In the fourth Repairman Jack novel, the rakoshi are back. Those were the blue-skinned, yellow-eyed, man-eating demons from Indian prehistory, who terrorized Jack and his loved ones in The Tomb. Now the last rakosh—the one who left his claw-marks on Jack's chest—has turned up in a freak show at the same quaint Long Island town where Jack battled the otherness in Conspiracies. Jack is torn between killing it, to make sure it can never hurt Gia and Vicky again, and leaving it alone to die in captivity. But his decision is complicated by an outbreak of extreme violence, the result of a designer drug that has become all the rage (ha, ha) in the streets of Manhattan.This drug is the reason Jack's client, a lovely lady molecular biologist, fears that a Serbian gangster is terrorizing her boss. The drug is the reason the directors of a small pharmaceuticals company are willing to contract for murder. The drug is the reason their top sales rep, who also moonlights as a computer hacker, gets kidnapped. And there are even stranger things about this drug. Every month, at the precise moment of the new moon, all unused doses of the drug instantly break down into an inert substance. Not only does the active ingredient's color, efficacy, and molecular structure change, but all records of its structure change with it—including handwritten notes, computer printouts, photos, models, and even people's memories. How can science explain this? It can't. But if the conspirators at GEM Pharmaceuticals don't deliver fresh monthly supplies to their Serbian partner, he will kill them.The problem is, the only source of this unstable molecule is the rakosh's blood. And the last rakosh is, as I may have mentioned, dying in captivity. A crisis is approaching that can only end in blood. One research chemist has already been silenced. Another has grown desperate enough to bring in one of his most brilliant former students. She doesn't know that the substance she is trying to stabilize comes from a creature from the deepest hell, nor that it is the drug that is causing so much mayhem in the streets. She only finds out about this after she hires Jack to find out what hold Milos Dragovic has over her former mentor. And Jack only agrees to do the job after another client, who wants revenge against Dragovic for the murder of his nephew, agrees to chip in.The revenge Jack plans is harmless fun (unless you happen to be Milos Dragovic). But non-lethal pranks escalate into deadly trouble when Jack himself gets dosed with the drug known alternately as Loki and Berzerk. Once again Gia and Vicky are in danger, only this time Jack himself may be the means of hurting them. And that's one thing he won't take sitting down. Jack's final revenge against Dragovic and his accomplices is chilling. His race to save his client and her fiance from a horrifying death is intense. And his final hunt for an escaped rakosh in the mysterious Pine Barrens of New Jersey brings the kind of scariness that may make a reader want to cover his eyes with both hands. And this can be very inconvenient if, like me, you happen to be listening to the audiobook while driving on a winding scenic highway. With apologies to everyone who passed me on US-50 during Father's Day weekend, I recommend this thrilling segment of a sixteen-novel sequence, which continues in Hosts.
This is the fourth novel I have read by this author and, by most lists, is the fourth in the Repairman Jack series. When I say, "by most lists", I mean exactly that. Cataloging Mr Wilson's books is difficult at best; he seems to keep on revising them, publishing new versions so that his whole "Secret Universe" milieu fits together. It seems to me that he has two series that intertwine: The Repairman Jack books and "The Adversary Cycle", although many of the books exist in both series. Confusing, but nevertheless every time I read one of his books, I come away fulfilled, feeling like I've just experienced a great read. And each book drops just a few more clues on what is really going on in the bigger picture.This book takes Jack into the world of illegal drugs...but not just any illegal drugs. "Beserk" is the primary street name for a substance that comes from the "Loki" molecule, derived from the blood of a Rokoshi. The very same Rakoshi that has haunted Jack's plot lines before. This drug has incredible effects including an amazing increase in violence on the part of the user. There is a great scene where Jack, himself is accidentally exposed to the drug and the resulting rampage by this normally organized, thoughtful, prepared person is priceless. Most of the story is a fairly straight forward thriller/mystery plot, with Jack involved with solving the mystery of the origin of this drug. But once again we get some clues into the background of "The Otherness" or, whatever it is that is "out there" stiring the pot of human existence. The Rokoshi is one aspect of that "Otherness" but we also meet Ozymandias and his traveling circus. This is a cool character and from the way things were left at the end of this book I can well imagine him reappearing in future books. I most definitely will be continuing to read this fascinating series.
What do You think about All The Rage (2006)?
What I like most about the Repairman Jack series was that I felt that the books didn't need to be read in series. I felt like each book was its own individual novel with its own story line. After reading this novel however I realized that the books are actually interconnected and need to be read in order. This doesn't take away from the series, in fact I feel it adds to the series. I always wondered what each book had with each other and this novels helps connect the Adversary Series and the Repairman Jack series. Of course each series can be easily read separately but they do complement each other nicely. I really liked this novel; it was a nice, quick and simple read. I liked the supernatural elements of it and how this novel tied all the other novels together. I am definitely going to continue reading the rest of the series, but won’t space the time I read the novels months apart. Instead when I start reading the series again will try to read one book per month.
—Monique
Readers please take note – you can not start reading the Repairman Jack novels here. You really, really need to go back and start with The Tomb (Adversary Cycle, #2).Now then :All The RageIn a parallel literary universe somewhere between Fringe and Supernatural, consisting of a dollop of Horror, a slice of Science Fiction & Fantasy, a smattering of Techno-thriller, a dash of Action & Adventure and a wee bit of Suspense lies the genre-defying world of the Repairman Jack books. This entry is no different. A premonitory worm of unease began to wriggle in [his] gut.The author paints a rather scary picture concerning the effects of a drug titled, rather aptly, Berzerk. (I’m not particularly fond of crowds myself, but crowds of raging psychotic crazy people? Not fun). Jack is pulled into this in a rather oblique fashion, when he is contracted by a concerned employee to investigate some strong arm tactics against her employer, who just happens to be a big shot in the pharmaceutical industry. Jack obviously uncovers some nastiness and the game commences.“Never seen anything like it. Like they all went crazy at once.”I probably did mention this in one of my previous Repairman Jack reviews, but this is one guy you don’t want to piss off. I’ll say one more thing for the Repairman Jack novels: they are tense. When things go right, they go punch-the-sky right, but when things go wrong they go very wrong. The drug angle was actually not my favourite part of this novel: I was much more partial to Ozymandias Prather’s Travelling Circus and Oddity Emporium. Okay, so obviously everything is connected here, but still. There is a fantastic re-introduction of an old acquaintance, which I can’t go into since it is elite spoiler territory.A chill ran over her skin.Yes – the otherness is mentioned (although no new details are forthcoming)Yes – there are tires that fall out of the skyYes – Gia is rather annoying, but at least she doesn’t feature muchYes – there is a [spoiler]Yes – you should read this seriesAnd then a scream of fear and mortal agony echoed through the trees, rising toward a shriek that cut off sharply before it peaked.
—Dirk Grobbelaar
Jack gets mixed-up in a drug ring in this adventure of the Repairman Jack series. This is my favorite Repairman Jack book so far. I thought the plot had a lot of nice twists and turns. The ending was extremely satisfying to read.I don't want to go into too many details, but there were tons of entertaining parts to this book: Sal's Dragovic revenge, Events leading to Jack's hospital stay and his payback for it, revisiting the Rakoshi, Jack's Pine Barrens adventure... the list goes on.This book does take a while to get moving, but once it does it's hard to put down. It still might be a little cliche for some to read. Plus, "The Otherness" (the supernatural element in the series) makes a minor visit to this story. Still, "All the Rage" is just that for a Repairman Jack fan. I highly recommend reading at least "The Tomb" prior to reading "All the Rage".
—Jadewik
