I rarely purchase a novel on the basis of the title alone, especially when I haven’t heard of the author. Yet, I picked up Death Benefits thinking that it was merely going to be a murder mystery based on insurance fraud and glanced at the back cover. The back cover did nothing to dissuade me of that idea and intrigued me by suggesting that the protagonist would be an insurance analyst from an exclusive actuarial department within an upscale insurance company. I like my mysteries to be driven by something other than police procedure, so I decided to try this author I’d never heard of before. I was pleased that I did so because I was inundated with information about a world I don’t know and discovered that this wasn’t so much a murder mystery as a conspiracy-based thriller. How that works, you’ll need to read the book in order to find it out.If Death Benefits were a movie, it would be a dark sort of “buddy” film. The protagonist, John Walker, finds himself involved with a mysterious and dangerous investigator named Max Stillman. Stillman is experienced, ruthless, and persistent. His background is ambiguous and murky (even after significant revelations at a couple of points in the book). He seems passionate about solving crimes, even though his methods might be considered a little too “laissez faire” for official police preferences. Of course, that’s typical of most mysteries and thrillers. Yet, he also seems to be simultaneously a misanthrope and a sentimental softie, as well as a crusty, demanding, P.I. combined with hard-boiled “Yoda”-figure to Walker.Stillman’s unerring instincts derived from vast years of experience are a marvelous tutorial for Walker’s initiation into the world of insurance investigation. The chemistry between the two actually builds realistically once both investigators are at risk (and, of course, that’s when it gets interesting). Then, cherchez la femme takes on a different meaning. Suspect, victim, or love interest? Let’s just say, it’s interesting. Regardless, I really liked the following background paragraph on the woman in question. It really made her seem real—especially since I love someone who must have had a similar experience.“I went to college in engineering. The same men who hit on me—complete with their assurances of love and respect –also assumed that the reason I was getting good grades was because I was sleeping with the professors. Since I didn’t sleep with professors, the ones who would have liked me to were resentful. The professors who didn’t like the field filling up with women weren’t glad to see me sitting in the front row.” (p. 258)Death Benefits seemed uneven to me in terms of pacing. At times, I couldn’t wait to turn the page and get into the next of the very short chapters. At others, I had to force myself to continue reading due to some loose end which hadn’t yet been explained. The last eighth of the book, though, was the perfect pace for me.
I was drawn into this book when someone posted a quote of this scene:---Stillman sat down and squinted up at the waiter for a few seconds as though the two of them were in a poker game and the waiter had just raised. The waiter held a tiny pad in the palm of his hand with a pen poised over it. Stillman said, “Can your bartender make a real mai tai?”“Old-fashioned kind?” asked the waiter, now assessing Stillman with veiled interest.“That’s right,” said Stillman. “The old-fashioned kind.”“Two mai tai old-fashioned kind,” the waiter announced, and put a strike mark on his pad that could not have been a Chinese character, then spun on his heel and went off. It seemed to Walker that the pad must be for appraising the customers, and Stillman had scored high.“What’s changed about mai tais?”Stillman shrugged. “Beats me. It’s pretty clear they’ve gone to hell like everything else.”---If you enjoyed that, you'll no doubt enjoy the book. There are more than a few scenes that crackle with the same wit, as the veteran PI Stillman leads newcomer Walker on the trail of insurance fraud. It doesn't sound like it would suck you in, but it most certainly does. By the end, you'll definitely be turning pages quickly to see how it turns out for our rather unlikely heroes. There's not a lot of self-reflection or introspection, but it's definitely a fun and amusing ride.
What do You think about Death Benefits (2001)?
We listened to this as an audio book on a recent trip. I really enjoy this writer and this mystery has both a fun plot - although it takes a while to build – and a great character in Max Stillman. The author has given the guy some terrific chuckle-out-loud lines. The story moves all over the country, from California to Chicago to Miami to Keene, N.H., and the bodies pile up. Max and his young sidekick, John Walker, are scouring the country to find out who is behind a multi-million dollar insurance fraud. The audio version could have used a better reader - the tone of voice was sleep inducing. But by the time you get to the last 100 pages, you'll stay awake.
—Joyce
DEATH BENEFITS. (2001). Thomas Perry. ****.Many years ago I read Perry’s first novel, “The Butcher’s Boy,” which went on to win an Edgar for First Novel. For some reason I never kept up with Perry’s works, even though that first novel was quite an achievement. In fact, I should probably re-read it; most of my memory of it is blurry because of the time factor. I’m not sure where in the parade of thrillers this novel fits, but it is typical of Perry’s talents to deliver We are introduced to the staff of a well-known insurance company, where a significant fraud has just occurred. The company has brought in an investigator, Max Stillman, a former cop and experienced P.I. After getting background from the company’s president, he taps an actuarial employee, John Walker, to act as his assistant. They are of two completely different types: Stillman a street-wise operative, while Walker is an innocent number cruncher. Together, the two manage to track down the bunco artists, but, at the same time, also manage to uncover a grand conspiracy ring that had been fleecing the insurance company of millions. High action follows, with a chase scene at the end that would rival that of any popular novel. Recommended.
—Tony
This is an 'old cop-rookie cop' style novel where the old cop is, in fact, a seasoned ex-cop who now does investigative work for an insurance company; the rookie is an insurance data analyst who is along for the ride as his former girlfriend seems to have perpetrated a 12 million dollar fraud, and he is determined to prove her innocence. Perry's characters show surprising psychological depth by the genre standards and extricate themselves with ingenuity from seemingly hopeless situations. Nevertheless, Perry's assured novel suffers from the lack of an astute editor: what could have been a tightly-plotted suspense-thriller loses its steam several times on the way before reaching its pulse-pounding finale.
—Farhan
