Death Benefits

Death Benefits is a well crafted, suspensful mystery. The story brings us from California, to Florida to New England. It starts with an ambitious,young business woman out to make a sale. She seems as real a person so me, as one of my collegues. (Okay maybe a little more aggressive) But I had a real sense of who she was and even liked her.

Then she is gone. Next we meet two very interesting men who are characters, interesting, funny and real.

Thomas Perry is a master of stringing details around the story to hook up in and keep us hanging on. Of course, he brings us to a surprise ending.

I love this book.

generally interesting take on high level insurance fraud, i thought one of the main characters was constantly being built up as an obvious insider as in the guy doing the inside job (spoiler so i wont say) i like these type of longer books

Great reader, interesting characters, and a suspenseful plot. Lots of fun and an unexpected pleasure. Give it a try.

Mr. Perry has spoiled me. I now expect every book of his to be funny and thrilling, both of these to wonderful extremes. This book is not his best. Just the fact that he is trying to make the lives of two insurance investigators interesting shows you how high he has set the bar for himself. John Walker, who is, I guess, the protagonist, is an insurance company desk jockey. He is just not all that interesting. Max Stillman, a free-lance insurance "security consultant" (read: fraud investigator) is more quirky. The female character, "Serena," is simply improbable. Our heroes go out to investigate a $12 million insurance fraud, and madness ensues. The book lacks Mr. Perry's usual sense of humor, and the suspense doesn't work until the last five or six chapters, which then kick up the pace to frantic. The conclusion is a little confusing, but the chase is a lot of fun, particularly at the point where the three of them hide in a church belfry, with the entire town of Coulter underneath them. The plot sags quite a bit in the middle. I missed Mr. Perry's unique sense of humor. If I were you I would try any of the Butcher's Boy novels, and then read Metzger's Dog, which is truly masterful. I think it was on some "100 Best" list, and it would be even higher on my list, if I had one. Mr. Kramer's narration is, as usual, great, but he just doesn't have enough great stuff to narrate here.

I have listened to all of Thomas Perry's books-- this one delivers
If you enjoy him get this one

Starts fast, stays fast, and like most Perry novels, comes up with a totally unique premis.

Yes, good Perry. He usually has his principal characters being chased around the country using ingenious skip technology, but this time, the principals are chasing the bad guys with some of the same smarts. Good change of pace. Kramer is just the right reader for Perry.

I've enjoyed listening to books by Thomas Perry. I listened to the Butcher Boy #1 and 2, then I thought I'd try Death Benefits. It's different than the first books I listened to, but I definitely would recommend it for a great listen. I've become a fan of Thomas Perry!