The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson

Horror is another of those genres that I only read from time to time, usually based on positive recommendations of others who only read some horror or by writers I really like. I’ve heard a number of good things about the work of F. Paul Wilson. I was also fascinated by the idea of a horror series – his Repairman Jack series – since there aren’t that many horror series out there (at least not that I know of). So I picked up the first of the series – The Tomb.

The first half of the novel is much like a good mystery/crime novel. In fact, the whole books is in may ways closer to the mystery genre than it is to much of the horror genre. In most ways, it’s more of a mystery that turns out to have a fantasy side to it than a traditional horror novel. The main character, Repairman Jack, lives outside of society. He isn’t on any official records, doesn’t pay taxes and doesn’t have a social security number. He does freelance “repair” work. That is, if someone has a situation that needs to be fixed but which the law cannot help, he fixes it. This drove his long-time girlfriend Gia away when she found out about it, but it’s the life Jack likes. And he’s good at it.

A contact at the U.N. leads an Indian diplomat his way. The diplomat’s grandmother has been mugged and her antique necklace stolen. He wants Jack to recover it. Meanwhile, one of the Aunt’s of Gia’s ex-husband has disappeared, and she remaining aunt talks Gia into getting Jack’s help. Jack doesn’t know at this point that the two cases are really intertwined. The Indian diplomat is actually the last survivor of a group that could control Indian demons known as rakosh. He is in America tracking down the last surviving descendents of the Englishman who’d destroyed the temple that managed the rakosh and killed the others of the sect. The last survivors are the two Aunts and Gia’s daughter Vicky (who is very attached to Jack). (This may seem like a strange coincidence but Wilson actually makes a good case as to why the two seemingly disparate cases both involve Jack.)

In many ways, the novel can mostly be viewed as a very good adventure story. It’s exciting and imaginative, and it’s hard to stop anywhere in the last 150 pages or so. The characterizations are also quite good – not only of Jack, Gia, and Vicky, but also the various side characters. I particularly liked Abe, who runs the Isher weapon shop (an homage to A. E. van Vogt; Abe even has a neon sign saying “the right to buy weapons is the right to be free”) from whom Jack gets his special supplies, and who is prone to viewing the news and putting the worst possible spin on everything.

It was a fun novel, and good enough to make me go right out and buy Legacies, the next novel in the series, which I hope to read sometime during the holiday break (though of course I have three times as many books on my “read these during the holiday break” pile than I’ll actually ever have time to get around to). In any case, recommended, even if you don’t usually like horror.

Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin

I may have started reading mysteries even before I started reading SF. I still read a fair number, though I don’t know the genre as well as I know SF and fantasy. I know some parts of it quite well, but I don’t read as broadly, nor do I pay much attention to those parts I don’t read. Thus, I know many of the classic writers, and still re-read Sayers, Chandler, Stout, and a few others. Of modern writers, I know best those who write historical mysteries – Davis, Saylor, et. al. But there are a few current writers who write contemporary mysteries that I also like, and of these, my favorite is Ian Rankin.

Most of Rankin’s output centers around Detective Inspector John Rebus of Edinburgh. Rebus can be unpleasant and abrasive. He drinks to much, and clashes with most others on the force. He’s tortured by memories of his past and where his life has been and is going. But he’s also brilliant and determined. And he’s also one of the most developed, most believable, and most interesting characters in mystery fiction.

As Resurrection Men starts, Rebus is being sent to Tulliallian Police College for a remedial course, punishment, it seems, for throwing a mug of tea at his supervisor. He and a group of other policemen with little respect for authority are being taught teamwork, and as part of their lesson they are handled the files of an old, unsolved case and asked to re-open it.

Meanwhile, the case Rebus was pulled off of, the murder of an art dealer, is being handled by others, most notably DI Siobhan Clarke. Clarke, superficially, is Rebus’s opposite. But in deeper, more fundamental ways – in particular the way she is driven to find out what really happened – she is much like him. She is the only one he really trusts, and she trusts him and listens to him, even when others ride her about it.

Rankin does a masterful job of taking these two stories – both interesting mysteries in their own right – and gradually pulling them together. As he does, parts of the past, and more of Rebus’s character, are revealed. The path leads both Rebus and Siobhan (who really is adopting more of Rebus’s bravado and his courage) into confrontation with Big Ger Cafferty (the chief gangster of Edinburgh) and with some shady policemen. Rankin does his usual great job also of combing the aspects of a gripping page turner with real character development. And of course with the great setting of Edinburg.

Nearly half the book belongs to Siobhan and her part of the investigation. Over the course of the series, she has grown from being one of a cast of side characters to now almost sharing the lead with Rebus. She’s really blossomed both as a character and as a criminal investigator. We are beginning to know her almost as well as we know Rebus. Moreover, Rankin has allowed her not only to grow in terms of character depth and maturity but to learn her job. She’s now a very good inspector, and could hold up her own series if Rankin is inclined to spin off a series (or if he decides to kill of John Rebus at some point).

I won’t say much more at this point, since part of the enjoyment of this type of novel is watching things unfold. I’ll just say that Rankin and Rebus have both come a long way – gotten deeper and more interesting – as the series has progressed. I have the next two Rebus novels on my shelf, and hope to read at least one more over Christmas break.