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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780812557312
ISBN number: 081255731X
Label: Tor Books
Manufacturer: Tor Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 544
Printing Date: April 19, 2004
Publishing house: Tor Books
Release Date: April 06, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 88410
Studio: Tor Books
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Product Description:
F. Paul Wilson's engaging, self-employed, off-the-books fixer, Repairman Jack, returns for another intense, action-packed adventure just a little over the border into the weird, in The Haunted Air. First introduced years ago in the bestseller The Tomb, Jack has been the hero of a series of exciting novels set in and around New York City, including Legacies, Conspiracies, All the Rage, and Hosts. 'Repairman Jack is a wonderful character, ultracompetent but still vulnerable. Wilson strolls into X-Files territory and makes it his own, keeping the action brisk and the level of suspense steadily rising,' said the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle.
Repairman Jack doesn't believe a house can be haunted. But he's about to change that tune . . .
It started off as a lark, a late-night jaunt from a boring party to the home of a psychic medium, with Jack dragged along as a reluctant participant. But as soon as Jack and Gia step across the threshold, the house and the earth itself shake to the accompaniment of a tortured scream.
Menelaus Manor sits atop a major geologic fault known as Cameron's Line. But that's not it's only problem. The house has a horrific history. Its original owner died of cancer; his son blew his brains out in the basement; the couple that bought it subsequent were found dead in their bed with their throats slashed; shortly thereafter a child was horribly mutilated in an upstairs bedroom.
The current owners, Lyle and Charlie Kenton, clever practitioners of spiritualist hocus-pocus, use high-tech tricks to dupe their marks. Perhaps they're too good: they've lured too many clients from other mediums and are now under attack. Unable to go to the police for fear of exposing their own scams, they hire Repairman Jack to fix their problem.
Jack takes the job, figuring he'll straighten out the situation by engaging in one of his favorite pastimes: scamming a scammer. But soon he learns that this fix-it involves more than professional jealousy in the spook trade. The earthquake marked the awakening of something in Menelaus Manor, something that used to be someone, an entity full of rage and brought back for a specific purpose.
But this entity has an agenda all its own . . .
Before he's finished Jack will travel from the seamy world of psychic scams to the inner circle of a well-connected murder cult, and finally into the dark heart of madness where he must strike a deal with a rage-filed entity returned from the dead.
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Rated by buyers 
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After a friend recommended this series, I devoured them! My only disappointment was that I had waited so long to read them. The Haunted Air was my favorite in the series. It was a very creepy page turner that kept me up until the wee hours, unable to sleep until I knew how things were going to turn out.
Rated by buyers -
With its Lovecraftian touches, F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack novels superficially appear to be horror stories, which seems kind of strange. After all, horror is not really designed for series fiction. Instead, I think it's better to think of these books as fantasy novels that use the trappings of horror. However you define it, the Repairman Jack novels continue to be a pleasure to read.
The Haunted Air is the sixth novel featuring Jack, a no-last-name sort of guy who exists on the fringes of society and is a last resort for folks who can't get justice through legal means. Jack will assist - for a price - and usually has clever ways of dealing with problems. As the Haunted Air begins, Jack has been dragged to a party by his lover Gia. A normally solitary type (outside of Gia and her daughter Vicky, he has few attachments), Jack hates being in social situations, especially if they include some "artists" whose airy pretenses conflict with Jack's more pragmatic views.
During the party, Jack and Gia are dragged to the home of a pair of psychics to help retrieve a lost item. Jack sees through the psychics immediately (he's experienced with con games), but soon the pair - a couple of young men from the tough streets of Detroit - are coming to Jack for help. The two have been targeted by another so-called psychic who thinks they're invading her territory, and that's just the beginning of their problems: there's something nasty in the basement and its powers are getting stronger.
While Jack deals with the rival psychic, he is also hired to spy on a man who may become violent during the new moon. Jack's task in this case is to keep an eye on the man during the evenings and prevent him from endangering others. As it turns out, the man is completely sane but has a far more sinister agenda than mere acts of violence. And as is often the case in Repairman Jack novels, two seemingly unrelated stories will eventually tie together.
Beyond the tale itself, there are links to other stories in the series (as well as the early Wilson novel, The Keep), so a new reader is best off starting at the beginning. (I had originally started with Gateways (book seven), so I am finally caught up to where I should be.) And not everything will be resolved in the larger stories of Repairman Jack's life. Most notably, Jack and Gia are now expecting a baby, which puts Jack's lack of a legitimate identity in crisis.
Wilson is a consistently good-to-great writer, and The Haunted Air is right at that quality level too. If you've enjoyed other works by him, this one will also please you; if you are new to Wilson, you should read this eventually but start with The Tomb first.
Rated by buyers -
For those new to this series, Repairman Jack is a man who doesn't officially exist. He has gone to great lengths to have no social security number, no tax records, etc. When people have a problem, he's available to fix it. For a price. In this installment, two brothers are new in town and off to a successful start conning rich people with their psychic act. It seems that one of the more established psychics is angry about losing business to the newcomers and wants to scare the brothers off, or perhaps even kill them. Jack agrees to help them find out who's behind the attacks and put a stop to it. While Jack repairs this little problem, a lot bigger issue is brewing. The same brothers are living in a house with a very checkered past and it's now the focus of a very active haunting. The twists and turns in the plot pull Jack, his girlfriend Gia, and the two brothers into a dangerous web that threatens all of their lives.
The very first half of this book is suspenseful, funny, and fast moving. The haunted house story especially had me on the edge of my seat as the brothers are forced to endure increasingly creepy phenomena. The second half slowed down a bit and some of the suspense was lessened as the nature of the primary threat became clearer. Fortunately, the story starts rolling again as it builds up to the climax. This is not really a character driven novel, but the brothers are particularly well written. They're funny and show a lot of depth as they deal with their problems. Jack may not be the deepest protagonist in literary history but he's a very satisfying action hero.
I've read several of Paul Wilson's books, and this is by far the best I've seen so far. The Haunted Air is a fine mix of action, humor, and supernatural suspense. The haunted house setting helps make the story both more familiar and compelling. I'd recommend the book to anyone looking for a good supernatural thriller.
Rated by buyers -
This here's the 4th Repairman Jack novel I've read and they just seem to be getting better. Yeah there's a formula, but there's also a bit of a continuing story that moves forward in this volume. This is an awesome series, and I'm suprised it has yet to make it to film or tv.
Rated by buyers 
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3.5 stars. The 6th novel in the Repairman Jack series for me and my husband read just a bit bloated in the beginning. But just as we expect from F. Paul Wilson, it soon intensifies into a solid and well-rouned story that we expect from this fantastic author.
We felt that some fat could have been trimmed away in this novel, and it was the longest novel thus far. But what shines here is mostly Jack's and his girlfriend Gia's new problems. Not only does Gia get pregnant, putting Jack in a time in his life to perhaps having to give up his hidden profession, but having to go legit. Whatever will he do?
And their dealing with these problems, as well as Gia just being in the adventure, as well as the Otherness getting closer and closer to Jack and his newfound family, is what saves this novel from being mediocre. It seems that Wilson is going to milk storylines until he finally gets to this 'changing of the world' that the Otherness is to wrought in the near future. We can't wait until Wilson finally gets to that!
Even though this turned out to be a good adventure, it has been the weakest overall thus far in this series that we've read. The seances at times felt dragged out. But it was handled well by Wilson, as was also the small mysterious hints he continues to leave about the overall Otherness theme. More pieces of the Otherness puzzle are given here, but the complete story has yet to be revealed.
A good plotline to keep readers coming back for more. Ingenious.
Well worth the read. We are looking forward to the subsequent adventure - Gateways.
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