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HOSTS by F. Paul Wilson

HOSTS

by F. Paul Wilson

Pub Date: Oct. 1st, 2001
ISBN: 0-312-87866-4
Publisher: Forge

Repairmen Jack (All the Rage, 2000, etc.), despite his name, rewires no toasters: He recovers bizarrely missing items and solves wild and sinister mysteries. In All the Rage he acted as a high-spirited vigilante busting druglords selling Loki, a new drug offering godlike self-confidence that turns to rage. Now something beyond depression is attacking convalescents from brain-tumor malignancies that have been treated with a miraculous experimental virus that gets injected into the tumor, is allowed to grow, and then is killed with an antivirus, destroying the malignant cells as well. Now, however, an unfortunate contamination in the virus has tied convalescents into one great group mind or host. Repairman Jack is on a subway when an Asian goes berserk and begins shooting passengers, forcing Jack to shoot him dead and flee. What’s the worst that can happen to a libertarian like Jack, who pays no taxes, has no social security number, and stays outside of society in general? A reporter tracks him down, calls him the Savior, and thinks he has a story on the order of Watergate. But what about all the folks involved in The Unity and its false promise of a perfect future?

Tragic stuff for Jack, but tops for Wilson.