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A review by wintermute47
Cold City by F. Paul Wilson
3.0
I feel like prequels in general are a bad idea. No matter how valid the story concept is, most authors seem unable to resist the temptation to throw in references to the story-to-come. I'm not sure if this is meant to be an Easter egg for the fan, or if it's meant to inspire a feeling of dramatic irony, but personally I feel that it almost always requires too much suspension of disbelief and it takes me out of the story as a result. I thought this was a problem with the 'Jack: Secret History' series, and now I feel it's a problem with Repairman Jack: The Early Years (an unfortunately cliched title).
It's still fun spending some time with Jack, even if he's only beginning to develop the skills and talents that make his other appearances so compelling. And as this is part of a trilogy it's perhaps unfair to judge it too harshly in isolation, but one big complaint I have is that very little is resolved in this novel. Several subplots arise and at most one is dealt with decisively--I didn't really feel like the ending had been earned. The novel also features what's probably the most embarrassing sex scene ever written, no mean feat for an author who seems to have no ability to write interesting female characters.
All in all Wilson might have been better off writing a series of short stories a la 'Quick Fixes,' his previous collection of short RJ stories. I'll continue to follow this series, but I'm less optimistic than I had been about how well they'll end up.
It's still fun spending some time with Jack, even if he's only beginning to develop the skills and talents that make his other appearances so compelling. And as this is part of a trilogy it's perhaps unfair to judge it too harshly in isolation, but one big complaint I have is that very little is resolved in this novel. Several subplots arise and at most one is dealt with decisively--I didn't really feel like the ending had been earned. The novel also features what's probably the most embarrassing sex scene ever written, no mean feat for an author who seems to have no ability to write interesting female characters.
All in all Wilson might have been better off writing a series of short stories a la 'Quick Fixes,' his previous collection of short RJ stories. I'll continue to follow this series, but I'm less optimistic than I had been about how well they'll end up.