Recoil

by Brian Garfield

Frank Pastor, the biggest man in The Organisation, went behind bars for eight years - convicted of briberty and corruption on eye witness evidence.

The testimony came from a man called Merle - and The Organisation want him punished.

With a different name and a new life hundreds of miles away, the witness is safe.

Safe until The Organisation can identify him and deal out their vengeance with guns and bombs.

Now Pastor's free. Somebody's leaked the file on the new identity and the heat's on....

Genres: Fiction, Crime

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Brian Francis Wynne Garfield was a novelist and screenwriter. He wrote his first published book at the age of eighteen, and gained prominence with 1975 his book Hopscotch, which won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. He is best known for his 1972 novel Death Wish, which was adapted for the 1974 film of the same title, followed by four sequels, and a remake starring Bruce Willis.

His follow-up 1975 sequel to Death Wish, Death Sentence, was very loosely adapted into a film of the same name which was released to theaters in late 2007, though an entirely different storyline, but with the novel's same look on vigilantism. Garfield is also the author of The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History. Garfield's latest book, published in 2007, is Meinertzhagen, the biography of controversial British intelligence officer Richard Meinertzhagen.

Brian Garfield was the author of more than 70 books that sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, and 19 of his works were made into films or TV shows. He also served as president of the Western Writers of America and the Mystery Writers of America.

Pseudonyms:
• Bennett Garland
• John Ives
• Drew Mallory
• Frank O'Brian
• Brian Wynne
• Frank Wynne

Reviews

[Addled head · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looks like a pretty unknown book. I liked it a lot. A regular action thriller story. A crime mob head was convicted based on a testimony by a honest man along with 3 other guys. Now after 8 years the mob head was coming out on parole and wants revenge on these 4 guys who testified against him. But they are already under witness protection program, the mob still manages to find them but they manage to escape before he could hurt them. Rest of the story is about how these 4 guys, esp the honest guy of the four, get rid of the mob, so he can live peacefully with his family without any more running about. It's not about cold blooded killing and revenge, it's about playing with the head of a person, allbeit a crime lord, and creating fear in him..

I scavenged this one from a cousin's house, it's already in tatters, and i had to literally re-arrange all the pages in numerical order before i read them, felt like am actually reading a manuscript :P Sadly missed the last few pages in the novel, by then, i believe the main plot is already done with.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suppose this author was recommend to me by the Hoopla app because of all the crime audiobooks that I listen too from Westlake and Block.

This was a pretty good revenge story about a mobster who goes after the guys in witness protection who sent him up. And when the Feds fail he takes matters into his own hands.

Sorry I haven't heard of Garfield before. But hope to read more of his books like Death Wish.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 1977, this is a revenge thriller with a great narrative thrust. Fred Mathieson is in witness protection when the Mafia boss he helped put away is released from prison determined on vengeance. Mathieson hires Diego Vasquez, whose team protects and hides his family and trains him and a friend as Mathieson wants a solution short of killing. It’s a sophisticated sting operation compounded by good and bad luck and Mathieson’s strained relationship with his wife. A very different world technologically 45 years ago is one strong reflection on an absorbing read.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many characters - more than 20 - and yet not enough characterization to make me care about any of them. The plot was also slow to get underway, and when it did there were several things that seemed implausible (like the main character refusing FBI help). Not the author's best work (for that, check out Hopscotch).

[Daniel Vassallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this novel. Unfortunately some sections drag and seem to stray. Also, the third act feels rushed.

Would love to see a film adaptation in the vein of The Conversation meets The Friends of Eddie Coyle meets The Long Goodbye

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

clever and gripping

[Bent Andreassen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 plus to 3.5

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars from younger me