Legacies

Legacies (1998) Paul Wilson

The second Repairman Jack book takes up an undetermined time after the events of the first book, Tomb. The indeterminate time is most likely due to the fact that there were 15 years between the two books.

When a local AIDS clinic where Gia volunteers is robbed, she convinces Jack to take the case. And solving that problem leads him to an involvement with another case that may be far more serious.

We saw some of Gia and Vicki in this case, but only peripherally, because the mystery this time revolved around what is in Alicia’s father’s house, that so many are so willing to kill for.

As with the first book, this was an excellent story with fantastic pacing, and characters I felt I got to know over the course of the story. Also, as with the first book, this story is not for the faint of heart. Lots of bad things happen, many of which are completely disturbing.

Where the two books differ, however, is that if the first book was mystery tinged with fantasy, this story is more mystery tinged with science fiction. Instead of being magical, this time the story revolves around an invention straight out of science fiction.

As for weak spots, I think the only one I particularly noticed is that I found the character of Gia rather weak and flat. Probably because she comes across as a heroic do-gooder with zero complexity. However, she isn’t the main character in this story, and we are seeing her through Jack’s eyes, so that influences her portrayal even more. But I did find it a tad bit grating.

Alicia, however, more than made up for Gia’s lack of complexity. She is a complex character who we know something bad has happened to in her past, but we don’t know precisely what that bad thing is. And of course even once you’ve prepared yourself, it’s still horrible and shocking.

I also liked how Jack was working multiple cases at once, which I thought was realistic, but I also liked the way that we learned some insight into Jack’s character in the way he resolves his cases. (This one was particularly enjoyable I thought.)

The other point I especially liked about Legacies is how even the bad guys come to have depth. We learn about their concerns and problems, which makes them all the more intriguing, because instead of being flat, generic bad guys, we learn some of why they are motivated to behave the way they do. Not everything, but enough to make those characters far more interesting.

If you enjoyed the first Repairman Jack novel, then you will definitely want to continue with Legacies. If you have never read about Repairman Jack, you should be able to begin the series her with no difficulty. Although I always recommend staring a series at the beginning if you can.
Rating: 8/10

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