ASSUMPTION OF RISK

by Jim Silver ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1996

James M. Cain showed that an insurance thriller can be a stylish, unequivocal success. Debut novelist Silver, himself an insurance man in Phoenix, shows that Cain was an exception. Luther Sitasy--of a rich Texas shipping family--has wound up working as an insurance claimsman. Silver explains his character's odd career choice in terms of post-Vietnam trauma and recovery from booze, but it's still an uncomfortable fit. The guy lives in a sprawling Arizona mansion, collects muscle cars, keeps his gun hand steady in a basement range, and employs an elderly Japanese couple to handle the cooking and cleaning. Divorced from wife Jackie, a TV news producer, Luther lives for his work (and play, which includes a WW II fighter plane and a Vietnam-era helicopter). Luther stumbles onto a vast insurance scam in which claimants are being murdered and their claims funneled to a shell corporation in Singapore. The perpetrators are Norman Bloodstone and Dana Quinn: He's the psycho who does the killing and then tells her about it during their sexual celebrations; she works at Luther's firm and keeps track of the scam's cash flow, now edging up to the deadly duo's $20 million target. Norman and Dana, however, are almost as busy double-crossing each other as Luther is tracking them down, and Dana meanwhile has a sideline going with her family lawyer that, once exposed, sends Norman on a killing spree, his victims including Luther's dog and two of his coworkers. At end, the inevitable confrontation features Norman with a sniper's rifle, Luther with a chip on his shoulder, and a small army of lawmen concentrated in an amusement park modeled after Nam. Silver's talent for microscopic techno-description, and his appetite for gore, can't rescue this effort from a glacial pace and cardboard characters. In between the juicy stuff, it's all wonky insurance babble and guntalk, with an undercurrent of right-wing politics that does nothing to push along the tale.

Pub Date: April 1, 1996

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1996

Categories: FICTION