I remember when my mom turned me on to FPWs books; she owned The Keep and The Tomb. Loved them both absolutely. She picked up The Touch and Reborn, but by that time (even then!), Reprisal was almost impossible to find.
It wasn't till about a year later that I was able to find one at a used book dealer (I wasn't quite the internet fiend then), along with Nightworld, since by that time I'd found out that they constituted some kind of cycle.
I remember giggling like a girl while reading Nightworld as FPW tied all those awesome books together--I had assumed Jack died at the end of The Tomb. Had no idea about the short stories, or that there was a sequel on the way, or anything.
Loose ends can be great. But when they get tied together in a *completely unexpected* manner (as in Nightworld with quite a few of his books), it's like extra payoff earned on all those other novels.
Throughout our history there are those ghosts
Compelled to illustrate our dreams and hopes
Victors hang in pictures, losers from ropes.
Regardless they all swing in the same boat.