Gateways

Gateways (2003) F. Paul Wilson

In this seventh Repairman Jack novel, Jack receives a call from his brother, saying their father is in the hospital in Florida, and Jack needs to go down to take care of their father.

While there, Jack must discover not only what placed his father in the hospital, but why. And he continues to learn more about the Otherness and the Adversary. He also tries to learn more about Anya, the woman who lives next to his father, and who seems to be watching out for him.

As with the previous stories, Gateways was a good story, and although we continue to learn about the coming storm, the arc of this story was completed, which is always important to me. What I found interesting was that in the resolution, the problem one thinks would loom the largest played only a small part in the story and in Jack’s interest.

More importantly, Jack begins to mend his relationship with his father–a relationship that further disintegrated after Kate’s death. As Jack moves to become a father himself, I’m glad he is patching things up with his own father.

I also liked Anya, and was disappointed that we were left with more questions than were answered about her. But then that’s par for the course with these novels, and really, the way life works as well. Sometimes you just don’t get to learn all the answers.

If you like supernatural fantasy, then you’ll wan to read the Repairman Jack novels. Just make sure you start at the beginning, with The Tomb.
Rating:7/10

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