to Salvage Freedom by Claire Wolfe
July 1999: The Mitzvah by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman
June 1999: The Incredible Bread Machine by R.W. Grant
May 1999: Send in the Waco Killers by Vin Suprynowicz
April 1999: It Still Begins with Ayn Rand by Jerome Tuccille
March 1999: The Dictionary of Free-Market Economics by Fred Foldvary
February 1999: Feminist Interpretations of Ayn Rand edited by Mimi Reisel Gladstein and Chris Matthew Sciabarra
In December 2004 this page was modified significantly from its original form for archiving purposes.
, founded in 1995, is now a part of ISIL.
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