Back Spin (novel)

In Back Spin, sports agent Myron Bolitar is called on to investigate the kidnapping of Chad Coldren, son of two professional golfers, while Chad's father Jack is well on his way to winning the U.S. Open. Myron is drawn into a plot that goes back to the last time Jack Coldren nearly won the U.S. Open, twenty-three years ago. Myron's investigations suddenly shift when Jack Coldren is murdered and Chad is released. Finally, Myron traces the murder to Jack's wife Linda, who shot him because he could not succumb to the kidnappers' real demands, that he throw the U.S. Open.

As the story opens, Myron is attending the U.S. Open. Jack Coldren is unexpectedly leading, and promising newcomer Tad Crispin is in second place. Jack's wife Linda, a professional golfer as well, asks Myron for help. Their son has been kidnapped. Myron agrees to help, even though his friend and business associate Win refuses to assist because Linda is his first cousin, related to Win's estranged mother. The kidnappers phone twice without making specific demands. Meanwhile, Myron learns that Chad used his ATM card at a cash machine near a sleazy motel. At first, Myron suspects that Chad might be pulling a hoax, but he soon learns that one of the kidnappers is a neo-Nazi thug.

Slowly, Myron uncovers possible suspects. Jack's former caddy, Lloyd Rennart, who Jack blamed for his loss at the U.S. Open years ago, has disappeared. He's possibly committed suicide, but he could be out for revenge. Esme Fong has signed Tad Crispin as a spokesman for a new line of golf clothes, and if Jack loses, her ad campaign will be a success. Chad's best friend's father is a rich crook, and Jack has a mysterious argument with his female caddy.

The kidnappers send Chad's severed finger to Linda, and Myron is horrified. Then, he tracks down the neo-Nazi and finds that he's been murdered. The next thing Myron knows, Jack has been murdered, too. Then, the kidnappers release Chad, leaving Myron with unanswered questions. Jack's wife Linda is arrested, and her lawyer makes Myron an attorney of record to protect her.

Myron learns that Esme is really Rennart's daughter from his first marriage, and she kidnapped Chad to make sure Jack lost the U.S. Open. After Tito, the neo-Nazi, cut off Chad's finger, Esme killed him. Myron turns Esme over to the police. Myron realizes that there's more to the story, though. Jack knew that the kidnappers wanted him to lose the U.S. Open, but he kept winning anyway. When his wife Linda found out, she killed him to save her son. As Linda's attorney, Myron can't go to the police, and Linda will likely never be brought to justice for her husband's murder.

Win talks to Myron about the drive to win that he sees in Jack Coldren. Win sees this drive as something negative, a force that causes professional athletes to put themselves above all others and neglect their personal lives and those who love them. He believes that Myron had this drive as a professional basketball player. The force of competition activates this desire. Myron doesn't believe that the drive to win is a bad thing. He sees pushing for success as noble.

Jack's drive to win makes him endanger his own son, though. Jack refuses to lose, even though his son has been kidnapped. Even after receiving his son's severed finger, Jack cannot let himself lose. He makes a nearly impossible put to tie the game. After he talks to the kidnappers again, Jack promises to lose, but he knows that he will not be able to hold himself to that promise. His wife knows it, too. Linda ultimately kills Jack, not out of revenge or hatred, but to squelch his overpowering drive to win.

The events of the story support Win's view of the drive to win, showing that the author sees the negative aspects of intense competition. After all, the U.S. Open is only a golf game. Winning it brings money, fame, and career opportunities, but when weighed against the life of a son, few people would do what Jack did. Jack's extraordinary competitive drive ends up being his own downfall.

Myron investigates crime, and he brings criminals to justice. The question of what is just is a complex one, though. Myron has Esme arrested for kidnapping and murder, but she believes that she was only seeking justice. Through Jack Coldren's actions, her father was ruined and her mother died. Esme wants Jack to pay for what he did. Like Myron, she seeks justice on her own.

Win also seeks justice. He takes untraceable Chevy cars and goes trolling through the bad areas of cities to find criminals. Then, he makes the criminals pay for their actions. Myron's point of view of this vigilante justice is ambiguous. He is opposed to it, but Esperanza points out that what Win does is not too far removed from what Myron does. The only difference is that Win is picking the crimes and criminals to attack. Myron uses almost any means, including torture, threats, and lies, to get what he wants. Are his means just? Myron implies that Win's nighttime activities are sinister, but Win only lets out that he reported where a molester buried two bodies, bringing him to justice.

Ultimately, Myron puts his own idea of justice above societal justice. He turns in Esme, but he lets Linda go, although he knows that she killed her husband. He risks disbarment if he turns on Linda.

The setting of professional golf and the ritzy Merion golf course create an atmosphere of riches. The golfing world is elite and well-off. This is contrasted with the criminal elements that Myron faces, including the neo-Nazi Tito. The picture is complicated by the presence of minorities, and they joke about discrimination. Norm is Jewish, and he receives awkward glances at the golf course clubhouse. Esperanza is Hispanic, and she is not the type that usually heads into Win's expensive neighborhood, except as a housekeeper. Victoria is black, and her parents were servants. Carl is also black, a different kind of servant of a rich criminal.

Both racial and socioeconomic discrimination pervade the story. The criminals who escape without punishment are all well-off white people. Matt's father is insane and incompetent, and yet he's a wealthy and successful criminal. Win's mother bribed a caddy to make Jack Coldren lose the U.S. Open, and yet she is not punished and takes the secret to her grave. Linda is rich and white, and she can afford a high-powered attorney, the child of her family's servants, who is still serving in a servile capacity, although in a more white-collar field. Linda is unlikely to ever go to jail for killing her husband.

Esme Fong, however well-off she is, is still a half-Asian woman. She is the daughter of a former caddy and has no wealthy family. She is a kidnapper, and she killed Tito. Are her crimes truly worse than Cissy and Linda's? Like Cissy, she seeks what she thinks is just private vengeance. Like Linda, she kills in a situation where she believes it is necessary. Still, she is turned over to the police and will likely be in jail for life.

The novel is told from Myron's point of view, by a third-person semi-omniscient narrator. Although he is a sports agent, Myron's real role in the story is that of a detective. Having the reader experience the story inside Myron's head allows the reader to become the detective. As Myron unravels clues, the reader slowly learns what is happening as well. The reader learns Myron's theories and speculations as he recounts them to himself.

At one point during the novel, the narrative point of view leaves Myron. The story follows Esperanza instead, when she goes into the neo-Nazis' dive hangout. At this point, Esperanza becomes the lead investigator, going into danger to find out evidence. The reader doesn't follow Esperanza when she's researching on the Internet or at the library. The element of danger makes it important for the reader to follow her into the bar, because the situation will create suspense and excitement. Myron follows the action through the open phone line, and the reader follows through Esperanza's point of view.

The setting is among the golf world, at Merion's golf course in Philadelphia, during the U.S. Open championship. The sports setting allows the author to address the theme of the drive to win at all costs and sets high stakes for the characters in the form of the U.S. Open championship, a career-making event. The U.S. Open going on in the background provides tension. The reader follows along with Jack's dramatic winning streak and waits to find out whether he will lose his lead.

The golf setting explains how Myron, a sports agent, gets involved in the drama, but it also makes him a fish out of water. Golf is not Myron's game. He feels very uncomfortable in the wealthy setting and on the golf course. He is a basketball player, and he finds the outlandish clothing and the behaviour of the golf fans inexplicable. This adds a touch of humour to the story, as well. Only at the end of the story does Myron seem to begin to understand the allure of playing golf.

The city of Philadelphia also provides a backdrop of long-standing wealthy families like Win as well as rampant poverty and ethnic diversity, allowing the author to explore the theme of discrimination. Not too far from the exclusive golf course and club, Myron finds a sleazy by-the-hour motel and a backwards neo-Nazi criminal. The wealthy go to the low-class neighbourhoods to have illicit affairs, and the criminals come to the wealthy neighbourhoods in the employ of the criminal idle rich.