Death Benefits

From Barnes & Noble

Our Review
Murder, Conspiracy, and High-Stakes Fraud
In 1982, Thomas Perry won an Edgar Award for his debut novel, The Butcher's Boy, and he has since established himself as one our most original, consistently entertaining suspense novelists. For the past several years, in books like Vanishing Act, Blood Money, and Shadow Woman, he has chronicled the adventures of Native American "guide" and escape expert Jane Whitefield. His latest novel, Death Benefits, represents a radical -- and effective -- departure, giving us a witty, informed, thoroughly enjoyable account of murder, conspiracy, and high-stakes insurance fraud.

The hero of Death Benefits is John Walker, a likable 24-year-old data analyst for McClaren Life and Casualty, a venerable San Francisco-based insurance firm. Walker spends the bulk of his working hours performing bloodless analyses of raw statistical data. All of that changes abruptly when he finds himself partnered with Max Spillman, a maverick security consultant hired to investigate a costly -- and ultimately tragic -- insurance scam.

The action begins when McClaren pays out a $12 million death benefit to the man believed to be the legitimate beneficiary of a substantial life insurance policy. Several days later, the real beneficiary shows up, demanding his money. In the ensuing chaos, it is learned that the agent who approved the false payment -- Walker's former girlfriend, Ellen Snyder -- has disappeared, leaving a complex paper trail behind. At this point, Max Spillman, with a bewildered John Walker in tow, begins the process of following that trail to a series of startling revelations.

The initial stages of their journey lead from Pasadena -- where Spillman and his protégé survive a violent encounter with thugs masquerading as policemen -- to an isolated field in Illinois, where the recently murdered Ellen Snyder lies buried. Some weeks later, the investigation resumes in Miami Beach. There, against the vibrant backdrop of a tropical hurricane, Walker stumbles across several additional corpses and begins to discern the outline of a widespread, highly organized criminal conspiracy. As the narrative progresses, moving from Miami to Chicago to a sinister littletown in rural New Hampshire -- a town in which everyone seems to be related to everyone else -- the action intensifies, culminating in an extended climax in which Walker and Spillman -- accompanied by a beautiful outlaw hacker named Mary Catherine Casey -- fight for survival against a vicious, ubiquitous enemy.

En route to that conclusion, Perry offers us his trademark combination of precise observation, credible characters, and clean, unobtrusive prose. Like the best of Perry's earlier work, Death Benefits is a first-class entertainment by a gifted, underappreciated figure. Maybe this time, he'll finally acquire the audience he deserves.

--Bill Sheehan

Bill Sheehan reviews horror, suspense, and science fiction for Cemetery Dance, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and other publications. His book-length critical study of the fiction of Peter Straub, At the Foot of the Story Tree, has recently been published by Subterranean Press (www.subterraneanpress.com).

Dick Lochte

The scam is ingenious, the thrills come fast and furious, but it's the developing relationship between the hardened old pro and his reluctant but pliable protege that distinguishes this superbly crafted novel.
— Los Angeles Times

Laurie Davie

The incomparable Thomas Perry gives us another top-notch thriller with Death Benefits—it’s every bit as good as his Jane Whitefield series. Only Perry could make insurance fraud so heart-stoppingly exciting!
— Romantic Times

From The Critics

Perry just keeps getting better and better. The lessons he's learned writing his recent Jane Whitfield series come to fruition in his latest novel. This book teams an insurance functionary, John Walker, with a security specialist, Max Stillman, who is brought in by the insurance company to investigate a series of elaborate—and outlandish—cases of insurance fraud. Before you yawn, let it be said that Perry does for insurance what Elmore Leonard did for Detroit, or what Dick Francis did for horse racing. This is one good, fascinating read. Walker gets roped into the investigation because he once dated the agent under question, the missing Ellen Snyder. What the two stumble into is nothing less than a huge, organized ring of thieves. Walker also gets involved with an odd but appealing female computer hacker, Serena (real name Mary Catherine Casey), who steals every scene she's in. The investigation starts in San Francisco before heading to Los Angeles, then Florida and finally New Hampshire, where things get really weird. Perry's storytelling has slowed from the breakneck speed of his novel Metzger's Dog, and it was the Whitfield series that did it. Rather than wisecracks, here he relies upon a set of smart characters being smart—and surprisingly, reading about smart people being smart is engaging and fun.
—Randy Michael Signor

Publishers Weekly

Perry (Blood Money; The Face Changers) serves up a clever entertainment (in the Graham Greene sense of the word) set in the high-stakes insurance world. After a deliberately ambiguous prologue (just why is Ellen Snyder going to an L.A. airport hotel before dawn?), we learn that Ellen, working out of the Pasadena office of a prestigious San Francisco insurance company called McClaren's, recently authorized a 12$- million death benefit payment to a man who turned out to be an imposter. Now both the imposter and Ellen have navished, and McClaren's has called in mysterious operative Max Stillman to investigate the apparent conspiracy to defraud. Stillman oh-so-deftly draws young John Walker, an analyst in the main San Francisco office, into the investigation. Walker cooperates with Stillman because he doesn't believe Ellens's guilty; he's still a little bit in love with her from their training class days, although Ellen's career plans left no room for more than a casual interoffice romance. Casual is the operative word here: a casual remark from Walker to an enigmatic computer hacker named Serena leads to a seriously steamy interlude. And casual is the best way to describe Perry's seemingly effortless method of developing character and building suspense. His style is so assured as to be invisible, seamlessly supplying plot and character information as the chase leads from California to Chicago, Miami and finally a small town in New Hampshire. Though the finale echoes the premise of a particular Dachiell Hammett story, everything else feels as fresh as dawn. (Jan. 16) Forecast: Perry won an Edgar for The Butcher's Boy, and Metzger's Dog was New York Times Notable Book of the Year. This is his finest novel yet and, if sold with enthusiasm, could chart significant numbers. The bold evocative, b&w jacket will help, as will the four-city author tour.

VOYA

Data analyst John Walker works in the mundane and safe field of insurance. His career at McClaren Life and Casualty is orderly and secure, until freelance investigator Max Stillman appears on the scene. McClaren agent Ellen Snyder has disappeared after authorizing a huge death benefit payout to an imposter. John was involved in a short-lived romance with Ellen, and Max thinks John's insight might help locate Ellen and discover whether she has been party to enormous fraud or is just an innocent dupe. John cannot believe that Ellen participated in the scam, and he agrees to help, hoping that he can find her, clear her name, and also achieve some resolution to their relationship. Under Max's tutelage, John finds investigation not only fascinating but also something for which he has a flair. The two, along with a beautiful but mysterious computer hacker who joins their search, follow the convoluted threads to the roots of the conspiracy in a small New England town, provoking a shocking response. Perry has the knack of creating suspenseful nail-biters, and high school readers will appreciate his latest work as the book equivalent of a roller coaster ride. The occasional love scenes and use of four-letter words gear this thriller toward older teens. Once they pick it up, the inside scoop on the industrial investigation business and nonstop action guarantee that they will not want to put it down. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2001, Random House, 383p, $24.95. Ages 15 to Adult. Reviewer: Joanna Morrison

Library Journal

Edgar Award-winning novelist Perry, who always provides a good read, takes a step up from last year's Blood Money with a solid, character-driven story that makes even the insurance business seem fascinating. John Walker, a young data analyst for McClaren Life and Casualty, finds himself on the streets with a shrewd but enigmatic partner, an older security expert named Max Stillman who has been hired by the firm to track down the thieves behind a $12 million scam. The agent who approved the fraudulent death benefit, a woman Walker once loved, has disappeared. Is she part of the rip-off or a victim of a much larger conspiracy? With the help of Serena, a quirky computer expert who develops an intriguing relationship with Walker, the two men follow a trail that leads from California to Illinois to Florida and finally to a deadly confrontation in the deceptively peaceful New Hampshire countryside. Throughout, one senses, unseen, the sure hand of a master craftsman. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/00.]--Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Edward Karam

Best known for his Jane Whitefield thrillers, Edgar Award winner Perry has created two equally compelling characters in his latest outing...The hardboiled dialogue, quirky characters and careful pacing deliver some chilling fun...Thrills well insured.
—People Magazine

From the Publisher

"Thomas Perry is, quite simply, brilliant. And as each book comes out he becomes more so." —-Robert B. Parker