Book Review: Ground Zero by F. Paul Wilson

Ground Zero by F.Paul Wilson
A repairman jack novel
355 pages
Tor

The scale and vast scope of Stephen King's Dark Tower series is well noted. While career spanning mythos are common in the fantasy novels (IE authors like George RR Martin/ Robert Jordan) it is not very common in horror fiction. King is known for horror fiction and many of his strictly horror fiction tales( the mist and Salem's Lot connect to the Dark Tower) but that series is also fantasy. F.Paul wilson has created a career spanning saga and mythos of horror fiction that spans almost twenty books. Several classics like “The Keep” and “NightWorld” are more than twenty years old but impressively he is still working on this one story. The common thread is a lovecraftian-ish end of the world cosmic horror tale that ended our world in the novel Nightworld.

Since that book was published Wilson has returned to it's main character Repairman Jack in more than a dozen novels and expanded on the mythology. Within the framework of Repairmen Jack novels Wilson has explored many genres and themes. Even written a young adult novel about Jack as a teenager.

It is a massive undertaking of genre fiction that in many ways is more impressive than the Dark Tower in it's scope. I admit that I have not read any of the other Repairmen Jack novels but have read a couple of the Adversary cycle which are apart of the same story. The Keep is in fact one of my all time favorite novels.

I became interested in Ground Zero when I realized that Wilson was weaving the events of 9/11 and truth movement ideas into his end of the world mythology. It sounded fascinating, and it was. Wilson explains the back story enough that I was able to follow but I am sure the novel is easier to follow if you read the other 11 or 15 books that he has already written in the saga.

The story is fast paced and well written with short page turning chapters that go back in forth between perfectly timed chapter breaks. The characters are rich and keep you involved in the intense story of monstrous conspiracy and paranoia. Thumbs up. Get hooked on Repairman Jack