AUTHOR’S NOTE
You hold the pen-penultimate Repairman Jack novel.
That’s right: I’ve decided to end the series with number fifteen (though Jack will make his final appearance in Nightworld).
I’ve always said this would be a closed-end series, that I would not run Jack into the ground, that I had a big story to tell and would lower the curtain after telling it.
The end of that story draws nigh. (There’s a highfalutin phrase.)
And if you’ve been following along, you’ve noticed that the recent novels do not tie up as neatly as the earlier ones. I’ve always kept longer story arcs running from book to book, but I used to be able to bring each installment to a distinct conclusion. That, I’m afraid, is no longer the case.
As I move people and objects into place and set the stage for the events that will tip all of humanity into Nightworld, the final chapter, this sort of incremental closure has become impossible.
So I ask you to bear with me. You may have noticed that By the Sword began shortly after Bloodline, and Ground Zero picks up a couple of months after that.
Two more Repairman Jack novels remain, the last ending just before Nightworld begins. Along the way we’ll be reprinting the remainder of the Adversary Cycle, synching the releases of The Touch, Reborn, and Reprisal with Jack’s timeline. (See “The Secret History of the World” at the end of this book for the sequence.)
The post-Harbingers installments of Jack’s tale have become what the French call a roman fleuve—literally, a “river novel,” with one story flowing from volume to volume. As a result, each new installment is going to feel richer, deeper, and make more sense if you’ve read the ones before.
Hang in there, folks. It’s been a long ride, and we’ve still got a lot of wonder, terror, and tragedy ahead. I promise you’ll be glad you made the trip.
—F. Paul Wilson
the Jersey shore