F. Paul Wilson Archives - Cemetery Dance Online

Review: Lexie by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 16, 2024September 14, 2024ReviewsDave Simms, F. Paul Wilson, Lexie, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Lexie Lexie by F. Paul Wilson
Crossroad Press (September 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Recommending an F. Paul Wilson novel is akin to saying oxygen might be good for you. Over the course of his career, there hasn’t been a bad book in his vast catalog. Lexie is no different — it’s the stunning second book of his duology that began last spring with The Upwelling and a fitting conclusion to a tale that holds all the tenets of a classic Wilson story. The characters are intriguing and fully fleshed out, the plot twists and turns yet plays fair with the reader, and the mythos he’s created is on full display.

Review: The Upwelling by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 22, 2024July 18, 2024ReviewsDave Simms, F. Paul Wilson, Reviews, The UpwellingLeave a comment

The Upwelling by F. Paul Wilson
Crossroads Press (July 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms

F. Paul Wilson has been a grandmaster of horror, thrillers, science fiction, and medical mysteries, but it somehow feels natural when he slips into this mythos that he’s built for decades. Beginning with The Keep, and through the Adversary series, which launched the iconic Repairman Jack series, the tales of the Otherness thread through novels, sometimes peripherally, sometimes head-on.

While recent novels have been entertaining and well-written, it’s in this novel, The Upwelling, that Wilson reclaims the throne of what he has built — awesome storytelling with interesting characters that readers root for and wish for future adventures to enjoy.

Review: Double Dose by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 27, 2023December 24, 2023ReviewsDave Simms, Double Dose, F. Paul Wilson, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Double Dose Double Dose by F. Paul Wilson
Gordian Knot Books (September 2023)
382 pages; $16.99 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

The world of legend F. Paul Wilson continues to grow in this second installment of the Duad series. Is it the finale or just another chapter? Read on to decide but if one is familiar with Wilson’s storytelling, the mystery is always afoot. One thing is sure, however. The man seems incapable of penning a bad — or boring — book.Continue Reading

Review: Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 21, 2021June 18, 2021ReviewsDave Simms, Double Threat, F. Paul Wilson, Forge Books, ReviewsLeave a comment

cover of Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson Double Threat by F. Paul Wilson
Forge Books (June 29, 2021)
384 pages; hardcover $22.99; e-book $13.99
Reviewed by Dave Simms

The Secret History of The World is alive and well in F. Paul Wilson’s Double Threat, an unusual thriller that brings together different puzzle pieces of the author’s diverse career into one novel. For the diehard Repairman Jack fans, this story is a bit out in left field, but in the best possible manner, meaning that while the overarching plotline and universe connects with Wilson’s other works, it utilizes more humor and science fiction than what Jack fans might be accustomed to.Continue Reading

Review: Signalz by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineJuly 6, 2020July 6, 2020ReviewsCrossroad Press, Dave Simms, F. Paul Wilson, Repairman Jack, Reviews, SignalzLeave a comment

cover of Signalz by F. Paul Wilson Signalz by F. Paul Wilson
Crossroad Press (July 7, 2020)
188 pages; $29.99 hardcover; $17.99 paperback; $5.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

Nightworld. For F. Paul Wilson fans, it’s often in the top two or three novels by the legend, surpassed only by the first book in the Repairman Jack series, The Tomb. Nightworld signaled the end of civilizations as we know it (kinda fitting these days, isn’t it?) and was so popular, Wilson rewrote it to fit the series canon after the original Adversary sextet concluded. While that novel hit on all cylinders and checked every box that satisfied both thriller and horror fans across the globe, plenty of mysteries remained. Wilson has plugged some of those, most notably with last year’s Jack novel, The Last Christmas, and prior to that, Wardenclyffe.Continue Reading

Review: The Last Christmas: A Repairman Jack Novel by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineDecember 23, 2019December 15, 2019ReviewsF. Paul Wilson, Kevin Lucia, Repairman Jack, Reviews, The Last ChristmasLeave a comment

The Last Christmas: A Repairman Jack Novel by F. Paul Wilson
Crossroads Press (September 2019)
370 pages; $25.94 hardcover; $18.06 paperback; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by Kevin Lucia

It can be a dicey thing when an author brings back one of their beloved series characters after closing off that character’s series with such a satisfying conclusion. In the back of your head, as a reader, you’re thinking, “I just want one more adventure with one of my favorite literary characters.” And yet, when that does happen…there’s enough anxiety to give you pause. Maybe the story just won’t read the same as the others. Maybe it won’t have that same snap the other installments had, or, if the author is creating a new adventure in the middle of an already completed series, maybe the story will cause too many continuity errors to be thoroughly enjoyable. Continue Reading

Revelations: The Repairman Jack Saga by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 8, 2019March 7, 2019RevelationsColumns, F. Paul Wilson, Kevin Lucia, Repairman Jack, Revelations4 Comments

As I’ve written this series, I’ve found it necessary to achieve a tenuous balance in my recommendations and recountings of the horror which has impacted me as a reader and writer. I’ve bounced a lot between the descriptions “fun and fast-paced” and “literate and full of substance.” The truth of the matter (as I’ve come to discover it) is this: good fiction and, even more importantly, a good reading diet, shouldn’t ever cater to one end of the spectrum exclusively. Stories should move us emotionally, they should make us ponder the world around us, our existence, and life in general. They should say something about the human condition. Continue Reading

Review: Wardenclyffe by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 27, 2019February 24, 2019ReviewsDave Simms, F. Paul Wilson, JournalStone, Reviews, WardenclyffeLeave a comment

Wardenclyffe by F. Paul Wilson
JournalStone (December 2018)
144 pages; $13.95 paperback; $4.95 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

It’s time for a return to the Secret History of the World by the iconic Dr. F. Paul Wilson. That should be enough reason to pick up this short novel about the plant where Nicola Tesla conducted some of his most dangerous experiments. This should serve as an appetizer to the return of Repairman Jack sometime in the very near future (yes, it’s actually happening). For the many fans of both Jack and the Adversary Cycle, Easter eggs abound everywhere, adding to what is a thrilling story on its own.Continue Reading

Dead Trees: The Touch by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 1, 2018May 30, 2018Dead TreesColumns, Dead Trees, F. Paul Wilson, Mark Sieber, The Touch1 Comment

I first read F. Paul Wilson’s The Touch way back in 1986. I was a twenty-five year old boy, rabidly in love with horror. And after The Keep, The Tomb, and some short pieces I had read, F. Paul Wilson was one of my favorite writers.

There’s a section near the beginning of The Touch. It’s describing a seafaring historical area of a small town…

The Illusion almost worked. He could almost imagine Ishmael, harpoon on shoulder, walking down the harbor toward the Pequod…passing the new Video Shack.

Well, nothing was perfect.

I loved that. I was a modern young man and I was head over heels for the home video explosion. It was a perfect time for me. A perfect time to be a horror fan.Continue Reading

Review: 'Panacea' by F. Paul Wilson

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 21, 2016ReviewsDave Simms, F. Paul Wilson, Featured, Panacea, ReviewsLeave a comment

Panacea by F. Paul Wilson
Tor Books (July 5, 2016)
384 pages; $19.79 hardcover; $12.99 e-book
Reviewed by Dave Simms

What would the world do with a panacea, a drug which cured all, no matter how severe the illness? Would it bring peace and prosperity to all, or send humanity into chaos and war?

Also, would the drug be able to cure the longing readers have felt since F. Paul Wilson wrapped up the final tale in the Repairman Jack series, Fear City? Such withdrawal has been painful for the countless fans of one of the most iconic series in thriller history. Panacea might just be more than the new novel from Dr. Wilson; it might satiate his audiences with the tease of a brand new series that entices the reader with wonder, awe, and annoyance that another year or so might have to pass before the next installment materializes.Continue Reading

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