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J T Nicholas
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Re-Coil Kindle Edition

by J.T. Nicholas (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 232 ratings
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The Expanse meets Altered Carbon in this breakneck science fiction thriller where immortality is theoretically achievable, yet identity, gender and selfhood are very much in jeopardy...

Carter Langston is murdered whilst salvaging a derelict vessel--a major inconvenience as he's downloaded into a brand-new body on the space station where he backed up, several weeks' journey away. But events quickly slip out of control when an assassin breaks into the medbay and tries to finish the job.

Death no longer holds sway over a humanity that has spread across the solar system: consciousness can be placed in a new body, or coil, straight after death, giving people the potential for immortality. Yet Carter's backups--supposedly secure--have been damaged, his crew are missing, and everything points back to the derelict that should have been a simple salvage mission.

With enemies in hot pursuit, Carter tracks down his last crewmate--re-coiled after death into a body she cannot stand--to delve deeper into a mystery that threatens humanity and identity as they have come to know it.
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  1. Print length
    244 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Titan Books
  5. Publication date
    March 3, 2020
  6. File size
    1570 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fascinating take on life extension treatments that goes beyond 'nifty idea' to deal with the consequences,  combined with a vividly written action-adventure.”  Elizabeth Moon

"Re-Coil is a slow-burn thriller that heats up to an intriguing set up of a transhumanist future and corporate skulduggery.” Glynn Stewart

"Perfect for fans of Altered Carbon.” Gareth L. Powell

"Re-Coil is an intriguing and fast-moving mix of bio-tech and space opera." L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

“A thriller and a thinker that’s as much sci-fun as sci-fi.” The Sunday Sport Review

“This non-stop action thriller pits workers against corporations and knows which side it’s on.” Morning Star

"A classic story of a cover-up, told in a fun, fast-paced way... Fans of James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series will enjoy this tale of high-tech mystery and shifting loyalties." Booklist Review

"Readers will be drawn in by the compassionate characters and captivating premise." Publishers Weekly

“This is a story that kicks off at breakneck speed... A compelling, multi-layered sci-fi tale.” Culturefly

About the Author

J.T. Nicholas was born in Virginia, though was quickly moved to Stuttgart, Germany. Thus began the long journey of the military brat, hopping from country to country and accumulating nearly thirty locations. This taught him that regardless of where one finds oneself, people were largely the same. He currently resides in North Carolina with his wife.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07VH81DXN
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books (March 3, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 3, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1570 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 232 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
J T Nicholas

J T Nicholas

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J.T. Nicholas is the author of the science fiction novels Stolen Earth (May 2021 from Titan Books) and ReCoil (available now from Titan Books) and the neo-noire science fiction series, The New Lyons Sequence (available now from Rebel Base Books).

J.T. was born in Lexington, Virginia, though within six months he moved (or was moved, rather) to Stuttgart, Germany. Thus began the long journey of the military brat, hopping from state to state and country to country until, at present, he has accumulated nearly thirty relocations. This experience taught him that, regardless of where one found oneself, people were largely the same.

When not writing, J.T. spends his time practicing a variety of martial arts, playing games (video, tabletop, and otherwise), and reading everything he can get his hands on.

J.T. currently resides in Wilmington, North Carolina with his wife, a cat to which he is terribly allergic, and two Australian Shepherds who have decided that, despite weighing 50+ pounds, they are, in fact, lap dogs.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
232 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book fun and say the characters are extremely likable. They also appreciate the superb writing and the fact that the writing isn't two-dimensional.

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Fun readLikable charactersWriting quality
3 customers mention "Fun read"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book fun.

"...This was fun, and it feels like it really found its legs at the end. Excited for the next one." Read more

"This book was fun. Twisty Cyberpunk goodness. I can’t wait to read the next one." Read more

"Fun read..." Read more

3 customers mention "Likable characters"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the characters in the book extremely likable.

"...mindless shlock is elevated by Nicholas’ superb writing and extremely likable characters...." Read more

"Great characters. I thought it was well written, interesting concept, and great character development...." Read more

"...This is a swashbuckling action film with good pacing and likeable characters. Ending satisfying, but leaves the possibility of a sequel open...." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing superb and not two-dimensional. They also say the story feels longer than it is.

"...What could have been mindless shlock is elevated by Nicholas’ superb writing and extremely likable characters...." Read more

"Great characters. I thought it was well written, interesting concept, and great character development...." Read more

"...pushy social messages, no politics, AND most of all, the writing wasn't 2 dimensional...felt like a longer story than it was, in a good sustained..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Tim Andress
5.0 out of 5 stars I judged this book by its cover...
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2020
Verified Purchase
During this time of quarantine, it’s been my mission to get to several books in my escapist ‘To Be Read’ list. I bought RE-COIL a few weeks ago after the cover caught my eye. I had not yet heard of Nicholas, but once the cover caught my attention and the summary solidified my interest, I got a copy and added it to the top of the pile.

Over the last couple of years, the market has been flooded with new voices in sci-fi and I have tried to sample as many as I can, with very mixed results. I’m happy to report that RE-COIL is a welcome addition to the new authors I’ll be following.

To be fair, Nicholas hasn’t reinvented the wheel with RE-COIL. It is a noir/sci-fi combo that you may have read in books like ALTERED CARBON or the first novel in THE EXPANSE series. In fact, a lot of the book is derivative of many recent sci-fi novels, but Nicholas has done what many others in the genre have failed to do, which is streamline what you love about these books and mainlined it straight into your brain. That is its true strength. The new ideas are a bit lacking and the world building is thin, but the book is a slow burn start that turns into an action movie rush about halfway through the story that rips a path all the way to the end.

To say that RE-COIL is more junk food binge than fine dining might be taken as the slight that it clearly sounds like. But it is meant in the best way possible. It was not written to be DUNE and that’s not what you’re getting. It is more like watching a very competent, earnest version of a mid-budget action movie. What could have been mindless shlock is elevated by Nicholas’ superb writing and extremely likable characters. (As well as some very cool research that Nicholas obviously did to make the book as grounded as the fantastical story allows him to be.)

My initial response was to give RE-COIL 4-stars (to reserve the truly exceptional for 5-stars), but I can’t give a book that kept me locked and wanting to read long past when I should have gone to sleep with anything but the 5-stars it deserves. I look forward to the further adventures of the Persephone’s crew.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Start of an excellent series possibly.
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2022
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Great characters. I thought it was well written, interesting concept, and great character development. This was fun, and it feels like it really found its legs at the end. Excited for the next one.
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T. Rodriguez
3.0 out of 5 stars Starts off strong then putters out
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2020
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Strong beginning from the sample lead me to buy it but then it turns into generic sci fi mystery. Too much inner dialogue from the main character over explaining the world.
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K. Daru
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun read
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2024
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The book starts with an interesting premise: what if humans could be digitally stored, then reloaded into new bodies, giving effective immortality? And what if something threatened that process? The author does a good job of exploring the ramifications. World-building is realistic - he put his experiences living in all kinds of places to good use, and has clearly done some research on spaceship tech. Some interesting concepts briefly explored (e.g., what is gender or race when you can switch bodies?), but this is not a pretentious, high-concept scifi. This is a swashbuckling action film with good pacing and likeable characters. Ending satisfying, but leaves the possibility of a sequel open. Would definitely buy from this author again.
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J. Pugh
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2021
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Enjoyed book
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Brandt
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2020
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This book was fun. Twisty Cyberpunk goodness. I can’t wait to read the next one.
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Clifford J. Walk
3.0 out of 5 stars Derivative but an OK read
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2021
Carter Langston is a salvage man working in space. He and his small crew have a ship which tracks own and recovers wrecked space ships. It's a rough and dangerous life but it earns enough to pay for his re-coiling insurance.

It this future, when you die, you can be reborn in a new specially bred body. You keep your core backed up and you end up not losing much of your life. A new body is called a "coil" for some reason, maybe for the catchy title. Sound familiar, well it's the same basic idea as the "Altered Carbon" books where they call new bodies a "sleeve", which actually makes some sense. Here, the body you get depends on how much you're willing to spend. If you've got no money, you're guaranteed a new body, but you might have to wait for years and what you get may not be to your liking.

Carter and his crew are trying to salvage a dead passenger ship. While trying to salvage the cores from the stiffs, they come alive, and the next think Carter knows, he's waking up in a re-coiling facility somewhere. And then someone tries to kill him. The rest of the story concerns Carter trying to find his crew and why one of the big corporations (the one who owned the derelict passenger ship) are trying to kill him.

I mostly enjoyed the book but only gave it 3 stars because:

The core business didn't make any sense. If you destroyed a persons core, you apparently killed him permanently. But theres no evidence that Carter's core was recovered but he was brought back.

The book spends too much time over explaining things. Yeah, I got it that you might be uncomfortable if you identified as bio-female but were brought back as a bio-male. This happens to one of Carter's crew mates. I would guess that we were reminded how uncomfortable she was with the new plumbing at least 30 times. Once or twice would have been sufficient.

Ships seemed to be skipping around the solar system a little too fast to be possible. Much like the "Expanse" stories but at least they had a cover story.

As I said, a bit too derivative of other novels.

On the other hand:

Although this seems to be the start of a series, the story was wrapped up mostly satisfactorily.

The interplay between Carter and his "agent" Sarah was interesting. Sarah was an AI that lived in his head.

I liked it enough that I'll give the sequel a try.
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Top reviews from other countries

Stephen R Collins
5.0 out of 5 stars Space Zombies Death is dead
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2020
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This outstanding sf with nnew twist on old favorite is Zombie book with diffrance. Death is dead
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841968
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended
Reviewed in Germany on April 15, 2020
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Re-Coil reads super smoothly, the plot is interesting and you can immerse yourself in the story. Even though it uses mostly common parts of science fiction and doesn't add many new ideas of its own, the book is one of the best I've read in the past few months. Although English is not my native language, I could hardly put the book aside.
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Mr Neil A Higgins
2.0 out of 5 stars THe Zombie Apocalypse in Space
Reviewed in Australia on April 6, 2022
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Meh. The protagonist fights a zombie and wins, then loses, then wins, then loses. Oh, then wins, and gets his girl. Meh.
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Bear
4.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 6, 2020
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An interesting and engaging book. An enjoyable read with some fascinating ideas. We'll written with enough pace to keep you coming back. I am not sure the use of 'coil' to mean body is in keeping with the the meaning in Shakespear's 'shuffle off this mortal coil’ soliloquy. I was taught that coil meant a mess or confusion. Shakespeare was saying we could leave behind the messiness of life.
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Gadget
2.0 out of 5 stars An OK time-filler, but not a great book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 22, 2021
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Re-Coil is a passable action sci-fi story, but it is not a great book. Here's why:

- The writing is straightforward and workmanlike, which is fine if that's what you're after. But there is little in the way of metaphor or simile, or complex imagery, or indeed any literary flourish at all.

- The two main characters are clichés. Carter is just a plain old gritty action hero type. Chan is a stereotypical little mysterious/alluring Asian hacker chick. Carter's feelings towards Chan sometimes come across as...creepy, rather than endearing.

- It's impossible to write a sci-fi novel about people's memories and consciousness being recorded and transferred to a new body after death without being compared to Altered Carbon. The similarities in the background to this story - over-powerful mega-corporations, dark tone, general corruption, maybe a little cyberpunky - make this feel like a spin-off novel - but I think Altered Carbon did a much better job.

- All the set-up over the course of the book ultimately led to an (IMHO) generic space bloody battle. It's been done before. I also though the ending was cheesy.

- A key premise for the story was that in order to ensure the quality of new bodies, the powers-that-be (but which ones? No-one appears to have overall control of the solar system. Surely there must be a black market in this?) only allow one company to make them, leading to a permanent shortage of bodies. The book fails to explain why that company can't just build more factories, but that's not the real problem. The biggest flaw is that this is not how it's done in the real world. If we need a lot of something, but quality is paramount (e.g. vaccines), we give a monopoly in each jurisdiction to a regulator, not to a manufacturer, thereby encouraging competition and innovation while ensuring quality. But the shortage of bodies is an important part of this novel, so that wouldn't work.

But the biggest bugbear for me was that the author gave the impression that he hadn't done his homework. Most of these were pretty minor - mixing up equilateral and isosceles triangles; explaining about how radio waves spread out according to an inverse-square law, and then - in the very next sentence - talking about how they weaken exponentially.

But the most egregious error is right there on the front cover: the word "coil".

The book starts with the famous speech from Hamlet which talks about "When we have shuffled off this mortal coil", and then infers from this that "coil" means "body". Except that this wasn't what Shakespeare meant then, and it still isn't true now. A little internet research reveals that (to quote Wikipedia's entry on the subject), "'Mortal coil' is a poetic term for the troubles of daily life and the strife and suffering of the world."

A throwaway line in the book, perhaps that the pioneers of the technology misinterpreted the quote and the name stuck, would have fixed this. But in the absence of this, it just looks like the author couldn't be bothered to research the subject properly.

So to summarise, if you want a harmless sci-fi time-filler that doesn't ask too much of you, then you could do worse. But if you demand more from your science fiction, there are plenty of other books that do a far better job.
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