By the Sword-F. Paul Wilson

By the Sword
F. Paul Wilson
Forge, Nov 2008, $25.95
ISBN 9780765317070

Fifty years ago, a thief stole the legendary Gaijin Masaume Katana from the Hiroshima Peace Museum; the Katana supposedly has special supernatural powers. The thief’s businessman son hires Repairman Jack to recover the Katana sword stolen from him.

Two groups willing to kill the innocent want the Katana besides Jack’s client. First there is a deadly Yakuza gang who believe the fabled sword would make them top dog; even more lethal is the Kakureta Kao monks led by fanatic Toru who believe with their soul they need to possess the weapon and use its power to create a Black Wind to destroy New York City or die ignominiously. While in the middle of this dangerous retrieval mission, Jack also tries to prevent the psychotic Kicker cult from creating an evil Messiah BLOODLINE. Finally with all that going on in his life, his supernatural enemy Rasolom is lurking.

This is by far the most complicated Repairman Jack tale to date as so much is going on including the paranormal. The myriad of subplots work as Jack starting with mugging a mugger and never slows down on any front especially keeping Gia and Vicky safe. Although newcomers should read BLOODLINE first to better understand the Kicker Cult subplot, fans of the sage will salute F. Paul Wilson with one of the best entries to date; and the future looks better.

Harriet Klausner