The year is 1992 and Jack is on the move in New York City. Book two of the Early Jack Years Trilogy hits the ground running – just where COLD CITY left off. The opening scene itself launches DARK CITY into full throttle mode, thereby leaving any chance of a lapse in excitement. The Dominican gang who Jack first encountered in COLD CITY chases him into a subway episode that would draw in the most jaded thriller fan. From there, the plot unfolds, twists, turns, and evolves, just like Jack does.
At 22, he still lives raw and is learning how to exist off the grid. Abe is fast becoming his guide, attempting to teach him how to survive and thrive if Jack is to make a life in the city. The others from COLD CITY are all here. Julio’s bar is still not his – yet. Zaleski, the scam artist scumbag, needs to be dealt with before he buys the watering hole. Cristin, Jack’s no-strings lover adds a layer to the legacy begun in the previous book and leads the reader into a place rarely visited – his heart.
Wilson last left Jack saving a truckload of girls from an extremist jihad group of slave traders who are somehow tied to The Order. That movement still persists while the Mikulski brothers aim to foil another attempt – with Jack’s assistance. One can’t help but wonder how much of their methods and motives seep into Jack’s psyche. The backdrop of New York pre-9/11 is drawn with the colorful, seedy shades it deserves, delving deep into the culture and people, especially the Gotti-era mob and the players.
The writing is crisp as always, powerful yet unobtrusive, allowing the story to flow and rage just as always in an F. Paul Wilson novel.
Jack continues to emerge as the character who became the icon of the series. Nearly gone is the boyish innocence displayed in the Young Repairman Jack series and the man continues to grow. It’s fascinating to imagine how this version of the antihero will morph into the one found in THE TOMB. Each event, each interaction propels him toward that character, toward discovering more of the darkness within him that wove into the Adversary Cycle so well, culminating in last year’s updated NIGHTWORLD, the final chapter of the series.
Highly recommended for fans of the series as the look behind the curtain reveals secrets of Jack’s past, but just as many questions (which will hopefully be resolved in FEAR CITY, the third – and last of this series, or any Jack books). This series might just be a great place for new fans to begin the journey.
- THE BEST OF ROD SERLING’S TWILIGHT ZONE - April 11, 2015
- BLIND RAGE - April 11, 2015
- Black Static #44-45 - April 11, 2015
- The Halloween Children - February 12, 2015
- Darkness Ad Infinitum - November 24, 2014
- Fear City - October 5, 2014
- The Boneyard - July 24, 2014
- Double Feature: A Novel - July 24, 2014
- Never Alone - July 24, 2014
- Blind Vengence - July 24, 2014
