Jack

“F. Paul Wilson’s first YA novel is an eerie page-turner, brimming with conspiratorial mystery and thrilling action, with an awesome teen hero.” —Ridley Pearson, New York Times–bestselling author

Ever come across a situation that simply wasn’t right—where someone was getting the dirty end of the stick and you wished you could make things right but didn’t know how? Fourteen-year-old Jack knows how. Or rather he’s learning how. He’s discovering that he has a knack for fixing things. Not bikes or toys or appliances—situations . . .

It all starts when Jack and his best friends, Weezy and Eddie, discover a rotting corpse—the victim of ritual murder—in the fabled New Jersey Pine Barrens. Beside the body is an ancient artifact carved with strange designs. What is its secret? What is the secret of the corpse? What other mysteries hide in the dark, timeless Pine Barrens? And who doesn’t want them revealed?

Jack’s town, the surrounding Barrens, his friends, even Jack himself . . . they all have . . . Secret Histories.

“Wilson deftly keeps interest high with well-drawn characterizations, modulating the thrills with details of day-to-day life in the early 1980s. Cracking good fun for teens.” —Kirkus Reviews