Conspiracies (Repairman Jack)

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 Legacies, 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