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Recoil
Jim Thompson Book Review

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Plot Summary of Recoil
"RECOIL is a book written in 1953 by Jim Thompson.

Thanks to Doc who has accepted to hire him, Pat Cosgrove can get out of the prison he's serving a 15 years term in for armed robbery. Pat will spend the next weeks trying to discover the reason why Doc wants to help him. He soon realizes that everybody seems to know why even his new girlfriend, doc's secretary, who, in spite of her love, refuses to speak to him. Pat will even hire a private detective who suggests to him to be careful because Doc could have prepared a life insurance fraud with him, Pat, as a main character. "

Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Recoil
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30%




Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story: - 1930's-1950's
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - seduction/blackmail - escape/deal with prison - white collar fraud or theft
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - doctor
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - bulging muscles

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Texas
City? Yes
City: - rude people
Misc setting - prison

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 1
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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