"The Haunted Air" was the first RJ novel I read. I was looking for a series character (hey, if enough people liked it that the author wrote a followup book...). I found "Gateways" in the New Science Fiction section of my library. I looked inside the jacket and it said something about after Jack's adventures in "The Haunted Air". In our SciFi section, there was "The Haunted Air". So I grabbed them both, thinking I had the whole series. Someone was bugging me to get a move on (I won't mention Barbara's name here), so I left without looking inside to find that there were 5 books preceeding this one. I was hooked! My library doesn't have the books before THA, but I managed to get them. At some point I moved onto the Adversary Cycle novels, FPW's LaNague (sp?) books, his medical thrillers. Where was this guy all my reading life? My library says they will automatically order any books with Paul as an author, since I annoy them until they do anyway. As proof, Thriller appeared on the new books shelf last week.
I can (and do) read Paul's books over and over again, and still enjoy them and find new tidbits or character traits. Paul, whatever you do, don't go hunting with Dick Cheny.
You really only need three things: WD-40, Duct Tape, and a pointy stick. If it's supposed to move and doesn't, use the WD-40. If it moves and isn't supposed to, use the Duct Tape. If you want it to move and it doesn't want to, use the pointy stick. The rest of life is easy.