Rating: 
(3 reviews)
Author: F. Paul Wilson
Publisher: Tor Teen
Product Description
When his five-year-old neighbor goes missing, Jack can’t help feeling responsible. He should have taken Cody home when he found him riding his bicycle near the Pine Barrens. And then a lost man wanders out of the woods after being chased all night by…something. Jack knows, better than anyone, that the Barrens are dangerous—a true wilderness filled with people, creatures, and objects lost from sight and memory. Like the ancient, fifteen-foot-tall stone pyramid he, Weezy, and Eddie discover. Jack thinks it might have been a cage of some sort, but for what kind of animal, he can’t say. Eddie jokes that it could have been used for the Jersey Devil. Jack doesn’t believe in that old folk tale, but something is roaming the Pines. Could it have Cody? And what about the strange circus that set up outside town? Could they be involved? So many possibilities, so little time…
3 Comments
Ever since Jack first discovered the pyramid, nothing has
been the same for Jack or the town of Johnson. A chain of
unexplained murders fire up the suspicion against the Lodge
- a secret society that was the first to settle in Johnson.
In Jack: Secret Circles, things have begun to simmer down
since the murders. That is until Cody disappears. Jack had
seen Cody ride home, but didn’t make sure he got there. Now
Cody has disappeared and chaos is aroused in Johnson. Once
again, the Lodge and pyramid is linked to all this. Along
with that, Mr. Vivino is abusing his family and no one knows
about it. Now, Jack must find a way to save Cody, Mrs. V,
and her daughter. But since Jack is dealing with a secret
society and a man running for public office, things won’t be
solved very easily.
As the mystery began to unfold, I picked up interest. The beginning of the novel was slow and seemed to go on forever. But as new twists changed the
course of the story, the suspense began to increase. One
example of a twist is when Cody goes missing. From there,
things begin to heat up and new secrets are discovered when
Jack and Weezy go looking in the Lodge. But the secrets are
found gradually and over a long period of time. Sometimes
the discovery of one secret would happen long before the
next. For this, I wouldn’t say this novel is a page-turner.
I think it is more of a book that slowly increases suspense
as you read into it. I recommend this book to any who is
willing to read to the middle of the book before actually
getting to the climax. Jack: Secret Circles is a good novel,
but it isn’t amazingly exciting.
Reviewed by a young adult student reviewer
Flamingnet Book Reviews [...]
F. Paul Wilson has contracted to write 3 JACK YA books.
This is Book nbr 2. It is for the 9 to 16yr old age group.
Jack is BECOMING our anti-hero Repairman Jack but he is
not him yet. Jack is 14yrs old and it is 1983.
The spear still has all its branches.
Jack has always been surrounded by the OTHERNESS but
was never aware of it.
Mrs. Clevenger & her 3 legged dog, Mr. Foster, Walt & the
Septimus Order have always watched him. Some of them have
helped him and some have harmed him.
Only we know how much pain,sorrow and adventure awaits Jack
in the future.
In this book a 5yr old boy is missing. Jack and Weezy find an
ancient pyramid.
Jack starts doing yard work for the Septimus Order. Maybe he
can find out what secrets the lodge building holds.
The scary piney lights are streaking across the Barrens.
Jack/Weezy & Eddie see, hear & smell some kind of creature while
in the woods but can’t figure out what it is.
What is THE MYSTERY MACHINE ?
This is a nice read. I’am 60yrs old and I enjoy reading about Jack
as a young person. I think you will enjoy meeting Jack at this age
also.
I believe that DR. Wilson (5-17-46) has written 44 books so far. I
have 27 of them. He is a family physician and sold his 1st book in
1970. He mainly writes Horror and SF.
A teenage “Repairman” Jack is on his way to his friend Weezy’s house when he sees five year old Cody Bockman riding his bicycle near the Barriers, an area that is filled with strange things. Jack tells Cody to go home as the child is to young to be so far from his home. He watched the child to insure he is heading towards home. Jack and Weezy enter the Barrens, a land mass that is eerie and filled with strange creatures. They find a giant stone pyramid with the same identical markings that was on as a smaller pyramid they found and lost last month.
A stranger went into the Barriers only to lose his way and he was unable to escape for a few days. He tells the teens of a creature that was following him so he hid in a tree. They get him out, but Cody is missing. A search leads to Cody’s bike in the Barrens; a search there proves fruitless. Weezy convinces Jack to break into the building of the mysterious Ancient Septimus Fraternal Order to retrieve the little pyramid that Jack thought he saw on the mantle. When they break in, the duo meets much more than they expected.
Readers of the Repairman Jack saga will learn how it all began when the hero was a teen. Targeted for young adults (as was the Secret Histories) fans of all ages will appreciate Secret Circles especially if they want to know Jack. He has dealt with the supernatural and unexplained as a teenager so the teen became the adult still fighting as a warrior for the Light. As Jack adapts to whatever cause he must face, his readers will relish observing his Repairman roots.
Harriet Klausner