"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.
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
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
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