ByTheSword

Believe it or not I was held captive by little people. They wanted to be played with and fed. They also wanted 24/7 attention.

Did you know the new Mario has three worlds on a DS player? News to me, but I'm sure if you have small people around all the time this isn't an earth shattering news flash. Oh well, needless to say my reading was curtailed.

I'm having an affair with Jack. Even though we havn't formally been introduced he's got my mind occupied with his antics. F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack is one bad boy in his lasting outing By The Sword.

Jack lives off the grid and has no identity. He's an anarchist, an urban mercenary. Jack fixes those problems the establishment can't. I love a character who walks the edge of the envelope between good and evil and battles back when I would under the same circumstances turn into a ball of goop.

In By The Sword Jack must find a legendary sword stolen (kanta) from the Hiroshima Peace Museum. Unfortunately a cabal of Yakuza ganesters, an order of mystical monks, the Kickers from previous novels, and let's not forget his supernatural nemesis Rasolom are all also trying to retrieve the sword. Talk about your bad day at the office. The bodies do pile up in this one. Jack uses his brain more than brawn. A nice cross between the original Bond and MacGiver. I'm amazed at how Jack extricates himself from his latest assignment.

Then there is the whole "otherness" and "ally" tug of war going on to boot. Unfortunately you can't really jump into the middle of this series, although F.Paul believes it can. I think they need to be read in order. BTW F.Paul has started a trilogy for young adults The reader meets Jack as a teen, his mother and father, big sister Kate, his bully of a brother Tom, even an old lady with a dog. (Yikes!) Great escapism.