The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson

 

(pb; 1984, 2004: fourth book in the Nightworld Cycle a.k.a. the Adversary Cycle. First book in the Repairman Jack series. Re-released in 2004 under its original title, Rakoshi, by Borderlands Press.)

 

From the back cover

“Much to the chagrin of his girlfriend, Gia, Repairman Jack doesn’t deal with appliances: He fixes situations—situations that too often land him in deadly danger. His latest job is to find a stolen necklace, which, unknown to him, is more than a simple piece of jewelry.

“Some might say it’s cursed, others might call it blessed. Jack’s quest leads to a rusty freighter on Manhattan’s West Side docks. What he finds in its hold threatens his sanity and the entire city. But worst of all, it threatens Gia’s daughter, Vicky, the last surviving member of a bloodline marked for extinction.”

 

Review

Tomb, with its realistic-neo-noir-meets-supernatural-thriller elements, is an immediately immersive novel, one of my favorite Wilson books thus far. Like the best thrillers, it’s timeless (in its underlying themes and character motives) and (especially) timely, with interesting and relatable characters (even, initially, its main villain) and Wilson’s dependable, better writing: fast-paced, with salient, not-too-detailed emotional scenes and a main protagonist worth remembering. Excellent fourth entry in Wilson’s Nightworld/Adversary Cycle, one that serves as the first book in the Repairman Jack series as well. Followed, chronologically speaking, by the second Repairman novel, Legacies. (The events in the fifteen-book Repairman series take place between Adversary/Nightworld Cycle’s The Touch, 1986, and Nightworld (1992, revised and republished in 2012.)

The Fifth Profession by David Morrell

 

(pb; 1990)

 

From the back cover

“Two masters of protection.

“Savage, a former Navy SEAL and American state-of-the-art security specialist. Akira, Japan’s most brilliant executive protector and a master of the samurai arts.

“Their mission: the retrieval of Rachel Stone, a beautiful American woman whose ruthless millionaire husband is out to destroy her. But quickly Savage and Akira realize they are trapped in a mission more far-reaching than the protection of one person.

“For they are bound together in a common nightmare, a set of horrifying memories, a terrifying past that never happened., but is somehow inextricably real. Only together can they confront the mystery. Yet when they do, an even more chilling scenario awaits them—one with the power to shatter not only their world but ours as well.”

 

 

Review

 

Fifth is one of my favorite Morrell novels, as excellent and gripping as his Abelard trilogy (1984-1987:The Brotherhood of the Rose; The Fraternity of the Stone; and The League of Night and Fog). Like them, Fifth is a top-notch action/conspiracy thriller, with interesting, deeply realized characters (I especially liked Akira, whose Japanese background was fascinating). Morrell’s use of and respect for Japan’s history is also evident, with Akira and his home country adding new and exotic layers to Morrell’s oeuvre. This is a stunning read, the work of a culture-expansive author, a standalone novel worth owning, and one of my favorite reads of the year.