Repairman Jack - Character Background Quiz

Answer: He mainly works alone.

Although Jack may get help with his preparations for his jobs, such as getting weapons from Abe or getting new ID cards made up for bogus identities, Jack prefers to work alone. That way, he doesn't have to worry about someone else getting hurt. Also, if no one else is with him, he can keep all of his attention on the job at hand, thereby keeping himself safer. Jack doesn't rely on modern technology, either, believing that too much could go wrong, although he does maintain a web site through which customers can contact him.

Answer: All of these are correct.

Since most of what Jack does is outside of the law, he must remain anonymous. He isn't registered to vote, he has no driver's licence in his own name, he pays no taxes, and he isn't registered with any government agency. When his fix-it jobs are done, he just disappears, especially if the police are bound to show up. Jack also does his best to appear average and ordinary in every way, including parting with his attention-catching 1963 Corvair convertible.

Answer: He stopped local kids from ruining his neighbour's lawn.

When Jack was seventeen, his neighbour, Mr. Canelli, had a beautiful yard, until some of the local teenagers ruined it by joyriding through it. Each time it happened, Mr. Canelli would fix it up. As a last resort, Mr. Canelli put a fence around the yard, but the teenagers just broke down the fence and did even worse damage. Jack was unhappy about Mr. Canelli being victimized, so he told Mr. Canelli that he would stop them once and for all, for a fee of fifty dollars. (Jack almost never did his work for free.

He considered himself to be a businessman, and felt that it was better not to get emotionally involved in his customers' situations. Of course, that part didn't always work, because Jack was much more tender-hearted than he liked most people to know.) Jack had Mr. Canelli re-plant his bushes, and Jack hid steel pipes filled with concrete behind the bushes.

When the teenagers came through the yard the next time, they ended up in the hospital.

Answer: His mother was killed by someone pulling a prank on the freeway

When Jack was a teenager, he and his family were driving along the freeway when someone dropped a cinder block from the overpass. The cinder block landed in his mother's lap, killing her. Jack hunted the person down, and, pretending to want to drop stuff off of the overpass himself, he got the guy to admit what he'd done. Jack then tied a rope to the guy's ankles and dropped him off of the overpass in front of an oncoming truck.
After that, Jack moved to New York and dropped out of society.

Answer: Abe; Isher Sports Shop

Abe Grossman's sports shop is a front for his weapons business. His shop is dusty and messy. When customers come in looking for sports equipment, Abe does his best to discourage them from buying anything. Abe is an extremely overweight, Jewish man in his late fifties. Jack is worried about Abe's health because of the weight, so Jack often brings low-fat snacks when he comes to Abe's shop. Abe has a parakeet named Parabellum, and Abe often carries on conversations with Parabellum. Abe has a strong belief that there will be a collapse of the global economy, and he has a mountain retreat stocked with freeze-dried food and gold coins. Abe is a funny, deeply-caring man, and he's like a father to Jack.

Answer: Gia and Vicky

Gia DiLauro is a beautiful, commercial artist, and Vicky is her young daughter. Jack loves them more than anything in the world, and he would do (and has done) anything to protect them. Gia wants to marry Jack, but that would require Jack to become a regular citizen again, having proper ID and paying taxes. Jack doesn't really want to give up his lifestyle or his "fix-it" jobs. Jack is very protective of Gia and Vicky, and does his best not to let his lifestyle place them in jeopardy. Jack almost lost Gia and Vicky once, when Gia found out about Jack's "career".

Answer: a bar

Julio's bar is a dimly-lit place with dead plants in the windows. Julio's clientele consists mainly of working-class men, but there are many times when yuppies come into the bar. Julio keeps the dead plants in the window to try to discourage this, as his customers aren't happy when yuppies are in the bar. Julio is also very rude to the yuppies, but nothing seems to keep them out. Julio is a muscular man who is very protective of Jack. Before he takes any prospective customers to where Jack is waiting for them, Julio talks to them and sizes them up.

He even pats them down for weapons, without them realizing it.

Answer: two

Jack's brother, Tom, is a judge in Trenton, New Jersey. Jack's sister, Kate, lives with her husband and two children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They don't have much to do with Jack, considering him a failure. Actually, I should more properly say that Jack's sister that Jack's sister LIVED in Philadelphia. Without giving away too many secrets from my upcoming quizzes, I will say that Kate dies in one of the books in the 'Repairman Jack' series.

Answer: appliance repairman

Since Jack's answering machine identifies him as Repairman Jack, Jack's father thinks that Jack is an appliance repairman. Jack's father is always trying to get Jack to move to Florida where he lives, so that he can help Jack find a better job. Additionally, if Jack's father comes to New York to visit Jack, he can't stay at Jack's apartment. Jack can't let his father find his large arsenal of weapons.

Answer: False

Jack usually only takes on jobs that can't be handled in normal ways, such as by using private investigators, lawyers, or the police. Jack is the last resort for many people, and he almost always charges a large fee to solve their problems.