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Recoil
Pat Cosgrove was a convict in the state's vilest prison, and Doc Luther gave him his freedom. Cosgrove had never been loved, and Luther gave him two mistresses—one of them the beautiful Mrs. Luther. Cosgrove owed Luther his life . . . and now Luther was going to collect.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
15 people are currently reading
831 people want to read
About the author
Jim Thompson
161 books1,646 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
James Myers Thompson was a United States writer of novels, short stories and screenplays, largely in the hardboiled style of crime fiction.
Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original paperback publications by pulp fiction houses, from the late-1940s through mid-1950s. Despite some positive critical notice, notably by Anthony Boucher in the New York Times, he was little-recognized in his lifetime. Only after death did Thompson's literary stature grow, when in the late 1980s, several novels were re-published in the Black Lizard series of re-discovered crime fiction.
Thompson's writing culminated in a few of his best-regarded works: The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman and Pop. 1280. In these works, Thompson turned the derided pulp genre into literature and art, featuring unreliable narrators, odd structure, and surrealism.
The writer R.V. Cassills has suggested that of all pulp fiction, Thompson's was the rawest and most harrowing; that neither Dashiell Hammett nor Raymond Chandler nor even Horace McCoy, author of the bleak They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, ever "wrote a book within miles of Thompson". Similarly, in the introduction to Now and on Earth, Stephen King says he most admires Thompson's work because "The guy was over the top. The guy was absolutely over the top. Big Jim didn't know the meaning of the word stop. There are three brave lets inherent in the forgoing: he let himself see everything, he let himself write it down, then he let himself publish it."
Thompson admired Fyodor Dostoevsky and was nicknamed "Dimestore Dostoevsky" by writer Geoffrey O'Brien. Film director Stephen Frears, who directed an adaptation of Thompson's The Grifters as 1990's The Grifters, also identified elements of Greek tragedy in his themes.
James Myers Thompson was a United States writer of novels, short stories and screenplays, largely in the hardboiled style of crime fiction.
Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original paperback publications by pulp fiction houses, from the late-1940s through mid-1950s. Despite some positive critical notice, notably by Anthony Boucher in the New York Times, he was little-recognized in his lifetime. Only after death did Thompson's literary stature grow, when in the late 1980s, several novels were re-published in the Black Lizard series of re-discovered crime fiction.
Thompson's writing culminated in a few of his best-regarded works: The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman and Pop. 1280. In these works, Thompson turned the derided pulp genre into literature and art, featuring unreliable narrators, odd structure, and surrealism.
The writer R.V. Cassills has suggested that of all pulp fiction, Thompson's was the rawest and most harrowing; that neither Dashiell Hammett nor Raymond Chandler nor even Horace McCoy, author of the bleak They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, ever "wrote a book within miles of Thompson". Similarly, in the introduction to Now and on Earth, Stephen King says he most admires Thompson's work because "The guy was over the top. The guy was absolutely over the top. Big Jim didn't know the meaning of the word stop. There are three brave lets inherent in the forgoing: he let himself see everything, he let himself write it down, then he let himself publish it."
Thompson admired Fyodor Dostoevsky and was nicknamed "Dimestore Dostoevsky" by writer Geoffrey O'Brien. Film director Stephen Frears, who directed an adaptation of Thompson's The Grifters as 1990's The Grifters, also identified elements of Greek tragedy in his themes.
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October 3, 2025
"Life is a bucket of shit with a barbed wire handle." This Jim Thompson quote would serve as the perfect epigraph for Recoil.
Oklahoma Jim cooks up a simmering fictional stew with Recoil, his 1953 hardboiled crime novel that's a searing indictment of much of American society.
That gent in the above photo could be a poster boy for 1950s American affluence and optimism. There he is, all smiles, proud of his new car and house, the head of the household ready to drive off to his high paying job as an oil company junior executive.
What's not pictured is what Jim Thompson focuses on in Recoil, things like his oil company creating " a, broad sluggishly moving expanse of greasy sludge and mud and water; the waste from the city's oil field." As one character says sourly, "A little present from the oil companies. They've taken a billion dollars out of this field, and they're taking more every day. But they can't afford to dispose of their sludge!"
However, back in the 1950s, any talk of deadly sludge or water pollution or air pollution amounted to little more than an anti-American, anti-capitalist rant. Damn! Those commie alarmists should mind their own business.
Regarding the men and women populating the pages of Recoil, I was particularly struck by just how cookie cutter flat they all are. As it turns out, master of the craft Jim Thompson had good reasons for creating characters as flat as cardboard.
What are those reasons? Let me list three:
1) Recoil possesses an intricate, complex plot moving at high speed. As critic Geoffrey Ross notes: "Recoil is an exciting novel, in part because the characters are flat enough that they can be made to do whatever the plot requires of them, without ponderous psychologizing to justify their actions." As you read this novel, you'll marvel at how much action the author packs in less than two hundred pages.
2) The novel's capital city goes unnamed. Dirty politics, lobbyists manipulating lawmakers, corporate greed - what happens in the novel could happen in any state in the US. And the women and men could be any individuals working in and around state government. A batch of cookie cutter flat folks - how appropriate!
3) Conformity and regimentation rule in the grey flannel 1950s. Jim Thompson anticipates John Lennon observing: “It's weird not to be weird." Thus, in a backhanded way, by attempting to adhere to socially constructed rigidity, people can flatten themselves out in the weirdest, most twisted ways.
The novel begins at the point where Patrick "Red" Cosgrove, age 33, the tale's narrator, receives his parole from prison, having served fifteen years for robbing a bank (actually, as we eventually learn, Pat wasn't so much a bank robber as trapped in a comedy of errors back when he was 18-years old).
The person responsible for Pat's parole is an older psychologist turned lobbyist by the name of Roland "Doc" Luther, a man who claims he got Pat out as an act of pure altruism. But Pat wonders what might truly could have motivated Doc to do what he did.
Pat's skepticism is entirely justified - as he learns very quickly, people and things are not always what they appear to be. For example, why does Doc's wife Lila throw herself at him as soon as he takes up residence in their home?
Why, indeed. Recoil contains mucho hardboiled crime fiction wallop, a tale of deception and wheeling and dealing, of swindle, manipulation and the double-cross. A tale where one state official asks Pat why their state, one of the richest states in the US, has become a beggar among other state commonwealths. She answers her own question:
"It's because we're eaten up by rats. Rats, do you understand? That's the only name for them. And I don't give a damn how nicely they dress and talk or how generous - generous, hell! - they are to people who play along with 'em.
Who else by rats would foist inferior textbooks upon children; force an entire generation to grow up in ignorance? Who else would take money at the cost of leaving dangerous highways unrepaired? Who else would build firetraps for helpless old men and women? Who else would place two thousand men in the care of a maniac (the warden of the prison where Pat spent his fifteen years) to be starved and tortured, yes, and killed?"
In this type of society, we can better appreciate why Pat holds his views of other people, as per - "I was leaning against the stone balustrade and starting to light a cigarette when she came out. I dislike trying to describe her because the physical facts of a person so seldom add up to what that person really is."
How will the knotty details of Recoil work themselves out? What will be the ultimate fate of Pat Cosgrove? Will he lose his parole and be dragged back to prison? Or, will readers delight in an unexpected twist? Time to pick up a copy and find out for yourself.
American crime novelist Jim Thompson, 1906-1977
April 7, 2023
Recoil was originally published by Lion Books in 1953, and since republished a number of times, most notably by Black Lizard in 1985. It is the story of one Pat Cosgrove, a sad sack loser if there ever was one. Cosgrove decided to go hunting, but had no shells for his shotgun, and waltzed into the local bank, forgetting or thinking nothing of the fact he had a shotgun cradled in his arms. When the teller’s hands went up and everybody started screaming Cosgrove panicked and grabbed a fistful of dollars and ran. He got ten to life and served fifteen years of the minimum ten because no one would stand up for him. Cosgrove took to writing to anyone he could do that someone would sponsor him for a job on parole. Only one to ever come through was one Doc Luther, who was a political player in Capitol City.
Cosgrove may be a bit of a patsy, but he can’t believe anyone is as philanthropic as Doc says he is. Cosgrove has a Cush government job, friends in high places, and two women throwing themselves at him, including Doc’s amorous wife. Nothing about the set up makes sense to Cosgrove although he seems to get swept along a bit as new cars are gifted to him and operatives of all kinds stick to him like glue. At one point, Cosgrove even engages a private eye to find out if someone took out a life insurance policy on him.
Being a Jim Thompson novel, it’s all a bit twisted. The difficulty though is, from a reader’s standpoint, it’s all a bit long of an introduction leading up to not much in the way of action. It’s kind of like a balloon that pops in midair and comes fizzling back to the ground.
Cosgrove may be a bit of a patsy, but he can’t believe anyone is as philanthropic as Doc says he is. Cosgrove has a Cush government job, friends in high places, and two women throwing themselves at him, including Doc’s amorous wife. Nothing about the set up makes sense to Cosgrove although he seems to get swept along a bit as new cars are gifted to him and operatives of all kinds stick to him like glue. At one point, Cosgrove even engages a private eye to find out if someone took out a life insurance policy on him.
Being a Jim Thompson novel, it’s all a bit twisted. The difficulty though is, from a reader’s standpoint, it’s all a bit long of an introduction leading up to not much in the way of action. It’s kind of like a balloon that pops in midair and comes fizzling back to the ground.
July 31, 2012
For reasons unknown to him, Pat Cosgrove is paroled and remanded to the custody of a psychologist, Dr. Luther. Can Pat keep from violating his parole and Dr. Luther's wife long enough to discover why he was paroled in the first place?
All aboard the train to happy town, it's another Jim Thompson book. Recoil isn't one of Thompson's well-known works. Still, I'm as hooked on Jim Thompson as Amy Winehouse was on crack so I had to give it a chance.
Pat Cosgrove is a clueless loser, as are approximately half of Thompson's leads. When Dr. Luther springs him from the pen, everyone including Pat knows he has something nefarious in mind. Sprinkle in a dash of Luther's hot young wife Lila and you have a recipe for a typical feel-good Jim Thompson tale.
Unfortunately, Recoil isn't the book I was hoping to read when I picked it up. Nothing much happens for great stretches. Luther's purpose for springing Pat isn't revealed until very near the end and received a resounding "did I just turn over two pages at once?" from me.
Recoil's kind of a dud, which sucks since all the winning ingredients are there: hot much younger wife, guy fresh out of jail, duplicitious psychologist. Still, Thompson's prose is still sharper than the tip of a hypodermic needle. That's the saving grace of the book.
Where Jim Thompson is concerned, there are three tiers of books. There are the first tier books like The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280, second tier books like Savage Night and A Hell of a Woman, and third tier books like this one. It's a 2, maybe a 2+.
All aboard the train to happy town, it's another Jim Thompson book. Recoil isn't one of Thompson's well-known works. Still, I'm as hooked on Jim Thompson as Amy Winehouse was on crack so I had to give it a chance.
Pat Cosgrove is a clueless loser, as are approximately half of Thompson's leads. When Dr. Luther springs him from the pen, everyone including Pat knows he has something nefarious in mind. Sprinkle in a dash of Luther's hot young wife Lila and you have a recipe for a typical feel-good Jim Thompson tale.
Unfortunately, Recoil isn't the book I was hoping to read when I picked it up. Nothing much happens for great stretches. Luther's purpose for springing Pat isn't revealed until very near the end and received a resounding "did I just turn over two pages at once?" from me.
Recoil's kind of a dud, which sucks since all the winning ingredients are there: hot much younger wife, guy fresh out of jail, duplicitious psychologist. Still, Thompson's prose is still sharper than the tip of a hypodermic needle. That's the saving grace of the book.
Where Jim Thompson is concerned, there are three tiers of books. There are the first tier books like The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280, second tier books like Savage Night and A Hell of a Woman, and third tier books like this one. It's a 2, maybe a 2+.
February 3, 2024
11/2019
From 1953
Cosgrove is paroled from prison under the oversight of a man named Doc who is an admitted criminal himself. So... there are questions, like why exactly. At one point Cosgrove goes to great lengths trying to hide a body, though he wasn't the murderer (just because he knows he will be blamed for it). This crime mystery actually has a fairly satisfying end (not all Jim Thompson stories do).
From 1953
Cosgrove is paroled from prison under the oversight of a man named Doc who is an admitted criminal himself. So... there are questions, like why exactly. At one point Cosgrove goes to great lengths trying to hide a body, though he wasn't the murderer (just because he knows he will be blamed for it). This crime mystery actually has a fairly satisfying end (not all Jim Thompson stories do).
March 8, 2023
Recoil by Jim Thompson
The first thing to say about this novel, is that if you don’t read the Lion first edition, which I think is unlikely, at least stop and stare at the cover for a while.. more recent editions aren’t a patch on it.
Pat Cosgrove can get out of the prison where he is serving a 15 years term in for armed robbery thanks to Doc Luther, a psychologist, who has agreed to hire him. Pat will spend the next weeks trying to discover what the Doc’s motivations were for this.
He soon realises that everybody else seems to know why though, even his new girlfriend, Doc’s secretary, though, despite fancying him, refuses to speak to him. Pat goes as far as to hire a private detective to solve the mystery, who subsequently warns him to tread carefully, as Doc may be planning a life insurance fraud with him, with Pat, as the main character.
Initially it’s easy to think of the characters as lacking depth, and somewhat flat, but this is quite intentional, just Thompson moving through the gears, as the novel steadily gains pace.
Another reason for their flatness, is that it allows the plot to take centre stage; having set the scene, almost anything can happen, and that, for the reader, is quite addictive - there is no need to justify the actions of anyone.
Thompson has very much his own style of plotting in his books also. This is a good example. Here he jumps straight in to a stage of the story others would take half a book to get to, it’s pretty much what those others would consider the climax; Cosgrove’s procedural jailbreak. From then on, it’s the characters that fascinate, and above all, Cosgrove himself. To figure out exactly what is going on in his mind is the real pleasure of this book.
It’s the genius of Thompson at work - it’s all about psychology, or motive and drive; Doc the psychologist who has lost his license to practice, and Cosgrove, who is an enigma.
So, without necessary realising it, the attention is firmly back to the plot - the reason the characters behave in the way they do, is that the plot demands it.
The reader is putty in the great man’s hands..
The first thing to say about this novel, is that if you don’t read the Lion first edition, which I think is unlikely, at least stop and stare at the cover for a while.. more recent editions aren’t a patch on it.
Pat Cosgrove can get out of the prison where he is serving a 15 years term in for armed robbery thanks to Doc Luther, a psychologist, who has agreed to hire him. Pat will spend the next weeks trying to discover what the Doc’s motivations were for this.
He soon realises that everybody else seems to know why though, even his new girlfriend, Doc’s secretary, though, despite fancying him, refuses to speak to him. Pat goes as far as to hire a private detective to solve the mystery, who subsequently warns him to tread carefully, as Doc may be planning a life insurance fraud with him, with Pat, as the main character.
Initially it’s easy to think of the characters as lacking depth, and somewhat flat, but this is quite intentional, just Thompson moving through the gears, as the novel steadily gains pace.
Another reason for their flatness, is that it allows the plot to take centre stage; having set the scene, almost anything can happen, and that, for the reader, is quite addictive - there is no need to justify the actions of anyone.
Thompson has very much his own style of plotting in his books also. This is a good example. Here he jumps straight in to a stage of the story others would take half a book to get to, it’s pretty much what those others would consider the climax; Cosgrove’s procedural jailbreak. From then on, it’s the characters that fascinate, and above all, Cosgrove himself. To figure out exactly what is going on in his mind is the real pleasure of this book.
It’s the genius of Thompson at work - it’s all about psychology, or motive and drive; Doc the psychologist who has lost his license to practice, and Cosgrove, who is an enigma.
So, without necessary realising it, the attention is firmly back to the plot - the reason the characters behave in the way they do, is that the plot demands it.
The reader is putty in the great man’s hands..
June 23, 2015
Many reviewers have said that nothing much happens for stretches at a time but personally, I just loved reading Thompson. Letting him do all his magic and be dragged in by my ankle into a puddle of Thompson soup. It all paid off because the twists and turns and action towards the end is really a joy to read. When it comes down to the whole thing, this book is like a painting Thompson paints and only if you look at it from just the right angle you see it's beauty.
February 7, 2009
I'm a huge Jim Thompson fan. I've read most of what he's written, and plan to finish all of his books before I pass from this mortal coil. This book was a pleasure. It's gritty noir starring characters from the gutter. As in most Thompson novels, the main character is an intelligent man who's fallen on the wrong side of the law and wants to make a play for straight. Pat aka Red is paroled from prison into the hands of a crooked politician on his way out, looking for a fall guy (a patsy...get it?) to make his getaway clean. Pat tries to solve the mystery of his benefactor before he outlives his usefulness and is sent back to the prison where he spent 15 years of a 10 year sentence for armed robbery. And when you get to the armed robbery flashback, prepare to laugh and shake your head in disbelief and feel sorry for Red all at the same time. Thompson is a master at crime fiction. If you like classic thrillers, you'll love this one.
March 20, 2022
Recoil is a typical Thompson novel in many ways (deceit, violence, double-crossing, people who aren’t what they pretend to be, and so on), in a fairly atypical setting: the world of small-time lobbyists in an unnamed state capital (but it’s totally Texas). The premise alone is enough to cause anxiety: after 15 years in a brutal prison, the main character is paroled to the care of a disgraced psychologist/lobbyist. He doesn’t know the doctor, and he knows he’s being manipulated for some purpose, but he has to go along with the doctor’s every order or go back to prison. It’s an interesting book full of twists and a shockingly prescient plot-line about lobbyists trying to ban certain text books for containing “subversive material.” But really, they’re just in it for the money like everyone else. The more things change, etc. This slightly lesser-known Thompson is well worth checking out; it’s suspenseful, and chock full of the strange, frightening characters he’s so good at creating.
March 26, 2025
Cuánto daño puede hacer el sentimiento de culpa y cuánta intranquilidad pueden causar los compromisos que hacemos con personas indeseables. De esto trata 'Libertad condicional', a grandes rasgos. Un presidiario que arruinó su vida de joven en un atraco absurdo, es liberado inesperadamente gracias a la ayuda de un benefactor desconocido. Este salvador inesperado obviamente tiene un plan oculto y quiere aprovecharse de la servidumbre del reo agradecido. La red de corrupción que se va deshilachando a lo largo del texto termina resultando mucho más compleja de lo que cabría esperar con ese inicio, Thompson ya avisa de que va a haber traiciones, pero es extremadamente difícil averiguar las sorpresas que se reserva para el final. No es de lo mejor que ha escrito, pero me quito el sombrero ante su habilidad para encajar las piezas con tantos personajes y con tantas sospechas y detalles.
ENGLISH
How much damage guilt can cause, and how much unease the commitments we make to undesirable people can cause. This is, in broad strokes, what "Recoil" is about. A prisoner who ruined his young life in a senseless robbery is unexpectedly released thanks to the help of an unknown benefactor. This unexpected savior obviously has a hidden agenda and wants to take advantage of the grateful inmate's servitude. The web of corruption that unravels throughout the text ends up being much more complex than one might expect from that opening. Thompson already warns that there will be betrayals, but it is extremely difficult to figure out the surprises he has in store for the end. It is not his best work, but I take my hat off to his ability to fit the pieces together with so many characters, suspicions, and details.
ENGLISH
How much damage guilt can cause, and how much unease the commitments we make to undesirable people can cause. This is, in broad strokes, what "Recoil" is about. A prisoner who ruined his young life in a senseless robbery is unexpectedly released thanks to the help of an unknown benefactor. This unexpected savior obviously has a hidden agenda and wants to take advantage of the grateful inmate's servitude. The web of corruption that unravels throughout the text ends up being much more complex than one might expect from that opening. Thompson already warns that there will be betrayals, but it is extremely difficult to figure out the surprises he has in store for the end. It is not his best work, but I take my hat off to his ability to fit the pieces together with so many characters, suspicions, and details.
February 11, 2012
I don’t know quite what to make of this book. I have been a long-time fan of Jim Thompson, but this one struck me as slightly flat. I wasn’t sure if it was a screed decrying corruption in government, a revenge story, or just exactly what. Perhaps this is a reflection of the character's ambivalence to his situation as he tries to understand the motivation of Doc Luther. It had an amateurish quality to it that bothered me, and the characters seemed flat. 2.5 stars rounded to 3.
July 24, 2009
Doc Luther, a sleazy political horse-trader, pulls every available string to get Pat Cosgrove paroled into his custody. The strange thing is that Doc and Pat do not know one another--so why does Doc want Pat out of prison? Why does he get him a job, buy him clothes and a car, and throw women in his path? In a genre that often strains credulity, I found the answers to these and other questions to be remarkably inane and unsatisfying. And more remarkably, perhaps, Jim Thompson managed to bore me fairly steadily. A disappointment to be sure.
August 1, 2016
A man gets paroled from prison by a seeming philanthropist only to realize the guy is trying to pull a Double Indemnity on him. There's a plot about the Phalanx League, a group of 'super-patriots' crusading to replace the state's school textbooks with worthless ones that flatter their ideology.
September 17, 2010
Wow, this was strikingly confused and mediocre. I think I'm into the C-list Thompson. He's still a fascinating writer on every level, but evaluating some of these books as novels, I just get bored and confused. The class and race elements in his works are still always intriguing, though.
July 4, 2014
Publicado en http://lecturaylocura.com/una-recopil...
Una recopilación de novelas de Jim Thompson. La escisión de la identidad
Aprovechando que acabo de terminar la biografía del escritor norteamericano, una joya de la que tendréis noticias en este blog en no mucho tiempo; se me ocurrió la posibilidad de hacer un pequeño monográfico con las obras que me quedaban por leer del escritor; ha valido mucho la pena, sobre todo porque gracias al análisis de la biografía, es indudable que ayudan a disfrutarlas mucho más.
La primera de ellas ha sido la última que ha sacado RBA en su serie negra, “Libertad Condicional”, obra encuadrada históricamente tras el que fue su primer gran éxito, esa obra maestra que es “El asesino dentro de mí”, esta influencia y la atracción del cine serán decisivas en el resultado final.
Partiendo de una buena idea, se nos presenta un presidio, Sandstone, donde el convicto Pat Cosgrove malvive, pero que, sin embargo, verá la posibilidad de salir gracias a la ayuda aparentemente desinteresada de Doc Luther, obteniendo la libertad condicional para trabajar con él, librándolo de un verdadero infierno:
“Luther creía estar acostumbrado a las aberraciones. Pero con Sandstone era imposible no escandalizarse. Sandstone no era una cárcel. Era una casa de locos en la que quien estaba loco era el director, y no los inquilinos. En Sandstone tan sólo había una forma de sobrevivir: llegar a ser más duro y más retorcido que el propio director. Si lo hacías -si conseguías caerle en gracia al hombre con los ojos extraordinariamente brillantes y la risa impredecible-, no sólo sobrevivías, sino que lo hacías con relativa comodidad. “
Es evidente, para nosotros, los lectores, que salir en estas condiciones tiene que tener un precio, pero el plan de Doc Luther no es evidente; es la espera, esa potencial amenaza, la que sostiene la narración. Según avanza, la desconfianza de Cosgrove será cada vez mayor:
“-¿Y no conocía nada a esa persona que le consiguió su libertad condicional… Que la compró por así decirlo?
-Exacto.
-Pues tiene usted razón, señor Cosgrove. Tiene motivos más que sobrados para desconfiar. A esa persona le hubiera resultado igual de barato y fácil conseguir que le concedieran el indulto. Con el indulto, usted podría haberse ido donde quisiera… Lejos de la periferia de su benefactor. Esa persona no tiene nada de benefactor. Esa persona no tiene nada de filántropa.”
No faltarán mujeres fatales, dobles juegos, traiciones… que llevarán a desentrañar la trama final desde el punto de vista de Cosgrove, verdadero narrador (excepto en el capítulo inicial que narra Luther) y afectado por los acontecimientos. Thompson no era un dechado de virtudes a la hora de plantear las tramas, la resolución resulta farragosa; el final feliz, desacostumbrado en el caso de Thompson, estuvo muy influenciado por la querencia del autor por conseguir un contrato con Hollywood para alguna de sus novelas. Aprovechar el éxito de su anterior novela parecía una buena oportunidad. La pena es que la novela se resiente mucho por esta circunstancia.
aqui_y_ahora_300x459“Aquí y ahora” fue la ópera prima del autor; publicada en 1942, recoge muchos elementos autobiográficos aunque no se atreviera a poner exactamente los nombres de las personas de su entorno; sin embargo, eran perfectamente distinguibles entre las historias que nos relata el autor como cuando se refiere a sus hermanas y a la situación de pobreza en la que subsistían, alentada por el abandono de su padre:
“Margaret –mi hermana mayor- y yo sobrevivíamos gracias a la caridad de los vecinos, mientras que mamá apenas probaba bocado. Así que la única que necesitaba verdaderos cuidados era Frankie. Por desgracia, la pequeña no podía alimentarse de las sobras ajenas y mamá tampoco podía amamantarla. A todo esto, solo nos quedaban cincuenta centavos.”
No es la infancia de Thompson una de esas “misery memoirs” ficcionales donde el protagonista es maltratado, violado, etc.., pero sí es bien cierto que la influencia de su padre fue muy negativa para el desarrollo de su personalidad y de su propia vida y lo podemos comprobar en el texto:
“¿Y qué? –me dije-. ¿Es que en algún momento fuiste feliz? ¿Es que alguna vez te sentiste en paz contigo mismo? Pues claro que no –me respondí-. Está clarísimo que no, nunca dejaste de sentirte habitante del infierno. La única diferencia es que ahora has caído un poco más bajo. Y vas a seguir deslizándote por la pendiente, porque eres igualito a tu padre. Eres tu propio padre, aunque careces de su determinación y su fuerza de voluntad. De aquí a un año o dos acabarán encerrándote igual que a él.”
También su obsesión por la escritura y las consecuencias de su mercantilización aparecerán en varias ocasiones a lo largo de la novela para mostrar las inseguridades de un escritor que tuvo que luchar mucho consigo mismo a la hora de crear:
“A mí me daba igual vender los derechos de la narración o no. De hecho, prefería que nadie la adquiriera. Sabía que si la vendía, me perseguirían para que escribiera un nuevo cuento por el estilo, cuento que sería todavía peor. Y la constante certeza de que me estaba dejando llevar por lo facilón bastaría para aniquilar en mí incluso ese último y débil afán de expresarme mediante la escritura.”
“-No sé cómo explicarlo –dije-. Lo más seguro es que nunca sea capaz de explicarme, ni aunque escriba un libro.”
Quizá el mayor logro sea ese diálogo hipotético que realiza con el padre fallecido durante todo un capítulo, hay aquí un presagio de esta lucha interior psicológica que le servirá para configurar a los Lou Ford y Nick Corey futuros; que ya tiene reminiscencias del desarrollo futuro de uno de sus temas más importantes: la escisión de la personalidad que tan bien analiza Polito en su biografía sobre el autor norteamericano:
“No estoy loco. No estoy ni asqueado ni furioso, quiero decir.
Solo estoy…
¿Cómo? ¿No puedes hablar un poco más alto, papá? Ya sé que siempre ha sido la costumbre… Pero aquí no hace falta que me hables en murmullos. Háblame con voz tonante, la misma que tanto efecto causaba en las salas del tribunal. Alza tu vozarrón como el estruendo que se eleva sobre el trueno de la perforadora de petróleo. Grita y ruge y golpea la mesa como si no pudieras porque le haremos una cara nueva a golpes, hasta dejarlo por muerto. Maldita sea su estampa.”
Como la mayoría de las primeras novelas, Thompson experimentó, buscaba su estilo y los temas que seguiría más adelante, se apoyó en los temas que vivía en primera persona para darle la estabilidad que necesitaba y conseguir una buena novela pero que todavía estaría lejos de sus grandes creaciones. Eso, sí es indudablemente interesante, a la luz de su biografía, para entender parte de vida del autor, imprescindible para entender el devenir de su literatura.
Los textos de estas dos obras provienen de la traducción del inglés de Antonio Padilla de “Libertad condicional”y “Aquí y ahora” de Jim Thompson para RBA.
Asesino-Burlon-Jim-ThompsonPara acabar, una obra, “Asesino Burlón” de la que solo tenemos una edición en España, la de Libro Amigo Policíaca de ediciones B del año 1988; una obra que no ha sido reeditada y es prácticamente inencontrable y donde encontramos una de sus cimas, sin lugar a dudas; encuadrada en su “época dorada” de creación y que entraría en la categoría de sus psicópatas a nivel de los ya mencionados de “Asesino dentro de mí” o “1280 almas”, la novela no solo se queda en esta caracterización psicológica que, ya de por sí, supone un logro; en las primeras páginas el propio Jim Thompson nos da pistas sobre lo “especial” que puede llegar a ser:
“-Bueno… sí –asentí-. Sí, es algo mío. Una especie de melodrama que estoy escribiendo en torno a los crímenes del Asesino Burlón. Supongo que confundirá por completo al lector de novelas policíacas, pero tal vez lo que necesita es precisamente que lo confundan. Quiza su sed de diversión lo lleve al terrible trabajo de pensar.”
Clinton Brown, el periodista del Clarion, es el epítome de psicópata que tan bien desarrolló Thompson, “la enfermedad” de Lou Ford en esta ocasión es un “doble sentido”, el juego de dicotomías refleja a la perfección este doble sentido, esta división de la personalidad que altera a nuestro protagonista; de fondo, como en otras obras, la guerra y más concretamente, la castración, con unas connotaciones ciertamente esclarecedoras:
“En ese momento estaba comenzando a sentir ese peculiar doble sentido que se me había manifestado con creciente intensidad y frecuencia en los últimos meses. Era una mezcla de calma y ansiedad, de resignación y rechazo furioso. Simultáneamente, yo deseaba emprenderla a golpes contra todo y no hacer absolutamente nada.”
El caso es que el propio Clinton (Brownie para los conocidos) ve en Lem Stukey, el jefe de detectives su “doppelganger”, ese contrario que es la extensión inconsciente de su personalidad escindida, “un hijo de puta” en sus propias palabras:
“Tal vez esté equivocado –me he equivocado con tantas cosas-, pero no recuerdo haber oído hablar jamás o conocido a un hijo de puta que no se las arreglara perfectamente bien. Estoy hablando, entiéndase bien, de verdaderos hijos de puta. De la variedad A, de doble destilación y calentada al vapor. Coges a un hombre así, un hijo de puta que no lucha contra ello –que sabe lo que es y se entrega de cuerpo y alma- y realmente tienes algo. Mejor dicho, él tiene algo. Él tiene todas las cosas que tú no puedes tener, como recompensa por no ser un hijo de puta. Por no ser como Lem Stukey, el jefe de Detectives del Departamento de Policía de Pacific City.”
Como comentaba anteriormente, esa castración, ocasionada por las consecuencias de la guerra le llevará a elegir entre sus víctimas a tres mujeres,; a la hora de matar a su exesposa seguimos comprobando, en una escena cargada de violencia, la caracterización de la personalidad de Clinton, esta vez unida al mayor vicio de Thompson, el alcohol:
“-No –dije-. No puedes y no lo harás.
Y estrellé la botella contra su cabeza.
Me quedé mirándola, mientras mi cabeza navegaba y yo me tambaleaba lentamente sobre mis pies. La humedad y el esfuerzo y la larga conversación me estaban desembriagando, y cuando estoy sereno me emborracho. Más borracho de lo que podría ponerme cualquier cantidad de whisky.”
Según va cometiendo asesinatos, va perdiendo el sentimiento de culpa ante las consecuencias de sus actos; la desesperación de sus actos perturbados le llevará a justificar sus actos de la manera más infame; su desequilibrio le lleva a crear un mundo de acuerdo a sus ideas, un mundo inconscientemente influido por el trauma de su castración:
“El problema me perturbaba solo de una manera muy lejana: bueno-debería-sentirme-avergonzado. En realidad, no sentía ninguna culpa. Con Ellen sí. Lo lamentaba sinceramente en el caso de Ellen. Y, ciertamente, lo sentía mucho más en el caso de Deborah. Pero no me asaltaba ningún remordimiento en el caso de Constance. Ella no hubiese continuado viviendo como ellas lo hubieran hecho, de no mediar mi intervención. En Constance no había vida, solo flema y avaricia, ¿y cómo se puede quitar la vida cuando no existe?”
En este mundo nada es lo que parece, el sorprendente final, del que no hablaré, nos revela la subversión de la propuesta, lo enrevesado de la situación, ese maestro que es el gran Jim Thompson en una de sus propuestas más arriesgadas y posiblemente peor entendidas.
Los textos provienen de la traducción del inglés de Gerardo Di Masso para “Asesino Burlón” de Jim Thompson.
Una recopilación de novelas de Jim Thompson. La escisión de la identidad
Aprovechando que acabo de terminar la biografía del escritor norteamericano, una joya de la que tendréis noticias en este blog en no mucho tiempo; se me ocurrió la posibilidad de hacer un pequeño monográfico con las obras que me quedaban por leer del escritor; ha valido mucho la pena, sobre todo porque gracias al análisis de la biografía, es indudable que ayudan a disfrutarlas mucho más.
La primera de ellas ha sido la última que ha sacado RBA en su serie negra, “Libertad Condicional”, obra encuadrada históricamente tras el que fue su primer gran éxito, esa obra maestra que es “El asesino dentro de mí”, esta influencia y la atracción del cine serán decisivas en el resultado final.
Partiendo de una buena idea, se nos presenta un presidio, Sandstone, donde el convicto Pat Cosgrove malvive, pero que, sin embargo, verá la posibilidad de salir gracias a la ayuda aparentemente desinteresada de Doc Luther, obteniendo la libertad condicional para trabajar con él, librándolo de un verdadero infierno:
“Luther creía estar acostumbrado a las aberraciones. Pero con Sandstone era imposible no escandalizarse. Sandstone no era una cárcel. Era una casa de locos en la que quien estaba loco era el director, y no los inquilinos. En Sandstone tan sólo había una forma de sobrevivir: llegar a ser más duro y más retorcido que el propio director. Si lo hacías -si conseguías caerle en gracia al hombre con los ojos extraordinariamente brillantes y la risa impredecible-, no sólo sobrevivías, sino que lo hacías con relativa comodidad. “
Es evidente, para nosotros, los lectores, que salir en estas condiciones tiene que tener un precio, pero el plan de Doc Luther no es evidente; es la espera, esa potencial amenaza, la que sostiene la narración. Según avanza, la desconfianza de Cosgrove será cada vez mayor:
“-¿Y no conocía nada a esa persona que le consiguió su libertad condicional… Que la compró por así decirlo?
-Exacto.
-Pues tiene usted razón, señor Cosgrove. Tiene motivos más que sobrados para desconfiar. A esa persona le hubiera resultado igual de barato y fácil conseguir que le concedieran el indulto. Con el indulto, usted podría haberse ido donde quisiera… Lejos de la periferia de su benefactor. Esa persona no tiene nada de benefactor. Esa persona no tiene nada de filántropa.”
No faltarán mujeres fatales, dobles juegos, traiciones… que llevarán a desentrañar la trama final desde el punto de vista de Cosgrove, verdadero narrador (excepto en el capítulo inicial que narra Luther) y afectado por los acontecimientos. Thompson no era un dechado de virtudes a la hora de plantear las tramas, la resolución resulta farragosa; el final feliz, desacostumbrado en el caso de Thompson, estuvo muy influenciado por la querencia del autor por conseguir un contrato con Hollywood para alguna de sus novelas. Aprovechar el éxito de su anterior novela parecía una buena oportunidad. La pena es que la novela se resiente mucho por esta circunstancia.
aqui_y_ahora_300x459“Aquí y ahora” fue la ópera prima del autor; publicada en 1942, recoge muchos elementos autobiográficos aunque no se atreviera a poner exactamente los nombres de las personas de su entorno; sin embargo, eran perfectamente distinguibles entre las historias que nos relata el autor como cuando se refiere a sus hermanas y a la situación de pobreza en la que subsistían, alentada por el abandono de su padre:
“Margaret –mi hermana mayor- y yo sobrevivíamos gracias a la caridad de los vecinos, mientras que mamá apenas probaba bocado. Así que la única que necesitaba verdaderos cuidados era Frankie. Por desgracia, la pequeña no podía alimentarse de las sobras ajenas y mamá tampoco podía amamantarla. A todo esto, solo nos quedaban cincuenta centavos.”
No es la infancia de Thompson una de esas “misery memoirs” ficcionales donde el protagonista es maltratado, violado, etc.., pero sí es bien cierto que la influencia de su padre fue muy negativa para el desarrollo de su personalidad y de su propia vida y lo podemos comprobar en el texto:
“¿Y qué? –me dije-. ¿Es que en algún momento fuiste feliz? ¿Es que alguna vez te sentiste en paz contigo mismo? Pues claro que no –me respondí-. Está clarísimo que no, nunca dejaste de sentirte habitante del infierno. La única diferencia es que ahora has caído un poco más bajo. Y vas a seguir deslizándote por la pendiente, porque eres igualito a tu padre. Eres tu propio padre, aunque careces de su determinación y su fuerza de voluntad. De aquí a un año o dos acabarán encerrándote igual que a él.”
También su obsesión por la escritura y las consecuencias de su mercantilización aparecerán en varias ocasiones a lo largo de la novela para mostrar las inseguridades de un escritor que tuvo que luchar mucho consigo mismo a la hora de crear:
“A mí me daba igual vender los derechos de la narración o no. De hecho, prefería que nadie la adquiriera. Sabía que si la vendía, me perseguirían para que escribiera un nuevo cuento por el estilo, cuento que sería todavía peor. Y la constante certeza de que me estaba dejando llevar por lo facilón bastaría para aniquilar en mí incluso ese último y débil afán de expresarme mediante la escritura.”
“-No sé cómo explicarlo –dije-. Lo más seguro es que nunca sea capaz de explicarme, ni aunque escriba un libro.”
Quizá el mayor logro sea ese diálogo hipotético que realiza con el padre fallecido durante todo un capítulo, hay aquí un presagio de esta lucha interior psicológica que le servirá para configurar a los Lou Ford y Nick Corey futuros; que ya tiene reminiscencias del desarrollo futuro de uno de sus temas más importantes: la escisión de la personalidad que tan bien analiza Polito en su biografía sobre el autor norteamericano:
“No estoy loco. No estoy ni asqueado ni furioso, quiero decir.
Solo estoy…
¿Cómo? ¿No puedes hablar un poco más alto, papá? Ya sé que siempre ha sido la costumbre… Pero aquí no hace falta que me hables en murmullos. Háblame con voz tonante, la misma que tanto efecto causaba en las salas del tribunal. Alza tu vozarrón como el estruendo que se eleva sobre el trueno de la perforadora de petróleo. Grita y ruge y golpea la mesa como si no pudieras porque le haremos una cara nueva a golpes, hasta dejarlo por muerto. Maldita sea su estampa.”
Como la mayoría de las primeras novelas, Thompson experimentó, buscaba su estilo y los temas que seguiría más adelante, se apoyó en los temas que vivía en primera persona para darle la estabilidad que necesitaba y conseguir una buena novela pero que todavía estaría lejos de sus grandes creaciones. Eso, sí es indudablemente interesante, a la luz de su biografía, para entender parte de vida del autor, imprescindible para entender el devenir de su literatura.
Los textos de estas dos obras provienen de la traducción del inglés de Antonio Padilla de “Libertad condicional”y “Aquí y ahora” de Jim Thompson para RBA.
Asesino-Burlon-Jim-ThompsonPara acabar, una obra, “Asesino Burlón” de la que solo tenemos una edición en España, la de Libro Amigo Policíaca de ediciones B del año 1988; una obra que no ha sido reeditada y es prácticamente inencontrable y donde encontramos una de sus cimas, sin lugar a dudas; encuadrada en su “época dorada” de creación y que entraría en la categoría de sus psicópatas a nivel de los ya mencionados de “Asesino dentro de mí” o “1280 almas”, la novela no solo se queda en esta caracterización psicológica que, ya de por sí, supone un logro; en las primeras páginas el propio Jim Thompson nos da pistas sobre lo “especial” que puede llegar a ser:
“-Bueno… sí –asentí-. Sí, es algo mío. Una especie de melodrama que estoy escribiendo en torno a los crímenes del Asesino Burlón. Supongo que confundirá por completo al lector de novelas policíacas, pero tal vez lo que necesita es precisamente que lo confundan. Quiza su sed de diversión lo lleve al terrible trabajo de pensar.”
Clinton Brown, el periodista del Clarion, es el epítome de psicópata que tan bien desarrolló Thompson, “la enfermedad” de Lou Ford en esta ocasión es un “doble sentido”, el juego de dicotomías refleja a la perfección este doble sentido, esta división de la personalidad que altera a nuestro protagonista; de fondo, como en otras obras, la guerra y más concretamente, la castración, con unas connotaciones ciertamente esclarecedoras:
“En ese momento estaba comenzando a sentir ese peculiar doble sentido que se me había manifestado con creciente intensidad y frecuencia en los últimos meses. Era una mezcla de calma y ansiedad, de resignación y rechazo furioso. Simultáneamente, yo deseaba emprenderla a golpes contra todo y no hacer absolutamente nada.”
El caso es que el propio Clinton (Brownie para los conocidos) ve en Lem Stukey, el jefe de detectives su “doppelganger”, ese contrario que es la extensión inconsciente de su personalidad escindida, “un hijo de puta” en sus propias palabras:
“Tal vez esté equivocado –me he equivocado con tantas cosas-, pero no recuerdo haber oído hablar jamás o conocido a un hijo de puta que no se las arreglara perfectamente bien. Estoy hablando, entiéndase bien, de verdaderos hijos de puta. De la variedad A, de doble destilación y calentada al vapor. Coges a un hombre así, un hijo de puta que no lucha contra ello –que sabe lo que es y se entrega de cuerpo y alma- y realmente tienes algo. Mejor dicho, él tiene algo. Él tiene todas las cosas que tú no puedes tener, como recompensa por no ser un hijo de puta. Por no ser como Lem Stukey, el jefe de Detectives del Departamento de Policía de Pacific City.”
Como comentaba anteriormente, esa castración, ocasionada por las consecuencias de la guerra le llevará a elegir entre sus víctimas a tres mujeres,; a la hora de matar a su exesposa seguimos comprobando, en una escena cargada de violencia, la caracterización de la personalidad de Clinton, esta vez unida al mayor vicio de Thompson, el alcohol:
“-No –dije-. No puedes y no lo harás.
Y estrellé la botella contra su cabeza.
Me quedé mirándola, mientras mi cabeza navegaba y yo me tambaleaba lentamente sobre mis pies. La humedad y el esfuerzo y la larga conversación me estaban desembriagando, y cuando estoy sereno me emborracho. Más borracho de lo que podría ponerme cualquier cantidad de whisky.”
Según va cometiendo asesinatos, va perdiendo el sentimiento de culpa ante las consecuencias de sus actos; la desesperación de sus actos perturbados le llevará a justificar sus actos de la manera más infame; su desequilibrio le lleva a crear un mundo de acuerdo a sus ideas, un mundo inconscientemente influido por el trauma de su castración:
“El problema me perturbaba solo de una manera muy lejana: bueno-debería-sentirme-avergonzado. En realidad, no sentía ninguna culpa. Con Ellen sí. Lo lamentaba sinceramente en el caso de Ellen. Y, ciertamente, lo sentía mucho más en el caso de Deborah. Pero no me asaltaba ningún remordimiento en el caso de Constance. Ella no hubiese continuado viviendo como ellas lo hubieran hecho, de no mediar mi intervención. En Constance no había vida, solo flema y avaricia, ¿y cómo se puede quitar la vida cuando no existe?”
En este mundo nada es lo que parece, el sorprendente final, del que no hablaré, nos revela la subversión de la propuesta, lo enrevesado de la situación, ese maestro que es el gran Jim Thompson en una de sus propuestas más arriesgadas y posiblemente peor entendidas.
Los textos provienen de la traducción del inglés de Gerardo Di Masso para “Asesino Burlón” de Jim Thompson.
August 10, 2021
Well, I didn't expect a book from Jim Thompson to be so...pleasant(?). Normally he's looking at humanity with a very dim view, especially his protagonists. But here he really saves his axe to grind not so much on individual people, but political institutions in an unnamed midwest state, where politicians hide their corruption and greed behind starting culture wars to keep themselves perpetually in office...nothing like today! Here we have the protagonist Patrick Cosgrove caught up in the machinery of said system. However the writing here wasn't as crisp as Thompson displays in his upper tier novels (Pop. 1280, The Grifters, A Hell of a Woman) and the impact suffers for it. Also he really pulls the ending out of nearly nowhere. Another fun beach read however!
January 30, 2020
Yet another above-average crime novel although this one is slightly different than the other Thompson novels I have read recently. Not wanting to be a spoiler, all I will say is that not every Thompson novel ends with the protagonist gunned down or in prison.
Well worth a read.
Well worth a read.
April 14, 2025
J'avoue avoir été emprisonné dans les toiles de ce mystère comme Pat a vécu les horreurs de la prison de Sandstone. L'énigme de ce roman policier, qui n'est d'abord pas celle d'un meurtre (ça viendra ensuite), est toute aussi intrigante que complexe. J'avoue n'avoir eu aucune idée de sa solution jusqu'à la fin, au moment de la "grande révélation". Au lecteur qui voudra tenter de résoudre le mystère de ce roman, les indices qui permettront d'atteindre une conclusion sont tous présents... Il suffit de mettre un bout après l'autre !
Bon Jim Thompson, le premier qui m'a été donné de lire.
Bon Jim Thompson, le premier qui m'a été donné de lire.
June 23, 2018
Classic Jim Thompson. Probably not in his top 10 but I'm sentimental about this one as it was the first Black Lizard book I read, which sent me on a long journey into the weird and wonderful world of hardboiled crime. I've never regretted an afternoon spent with Mr. Thompson.
December 3, 2011
For those of you who may need a refresher or a cluing in, Jim Thompson is the brains behind the books The Grifters, Pop. 1280, The Killer Inside Me, and The Getaway. He also wrote the screenplays for The Killing, and Paths of Glory. I recently read Pop. 1280 and rather liked it, but Recoil, which I couldn't have finished more than five minutes ago, was really great. I will refrain from too much exposition for fear of spoiling the element of surprise, but Recoil follows a paroled con through a labyrinthine mess of shady characters with murky motives in a way only the greatest noir does--unpredictably. Sixty-five years later it reads like it could have been written today, with its protagonist being just hard enough to do whatever it takes to not be a pawn but being just a step behind where he needs to be. The book reads faster than this entry--which I'm cutting off here--but Thompson's hard-boiled prose will burn your eyes into used lumps of charcoal, and that's a lot better than you can usually hope for.
Post Script: While finishing the book and writing this entry, I was watching Brick. If for some fucking reason you didn't see Brick, get your shit together and get a hold of it. It's been on the movie channels lately, but it's a great modernization of the noir genre starring the superb Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Originally reviewed at http://inconsiderateprick.blogspot.co...
Post Script: While finishing the book and writing this entry, I was watching Brick. If for some fucking reason you didn't see Brick, get your shit together and get a hold of it. It's been on the movie channels lately, but it's a great modernization of the noir genre starring the superb Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Originally reviewed at http://inconsiderateprick.blogspot.co...
March 9, 2011
I've read a lot of Jim Thompson ... he's right up there with my favourite authors.
However, this is the first time, that I'd have to describe one of his books as being mediocre.
It is unusual in one aspect. If you don't want me to spoil the ending for you, don't read any further.
For others who have read the book, I can't think of any other Thompson novel that involves a positive outcome for the main character.
I've had a few drinks today, so please correct me if I am wrong.
November 23, 2016
A regular Joe realizes he's being made the fall guy and tries his best to unravel the set-up before he takes the fall. I love these types of stories and this one delighted me because it's framed inside the mind of an unusually paranoid fellow. Definitely a page-turner, many of the short chapters end on the proverbial cliff--almost to the point of absurdity. I love a good page-turner though and this did not disappoint.
I recently read Savage Night by Thompson and that book is much more subtle and somehow much more dark than this one and I'd have to recommend it first!
I recently read Savage Night by Thompson and that book is much more subtle and somehow much more dark than this one and I'd have to recommend it first!
May 10, 2014
Recoil by Jim Thompson
Why would a powerful political insider help a man in prison obtain parole? Could it be out of the goodness of his heart? Or, could there be an ulterior motive? And, is that possible motive be personal or political? This is just what happens in this 1953 neo-noir suspenseful story of corruption.
How can Patrick Cosgrove, a fairly innocent convict (I know how contradictory that sounds) understand and combat the machinations of a powerful man?
The story is a bit dated, but the suspense is kept high, and the reader confused. Always a good thing.
Why would a powerful political insider help a man in prison obtain parole? Could it be out of the goodness of his heart? Or, could there be an ulterior motive? And, is that possible motive be personal or political? This is just what happens in this 1953 neo-noir suspenseful story of corruption.
How can Patrick Cosgrove, a fairly innocent convict (I know how contradictory that sounds) understand and combat the machinations of a powerful man?
The story is a bit dated, but the suspense is kept high, and the reader confused. Always a good thing.
February 23, 2013
This Jim Thompson book stands out among the ones I've read so far. It's more like a Raymond Chandler story with the acidic dialouge, and it's very noir. The introduction of several women gradually makes the story more complex. I can't help to think that he might ironically have hinted at for someone to please make a movie out of this, based on the existence of a resolution and smirky summation at the end. Fun shit.
August 25, 2012
I love Jim Thompson's books. It's hard to find a - better yet, here's what the New Republic had written about him: "Read Jim Thompson and take a tour of hell."
November 4, 2019
"Recoil" is an odd one: Thompson's prose is, predictably, sharp and the story flows at a nice, smooth, alcohol-like pace as it sets up Pat Cosgrove, taken from a prison stint that could've eventually lead to death, and placed back in the crime-infested world from which he had taken himself out of, ten years prior, when he committed possibly the most pathetic bank robbery in all of fiction. But why did this one man spring him free? And this man's wife, and those other off-beat characters, what are they planning for Pat? It's all revealed in a neat little confrontation pages before the novel ends. The issues with "Recoil" are not that "nothing happens for long stretches of time", that's a nonsensical argument, is half of goodreads implying Dostoevsky's work would be better were he to include a bunch of thrilling, but unimportant, bits before he arrived events large enough to grip the reader from the author setting up a place and a cast of characters? Thompson does that here, but that's not the problem with "Recoil" - the problem is, as much as it's easy to finish in a sitting without ever being bored, the story, the scheme against our hero, doesn't add up to much. Along the way there's some truly suspenseful scenes, some alluring portions with the female characters, and a decent amount of humour, but that Thompson bite feels as though it's working through a muzzle, and as rotten as the characters are, as freely they'll backstab the innocent, and as dire as the protagonists situation starts out as and then arises to be, I never felt the Thompson assault--there's little in the way of probing the psychological and even if there were, the character's don't seem as though they're all that complex inside; the prose, clean and smooth, doesn't cross the line into being dangerous; and the fate of the lead character, even the supporting ones, is quite neutered compared to his other works. What "Recoil" reads like is the script to an entertaining and little seen noir movie that's fun for a night watch but won't lodge in the mind as anything spectacular. It's unfortunate, as Thompson lined up enough pieces here to do a hell of a lot of damage to, had ample time to open up their wounds, and could've given the reader more in the way of twists than the all-too-brief and rather predictable ending he wrote here. A missed opportunity, not an awful novel by a long shot, a book that should be read by every Thompson fan, but if it's the reader's first shot at his work, do not let this novel fool you: there is almost too much great stuff written by this man that should be checked out of the library instantly.
June 12, 2020
I liked this one better when it was Wild Town.
The Year of Jim Thompson continues and I’m reminded that an author’s lesser works are considered “lesser” for a reason. While you can occasionally find a diamond in the rough, for the most part, they probably deserve to stay in a lower tier of rankings.
This one isn’t nearly as bad as The Alcoholics, it’s just a recycled plot: ex-con leaves prison, finds work with shady folks, hijinks ensue. These hijinks are entertaining and, in true Thompson fashion, occasionally hilarious but nothing unfamiliar. It plays to the strengths of Thompson’s weltanschaung: lower class guys getting manipulated by powerful men. But again, there’s not much else to it.
The big problem with this one is Thompson, for whom plotting has never been a strong suit, tries to cram a 300 page noir-ish mystery/survival novel into 175 pages. It’s dense with plot and shifting character motives but it’s too packed to enjoy untangling. Granted, you don’t really read Thompson for his plots as much as you do his characters and the metaphysics. But this is a more streamlined crime tale than most, only the characterization isn’t. There were multiple times I got male and female characters confused and I read most of this in one sitting.
But it’s still Thompson so it entertains nonetheless. And the ending is one of his better ones, though I don’t want to spoil why. I liked this book well enough, I suppose but I’m already forgetting it. Such is life.
The Year of Jim Thompson continues and I’m reminded that an author’s lesser works are considered “lesser” for a reason. While you can occasionally find a diamond in the rough, for the most part, they probably deserve to stay in a lower tier of rankings.
This one isn’t nearly as bad as The Alcoholics, it’s just a recycled plot: ex-con leaves prison, finds work with shady folks, hijinks ensue. These hijinks are entertaining and, in true Thompson fashion, occasionally hilarious but nothing unfamiliar. It plays to the strengths of Thompson’s weltanschaung: lower class guys getting manipulated by powerful men. But again, there’s not much else to it.
The big problem with this one is Thompson, for whom plotting has never been a strong suit, tries to cram a 300 page noir-ish mystery/survival novel into 175 pages. It’s dense with plot and shifting character motives but it’s too packed to enjoy untangling. Granted, you don’t really read Thompson for his plots as much as you do his characters and the metaphysics. But this is a more streamlined crime tale than most, only the characterization isn’t. There were multiple times I got male and female characters confused and I read most of this in one sitting.
But it’s still Thompson so it entertains nonetheless. And the ending is one of his better ones, though I don’t want to spoil why. I liked this book well enough, I suppose but I’m already forgetting it. Such is life.
December 1, 2017
This book drew me in and kept me reading, wanting to know the secret the main character was trying to discover. Pat Cosgrave, a small time convict, is paroled to a man he knows nothing about for seemingly no reason by the kindness of his heart. Right from the beginning, things are strange, and soon Cosgrave realizes the man intends to use him in some kind of scheme. He struggles to figure out what that scheme is before it's too late.
This was overall a really good book, but it had two flaws that keep me from giving it 5 stars. Number one, I found it completely unrealistic that Hardesty handed him the gun, when it was obvious he might do whatever he wanted with it, other than killing Doc. Anyone could have anticipated he would turn the gun on all three of them. I don't think Hardesty would have been that stupid.
And Madeline's off screen metamorphosis from a scheming liar to one of the "good guys" is unrealistic too. We are supposed to assume that all along she had been reporting the plot to the authorities. I had no liking for her as a character, and did not see why Cosgrave was interested in her anyway, and the whole thing just didn't ring true for me.
This was overall a really good book, but it had two flaws that keep me from giving it 5 stars. Number one, I found it completely unrealistic that Hardesty handed him the gun, when it was obvious he might do whatever he wanted with it, other than killing Doc. Anyone could have anticipated he would turn the gun on all three of them. I don't think Hardesty would have been that stupid.
And Madeline's off screen metamorphosis from a scheming liar to one of the "good guys" is unrealistic too. We are supposed to assume that all along she had been reporting the plot to the authorities. I had no liking for her as a character, and did not see why Cosgrave was interested in her anyway, and the whole thing just didn't ring true for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2020
For a Thompson novel, Recoil is surprisingly.... normal? Especially for one penned between The Killer Inside Me and Savage Night.
The premise is interesting enough. A bank robber in the midst of a ten to life stretch is paroled upon the request of a benefactor with motives all his own. Our parolee narrator spends much of the novel figuring out why he was released and to what end he was to play in any further schemes.
Thompson is always at his best when he really goes inside his narrator’s head. There’s moments of it here, but it left me wishing there was more. Our protagonist, Patrick Cosgrove, seems like a nice young man who got railroaded into a prison term he didn’t quite deserve. But then he recalls the day of his crime, you start to see that Pat may not be an angel after all. There’s a few other moments where Cosgrove’s mind wanders and we see a glimpse into a budding sociopath.
There’s danger to almost be had at times, but the plot and its resolution don’t age well. The details of the final con are murky and there’s more exposition than you’d expect from a Jim Thompson climax.
Probably closer to a 2 or a 2.5, but I just can’t do that to Jim.
The premise is interesting enough. A bank robber in the midst of a ten to life stretch is paroled upon the request of a benefactor with motives all his own. Our parolee narrator spends much of the novel figuring out why he was released and to what end he was to play in any further schemes.
Thompson is always at his best when he really goes inside his narrator’s head. There’s moments of it here, but it left me wishing there was more. Our protagonist, Patrick Cosgrove, seems like a nice young man who got railroaded into a prison term he didn’t quite deserve. But then he recalls the day of his crime, you start to see that Pat may not be an angel after all. There’s a few other moments where Cosgrove’s mind wanders and we see a glimpse into a budding sociopath.
There’s danger to almost be had at times, but the plot and its resolution don’t age well. The details of the final con are murky and there’s more exposition than you’d expect from a Jim Thompson climax.
Probably closer to a 2 or a 2.5, but I just can’t do that to Jim.
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October 21, 2021Hardesty is my favorite character. :]
[Hardesty] stirred his coffee, thoughtfully, smiling his warm, confident smile. “Quite the little fracas we had yesterday, eh, Pat?”
“I’m sorry about that,” I said. “I’ll see that nothing of the kind happens again.”
“Oh, I’m not blaming you for it. But I couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed with Doc. After all, I did just about as much work on your parole as he did. He should have told you about me beforehand.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said carefully.
“One serious misstep, something of the kind that happened yesterday, for example, and Doc or no one else could save you from going back to Sandstone. For that matter, Doc himself…”
“Yes?” I said.
“Oh, well, I probably shouldn’t say anything like that.”
[Hardesty] stirred his coffee, thoughtfully, smiling his warm, confident smile. “Quite the little fracas we had yesterday, eh, Pat?”
“I’m sorry about that,” I said. “I’ll see that nothing of the kind happens again.”
“Oh, I’m not blaming you for it. But I couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed with Doc. After all, I did just about as much work on your parole as he did. He should have told you about me beforehand.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said carefully.
“One serious misstep, something of the kind that happened yesterday, for example, and Doc or no one else could save you from going back to Sandstone. For that matter, Doc himself…”
“Yes?” I said.
“Oh, well, I probably shouldn’t say anything like that.”
August 7, 2020
Another great little page turner from Thompson. One that has an undercurrent of anxiety, just enough to make you keep going with it. The characters are likably unlikeable. The plot is lean and twisty. And the language is deliciously typical Thompson 50’s crime story. I wish washed over stars for this because on a spectrum, his best books are 5’s and they aren’t all fantastic but even the lesser ones are really good and worth a read. This, incidentally, is not among his best but I sure like it. Will continue reading this author til I get through them all!
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