Amazon.com Review

Don't bother calling Repairman Jack if your washing machine is busted. Jack is a fixer of a different nature: he investigates crimes that go beyond the norms of traditional law. In 1984's The Tomb, Jack tracked down a prized (and cursed) family heirloom; in 1998's __, he sniffed out the sinister secret behind a man's last will and testament. The enigmatic sleuth makes his third appearance in Conspiracies. "I don't do missing wives," Jack protests at first, but the bizarre circumstances surrounding Melanie Ehler's disappearance convince him to help out the woman's distraught husband.

Melanie is a leading voice in the conspiracy-theory movement, a true believer that crop circles, UFOs, and even El Niño are all part of the same vast plot against humankind. She dubs this her "Grand Unification Theory," or GUT. One week before announcing the GUT theory to the world, Melanie vanishes and Jack is plunged deep into her weird world as he attends the conference where Melanie was due to speak. Jack is initially amused by the eccentricities of the alien abductees and Satanic cult survivors Melanie counted among her colleagues; but an apparently supernatural force, a murder, a disappearing corpse, and a creature straight from the bowels of hell put his skepticism to the test.

Conspiracies is another tightly plotted thriller from F. Paul Wilson, tinged with enough horror and supernatural suspense to please both mystery lovers and horror hounds. Repairman Jack reigns as one of the most alluring and mysterious private investigators in the business. --Naomi Gesinger

From

The third Repairman Jack novel (after The Tomb in 1984 and Legacies in 1998) is by far the best. Jack, a fix-it man who specializes in problems that frequently require him to face powerful foes and slip into the world of the supernatural, is hired to locate the missing wife of a businessman. This time he must find a missing woman who happens to be one of the world's leading conspiracy theorists (she was preparing to reveal her Grand Unification Theory, which would explain the truth behind all manner of strange goings-on). To find her, Jack must attend a convention of conspiracy buffs, most of whom seem more than a little strange. This is a funnier novel than the first two Repairman Jacks; those who look at conspiracy theories with a skeptical eye will have a great time, as will anyone who likes a well-plotted, spooky thriller. Wilson tells a great story. David Pitt