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A review by mikekaz
Fatal Error by F. Paul Wilson
4.0
This is the end, almost. The penultimate book of the Repairman Jack series. And in this age of binge watching an entire TV season over the weekend, I'm doing a mini-equivalent and pushing through with the end of Repairman Jack and the Adversary Cycle. Straight from GROUND ZERO through FATAL ERROR and ending with NIGHTWORLD. Over the years, I might have missed nuances across the books but since the final books are all out, I'm going to finish them back-to-back. FATAL ERROR goes back to the usual Repairman Jack procedure, but with extras.
Russ, Jack's go-to computer guy, brings Jack in to help Munir who is having problems; it turns out that Munir's wife and son have been kidnapped. After not wanting to help, Jack relinquishes and agrees to doing what he can. It turns out that the Septimus Order and Kickers are behind it since they needed access to Munir's code to help them bring down the Internet. Basically a massive Distributed Denial of Service attack coordinated with physically bringing down a few key Internet Provider stations. A bit of hand waving but nothing that incredulous or unbelievable; we've all seen worse in movies and TV. Anyway, it's all an effort by The One to kill The Lady who is helping Earth in the battle between The Ally and The Other.
If that last sentence made no sense, then you need to go back to the beginning of the Repairman Jack series or the Adversary Cycle. Preferably both. For us regular readers, this book builds the tension and excitement. I can feel the pressure as things are building to a culmination in the new NIGHTWORLD. Next up, I'm actually going to go backwards in time but fill in a gap from this novel. REPRISAL which I originally read in 1996 occurs during the same time frame as FATAL ERROR. I'm going to re-introduce myself to some of the other characters that I'll be seeing before the end.
Russ, Jack's go-to computer guy, brings Jack in to help Munir who is having problems; it turns out that Munir's wife and son have been kidnapped. After not wanting to help, Jack relinquishes and agrees to doing what he can. It turns out that the Septimus Order and Kickers are behind it since they needed access to Munir's code to help them bring down the Internet. Basically a massive Distributed Denial of Service attack coordinated with physically bringing down a few key Internet Provider stations. A bit of hand waving but nothing that incredulous or unbelievable; we've all seen worse in movies and TV. Anyway, it's all an effort by The One to kill The Lady who is helping Earth in the battle between The Ally and The Other.
If that last sentence made no sense, then you need to go back to the beginning of the Repairman Jack series or the Adversary Cycle. Preferably both. For us regular readers, this book builds the tension and excitement. I can feel the pressure as things are building to a culmination in the new NIGHTWORLD. Next up, I'm actually going to go backwards in time but fill in a gap from this novel. REPRISAL which I originally read in 1996 occurs during the same time frame as FATAL ERROR. I'm going to re-introduce myself to some of the other characters that I'll be seeing before the end.