Jack the Bodiless

Jack the Bodiless is a science fiction novel by Julian May, published in 1992. It takes place in 2051, when Earth is close to being accepted as a full member of the Galactic Milieu, the confederation of worlds spread across the galaxy.

Humanity's cause is led by the influential Remillard family, and that is precisely why they are a target. Somebody, or something, known only as Fury wants them removed, and the campaign it conducts begins killing Remillards and other metapsychic operants in numbers the family cannot ignore.

Two people know about Fury: Rogi Remillard, who has been chosen as the tool of the most powerful alien being in the Milieu, and his nephew Marc, the strongest metapsychic yet born on Earth. Both of them know, and neither is able to stop it, and the killings are the reason the family has to act when acting is what Fury is waiting for.

The family at the centre of the book is both the target of the killings and the instrument of humanity's advance, which makes every death a political event as well as a personal one. The novel is the first of a trilogy about the Remillards.