• By the Sword

  • A Repairman Jack novel (Repairman Jack, Book 12)
  • By: F. Paul Wilson
  • Narrated by: Dick Hill
  • Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (357 ratings)

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By the Sword  By  cover art

By the Sword

By: F. Paul Wilson
Narrated by: Dick Hill
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Publisher's summary

Jack is hired to find a legendary Japanese sword, a katana stolen from the Hiroshima Peace Museum and brought to New York City. Central characters include the members of a weird Japanese cult, a young Japanese businessman (who is the brother of a character killed in Legacies), and his three Yakuza bodyguards, plus Hank Thompson, the Kicker cult leader from Bloodline. The cult, the businessman, the Yakuza, and the Kickers are looking for the sword as well.

Following Jack's usual m.o., he maneuvers all sides into a bloody melee from which he plans to waltz away with the fabled katana. Of course, when things don't go as planned, Jack must improvise (and he hates to improvise).

By the Sword takes F. Paul Wilson's trademark breakneck pacing and interweaving storylines to a new level.

Get another Repairman Jack fix.
©2008 F. Paul Wilson (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about By the Sword

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    188
  • 4 Stars
    117
  • 3 Stars
    35
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    148
  • 4 Stars
    67
  • 3 Stars
    50
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    28
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    186
  • 4 Stars
    84
  • 3 Stars
    28
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    4

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Dick Hills narration sucks/Skip This Episode

I know,the majority of Audible listeners seem to love Dick Hill's narrations but this was so awful I couldn't bear to finish. Hills totally bogus accents, be it Julios P.R.,Abes Yiddish-isms or the many Japanese accents in this novel were so poor I cringed..and I couldn't keep the story straight..finally just gave up and decided to go on to the next episode with Christopher Price at the mike.

I notice this was recorded in 2008 and it could be that Price was not available then, perhaps this recording was done before Audio books really caught on..and "Bloodline" is noted as being narrated by Hill also,but apparently Price has re-done it and Audible just hasn't changed the test to note that...in any case I'll listen to this again when Price or the new narrator who did the Early Years prequels redoes "By The Sword.
But for now..I consider this a waste of a credit and it's going back.

I sure wish Hill didn't do the Jack Reacher series also,since I'm kvetching about Him in this review. Sorry for the bitch session, but I'm just so frustrated.

Skip this episode..nothing lost IMO.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The horror! The horror! (The narration, that is)

My God, what an awful, awful listening experience. My ears are burning. Please, never, never let Dick Hill narrate ANYTHING again. He is beyond awful. He slurs, mumbles, drags through his words and sounds positively geriatric. Absolutely dreadful.

It was only my sheer commitment to the story and wanting to know what happened that kept me going through these last two books. I can only assume there must have been a very good reason to switch narrators this late in a series, but please NEVER do this again!

Anyway, back to Christopher Price now so I can enjoy the conclusion of the series. But I needed an ear enema and a good lie-down after listening to the last two.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

NEVER, EVER, EVER change a narrator in a series.

Would you try another book from F. Paul Wilson and/or Dick Hill?

I Love this series, BUT, and that is a huge BUT, never think you can bring on a new narrator in a series. Rick Hill is good in his style, BUT he IS NOT, even e n close to making me want to listen. I feel cheated now. I bought 2 books. #11 and 12 thinking it would not be so bad. O M G, I was so wrong. Rick Hill tried, he really did but after reading 10 books or listening to them, I was totally thrown off. His voice for His was nowhere near Prices narration. It was broken, and just not right. I figured after that maybe the next book would be better as it also was narrated by Mr. Hill, but I swear it said Chris Price. Abe w a s not even r e recognizable. I returned both as I could not get through them with this narration as Jack and family. If you know Jack, ( no pun intended) either 're a d the actual story or skip them. I'M SURPRISED THE POWERS THAT BE TRIED TO PULL THIS THINKING IT WOULD FLY. If the author did it, shame on you but I TH I boot is Amazon

Would you ever listen to anything by F. Paul Wilson again?

Only if narrated by Chris Price for this series. Other books yes...although I'm nervous now.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Dick Hill?

Christopher Price. Jack

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from By the Sword?

Never we r made it past a few pages

Any additional comments?

What were you thinking. Does your accent, style and voice change. I must say I read a review saying the same thing before I purchased these and thought the guy was being a bit of a jerk. Was I wrong. I should have listened to him.
I will not finish this series if this is not corrected. Two stories is too much to miss and I do not have the luxury to sit and read them. Audio is it for now

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

By The Sword

Another great Repairman Jack. Wilson brings in elements from the adversary circle, leading up to the final conflict in Nightworld. For those "jack" fans. Buy the book.

The narration is off-putting, and distracts from a great story line. Jack's voice shouldn't be a hyper nasal whine. A nice smooth non-inflected baritone would have been much more pleasing to the ear.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not up to par

Would you try another book from F. Paul Wilson and/or Dick Hill?

I would definitely try another book from Wilson, he is a master story writer however Dick Hill is not my favorite narrator.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Since I am listening to the series in order I will be starting Ground Zero this afternoon.

Would you be willing to try another one of Dick Hill’s performances?

If given a choice, I would prefer not to. I did not much understand a lot of what he said...I understand there was an Asian motif bit I kept nodding off and I don't usually do that with Wilson's books.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Of course it had redeeming qualities, the master wrote and I listened, regardless of how disappointed I was in this book I will continue to listen to his stories, they are fascinating.

Any additional comments?

with this exception his stories are spell binding. So i continue to listen

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Horrible narration

Would you try another book from F. Paul Wilson and/or Dick Hill?

While I love this series i couldn't stomach this one. This Dick Hill fellow in my opinion is horrible. I barely made it through the previous book he narrated, but I cant finish this one. Total letdown.

Would you ever listen to anything by F. Paul Wilson again?

Yes

How could the performance have been better?

Stick with the original narrator.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Dick Hill wasn’t that bad this time...still not great.

The narrator wasn’t as bad as the last book but I can’t get over Jack sounding like a wise guy in a mob movie....

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Better that expected

I was a good audio book. I almost didn’t purchase it because of all the negative reviews about Duck Hill. Overall I think he did a good job.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Tough Listen

The narrator's repeated use of "totally" when referring to Dawn is really "TOTALLY TOO MUCH"......

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • AB
  • 04-08-23

Great story!

First off, I think people are giving Dick Hill's narration a bad rap. I agree that it took some getting used to a new narrator when they changed, but to be honest Jack sounds like a native of Jersey/New York. Abe sounds right, and he even does pretty decent female and child vocalizations.

Next, I'm thrilled to hear more from Gleaken! He's the last man standing that's been there since the beginning, next to the adversary and he's helping Jack.

We get one step closer to finding out who the woman with the dog is when Jack guesses she is "mother earth". I suspect she is Srem, but it remains to be seen.

There is blood. guts, and horror as usual. and a merry-go-round of murder and mayhem with an ancient Katana.

I love that Jack is really just a regular guy with a certain set of skills, but also normal human weaknesses. He has great instincts, but he sometimes ignores them. He's got a sense of justice and fairness and he lives by a sort of code that he sometimes overrides for extreme situations. but that makes him less cold and more human than he otherwise appears at times.

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