Reading a Repairman Jack novel seems, at times, a guilty pleasure; it's astonishingly easy to inhale the pages, like eating potato chips. A firm-jawed Mr. Fixit hero with a cryptic past--crunch! Crimes that go beyond (way, waaay beyond) the norms of traditional law--smack! A liberal sprinkling of screwball comedy and nasty supernatural beings--now that's tasty! Good, crispy fun, indeed. But F. Paul Wilson's tight plotting and appealing characters manage to elevate potato chips to the realm of haute cuisine (or at least a satisfyingly solid meal), and his latest, All the Rage, is no exception.

Everything's rosy when Nadia Radzminsky takes a dream research job at GEM Pharmaceuticals: she'll be working for her professional idol, Dr. Luc Monnet; her fiancé is one of GEM's top salespeople; she's got all sorts of high tech toys to play with; and she'll get a million-dollar bonus if she can just figure out how to stabilize GEM's most promising molecule (dubbed, ominously enough for students of Norse mythology, Loki). But clouds quickly appear on the horizon in the form of Milos Dragovic, a Serbian mobster with a short fuse, a big wallet, and a profound interest in Loki's future. Nadia suspects Milos is blackmailing her boss, and she hires Jack to find out what's going on.

What Jack finds out isn't pretty: Loki is leading an underground life as Berzerk, a hot, new street drug that brings out the user's most aggressive behavior, frequently with deadly consequences. And Milos may be pushing Monnet around, but the good doctor isn't objecting too strongly to the payoff. But when Jack gets closer to the source of the mystery molecule, events take a very personal turn: Loki is derived from the blood of rakoshi, those otherworldly and decidedly vicious demons Jack had sworn to exterminate in Conspiracies. With his family threatened by both the rakoshi and the vengeful Serb, Jack must take on both the monster and the mob.

All the Rage has the necessary ingredients for success, including a snarkily amusing subplot involving a Brooklyn junkyard owner who's also out for Milos's blood (Jack has to keep toning down his client's eager revenge plots, and his substitution of industrial sludge for knives in one such plan is particularly amusing). Dedicated Wilson fans will rejoice in the new addition to the series, and neophytes will scramble to unearth the earlier installments. --Kelly Flynn


From Publishers Weekly
Wilson's conscientious urban mercenary, Repairman Jack, debuted in The Tomb (1984), which was a national bestseller and later a film. Neither Wilson nor Jack are quite the draw they were then, and so Jack's fourth novel-length adventure probably won't hit general lists, though it will do well on specialized ones. Jack takes personal assignments that subtly reflect larger, more pervasive problems in the body politic. In his spellbinding new outing - the most intricate and energetically plotted since The Tomb - he tackles the rising tide of aggressive behavior inundating contemporary society. When he takes a retainer from research chemist Nadia Razminsky to investigate the shady relationship between Dr. Luc Monnet and expatriate Serbian gangster Milos Dragovic, Jack knows that Dragovic has bought into the American dream with millions made in illicit drug trafficking. Through a series of intrigues that cut perilously close to home and threaten longtime girlfriend Gia and her daughter, Vicky, he discovers that GEM Pharma, Monnet's private pharmaceutical company and Nadia's employer, is supplying Dragovic with a designer super-steroid (sold on the street as "Berzerk") that boosts bestial behavior in its users. En route to vanquishing the villains with an actual taste of their own medicine, Jack must save the lives of Nadia and her lover, confront the sideshow monster whose blood supplies the drug and recover from an accidental dosing that sends him on an uncharacteristic - but thrillingly sustained - egomaniacal rampage through New York City. Wilson (Conspiracies) skillfully juggles subplots whose unpredictable collisions and complications further accelerate the relentless momentum of Jack's labors. What's more, he weaves seamlessly into the story's fabric pet social critiques that in past episodes have stuck out like cranky harangues. A satisfying open-ended climax sets the stage for yet another chapter in Jack's compelling saga. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Like Mr. Chapel in ABC's short-lived Ven geance Unlimited series, or Judge Nicholas Marshall of TNT's Dark Justice , Wilson's series hero Repairman Jack is an all-purpose fix-it man, dealing with big-time repairs. In this episode, Jack must determine the origin of a new street drug, Berzerk. Under its influence, users' aggressive and egotistical tendencies are greatly, uh, accentuated. An intricate twisting of story lines leads to a dramatic conclusion that harks back to the first Repairman Jack novel, The Tomb (1984), and leaves the reader thirsting for more. As captivating as his first three Repairman Jack thrillers, this will satisfy the fans and probably spur newcomers to pick up on what they have been missing. Bryan Baldus
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
“Wilson skillfully juggles subplots whose unpredictable collisions and complications further accelerate the relentless momentum of Jack’s labors . . . . A satisfying open-ended climax sets the stage for yet another chapter in Jack’s compelling saga.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Like the best of Dean Koontz’s work, Wilson’s work combines an action/adventure yarn with a touch of the fantastic . . . . If you haven’t read any of the Repairman Jack novels before, now is a good time to start. They’re smart, exciting, and most of all, fun.”—The Denver Post



Book Description
The new Repairman Jack book from the author of THE TOMB and CONSPIRACIES, ALL THE RAGE takes off from where CONSPIRACIES ends. More on the Rakoshi as Jack tracks down a designer drug Berzerk which literally drives users to violence.


From the Publisher
This is the signed limited edition of ALL THE RAGE, signed by Harry O. Morris and limited to 450 copies. For additional information and an on-line audio interview with F.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Repairman Jack isn't your ordinary repairman - not by a longshot. Repairman Jack doesn't deal with electronic appliances: he's a SITUATION fixer, no matter how weird or deadly a situation may be. Repairman Jack has no last name, no social security number, and no qualms when it comes to getting the job done - even if it means putting himself in serious danger." "Jack is hired by Dr. Nadia Radzminsky, a young researcher who's concerned about the safety of her boss and mentor. She fears he's being threatened or blackmailed by high-profile hood Milos Dragovic. Jack pokes around and soon finds himself knee-deep in the glossy underworld of designer drugs." "The hot new substance that's sweeping the city goes by many names, but its most common street handle is Berzerk. Not just for all-night raves, it's worming its way into daily life at all levels of society. Used in just the right amount, it enhances performance in any field: but take too much and you veer into mindless murderous rage. The street folk don't call it Berzerk for nothing." "As Jack tracks Berzerk through a maze of legal and illegal pharmaceuticals, he makes an enemy of Milos Dragovic. Soon Dragovic's goons are threatening those Jack holds most dear. And when Jack uncovers the terrifying truth behind Berzerk's ultimate source, he realizes that a maleficent force far greater than Milos Dragovic is at work...and Jack and Nadia and everyone they love are in far more danger than they could have imagined.

FROM THE CRITICS

Kirkus Reviews

This is not "all the rage" as in all the rage in Paris, but rather all the rage that erupts from Berserk, a.k.a. Loki, a new street drug that promises godlike selfconfidence but whose effects often slide off into uncontrollable rage. Loki, named after the Norse trickster god, is made from molecules of blood drawn from a freak called The Sharkman, a member of what Wilson fans will remember as the Ozymandias Prather Oddity Emporium, a traveling freak show last seen in Wilson's anthology Freaks. Also on hand is Wilson's old hero Repairman Jack, first seen in The Tomb (1984) and reborn in Legacies (1998). Repairman Jack is a highspirited hired vigilante one can send to take down the bad guys. Although Jack has the very mild look of a very mild Kevin Costner, he has also set aside a place in his brain for waging total war. He needs it up against Mafiastyled drug dealer Milos Dragovic, who coerces Dr. Luc Monnet into supplying him with the drug. Jack first sees the effects of the drug on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum when some 15 preppies, now in their 40s, gathered for a college reunion, go mad with rage and tear into innocent bystanders.