by Duane Swierczynski
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Product Description
Jamie DeBroux’s boss has called a special meeting for all “key personnel” at 9:00 a.m. on a hot Saturday in August. When Jamie arrives, the conference room is stocked with cookies and champagne. His boss smiles and tells his employees, “We’re a cover for a branch of the intelligence community. And we’re being shut down.” Jamie’s boss then tells everyone to drink some champagne, and in a few seconds they’ll fall asleep---for good. If they refuse, they’ll be shot in the head. Escape is not an option. Jamie’s boss has shut down the elevators and rigged the fire towers with chemical bombs. Panic sets in, chaos erupts, and no one is sure whom to trust. Jamie quickly realizes that there’s only one way he’s ever going to see his family again: the hard way.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 More a Comic Book than Novel --beware spoiler info, 2008-08-14
The writing in this book is fluid and fast. I read this book in about 4 hours. The premise of the book is a secret operation must be ended so the boss calls a saturday meeting to kill everyone. Thru a twist the day turns into a job interview by creative killing of the employees. The entire rest of the book is committed to these killings of the captive employees --several in laughable ways assuring the employee to arise again and require more killing. The author attempts weakly to add dimension to the characters and motives but really its very thin. There's some over the top poison bombs and torture techniques ==again no one would think their authentic and more there for the yuck factor. Not to be harsh but I would label this a mundane violence book written for a mainly high school audience.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 High octane thrills with plenty of knocks, pings, and dents, 2008-08-08
From all indications, we seem to be in the midst of a noir/pulp renaissance. Hard Case Crime, established in 2004, has been publishing and re-introducing out-of-print pulp novels to the 21st century. In the case of yours truly, it is an introduction, not a re-introduction. New technologies (podcasting, online magazines) have, ironically, replicated the delivery methods of old-school pulp magazines back in the golden age of pulp fiction. The climate of this first decade of the 21t century has a shadow over it, the shadow of two burning buildings that no longer stand. When those towers fell, new things emerged (wire tapping of American civilians, memos on how to redefine torture, Abu Garib) that have brought with it a certain sense of paranoia. These factors, and more, have created a climate where authors, new and old, have tried to put in print and words the zeitgeist of this decade. And one of those trailblazers is Duane Swierczynski.
Swierczynski is the author of three previous novels, Secret Dead Men, The Wheelman, and The Blonde, as well as some titles from Marvel Comics (Cable, Iron Fist) but Severance Package is the first novel of his that I have read. And it's a doozy. First off, the cover. I love old-school painted cover art, the kind that graced the covers of pulp fiction long ago and the kind that Hard Case Crime is bringing back. Severance Package, a trade paperback, has that neat textured paper, the kind that you'd find in an art store. Not coincidentally, the cover art looks like a comic book. The synopsis and the About the author section are basic type font but the other lettering, the teaser, and the blurbs all appear to have been inked by Jack Kirby. That's a cool vibe to imbue and it is a tantalizing entry to this novel.
The vibe continues throughout the book. Here's the basic premise: the company that Jamie Debroux works for is, in reality, a front for a black ops unit. They've been outed and, as such, they all have to die. You have a choice, the boss man says: drink a mimosa and fall asleep or get shot in the head with the gun my assistant is now holding. With that in mind, the novel is interspersed with a list of the employees' names. With each death (yeah, there are some deaths in here), that name is crossed off. What's fascinating as a reader is you don't know who is the person crossing off the names.
The action, as you would expect, starts off with a bang. On his Secret Dead Blog, Swierczynski posts a running feature called "Opening Shots" where he transcribes the first paragraph of certain novels as a way to get a reader hooked. I'll give you the opening sentence of Severance Package and see if you don't want to read more:
His name was Paul Lewis and he didn't know he had seen minutes to live.
This opening chapter also has one of a half dozen or so illustrations, done in black-and-white comic book style, by Dennis Calero, that depict a scene of the book. Well, we get to see, as well as read, what happens to Paul Lewis. Let me just say this: considering all the damage other characters endure during this book, it's one of the more peaceful ways to go.
(Speaking of opening shots, here is the opening line of dialogue from Swierczynski's The Blonde: "I poisoned your drink." Dunno about y'all but that makes me want to read more.)
Swierczynski, who lives in Philadelphia, gives the kind of detail to his town that I hope to give Houston. That is, he knows his town and writes little tidbits throughout the book that give the non-Philly reader a taste of the town not found at the touristy locales. It's the same thing Pelecanos does for DC, Lehane for Boston, Connelly for LA, and Wislow for San Diego. It brings the city to life.
The prose is quick but not dirty. I found myself flying through pages, looking up after an hour and finding out that I'd read more than 60 pages. That's quite fast for me, usually a slow reader. But the pace is pedal-to-the-metal, pell-mell into a brick wall. It's breezy in its way, rapidly jumping into the heads of all the characters, even one unnamed character late in the book. It's a good feature, breathing life into characters that, usually, only have minutes to live. As the story progresses and you witness the various violent actions, it's kind of fun to guess how the next character's demise will come. Believe me: there's one you won't see coming. Moreover, there's a certain time shift going on in places. Swierczynski will follow one character through an entire scene then jump into another character's POV. That second character likely was a silent witness to the actions of the first character, thus, we get a second opinion on certain actions. It's a neat way of giving certain scenes depth.
The Ending: I can't tell you about the ending. A good ending to a bad book or movie can salvage my opinion of the work. A bad ending to a good book/movie can ruin the entire experience. I'll say this about the ending of Severance Package: I loved the book...and the ending kicked me in the crotch. I didn't see it coming...but I should have. You might. But try not to think too much. This is a fantastic book. Just enjoy the hell out of it half as much as Swierczynski enjoyed writing it.
The list of names to be killed--and the growing number that get crossed off--is a great way of creating suspense. It's the ticking time bomb, a cadence you hear in the back of your head as the pages go by. Who gets it next, you ask, and how? It's just a fun, fast book, to be enjoyed in a rubbernecker, visceral kind of way. It has the kind of vibe that I want some of my fiction to be infused with, the literary equivalent of a summer blockbuster.
It's pulp fiction, pure and simple, just like they used to write in the old days. Rest assured Hammett, Keene, Spillane, and Westlake: the future of pulp fiction is in good hands with folks like Duane Swierczynski on duty.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
 Go out and read all his books as soon as possible. You will not be disappointed., 2008-07-28
Fans of hard-boiled mysteries have witnessed a rebirth of the genre in recent years. Charles Ardai at Hard Case Crime has introduced a new generation of readers to the long-forgotten works of pulp masters, as well as to exciting new writers such as himself and Christa Faust.
At the same time a new generation of excellent writers has reinvigorated the noir genre. Ken Bruen, Jason Starr and Megan Abbott have established themselves as mystery writers we will be enjoying for decades to come. Now add to the list Duane Swierczynski, former editor-in-chief of the Philadelphia City Paper. SEVERANCE PACKAGE is his fourth novel. And if you have not read him yet and you love mysteries and action, you are in for a treat. Swierczynski, like the above mentioned writers, is destined to become a hard-boiled master.
Swierczynski writes noir, but it's far from ordinary. This is noir on steroids, as his books are filled with nonstop action and mayhem. There is not a wasted word in his lean, adrenaline-driven prose. And nobody working the field today can build suspense as well. Read SEVERANCE PACKAGE and you will immediately want to seek out THE BLONDE, his novel from 2006 that was a unique modern reworking of the film noir classic DOA.
SEVERANCE PACKAGE starts with seven employees being called into a Saturday "managers' meeting" of Murphy, Knox and Associations, a somewhat mysterious "financial services" firm located on the 36th floor of a Philly skyscraper. It is a sweltering hot summer day, and the employees react the same way you would at having to get up, get dressed and go into work on a Saturday morning.
It gets worse. They are ushered into a conference room filled with cookies, three cartons of orange juice and four bottles of champagne. So far so good. Then their boss, David, tells them they are on "official lockdown." The phones don't work. Nobody can leave the building since the elevator has been fixed to bypass the floor, and the fire exits have been rigged with sarin gas bombs. Whoa!
They are then told they are being let go from both work and the planet. They have a choice: drink the champagne and orange juice, which is poisoned and will kill them in seconds, or be shot in the head. It turns out that the company is some sort of super secret rogue CIA-type outfit set up to disrupt the bank accounts of terrorists or just about anybody else they feel like messing with. And now the operation is being terminated, so to speak.
This is why noir is great fun. You might think you have a lot of bad days at work. Not like this.
The firm's second-in-command, Molly, then pulls a coup by shooting David in the head, and we are off to the races. It seems the entire 36th floor has cameras all over the place, and Molly is under the impression that she is auditioning for a new job in the super-secret spy agency. And, indeed, events on the floor are being monitored by two mysterious fellows in Edinburgh, Scotland, 3,500 miles away. Who are they?
Swierczynski has propelled us into a noir nightmare where nothing is what it seems and everybody is trapped in hell. Of the seven employees, only one is not a spy or covert op of some sort and is truly innocent. This PR man, Jamie DeBroux, is a former newspaper writer who needed this boring job to support his new child. The writer, in other words, as gullible dupe. There's a twist. Jamie is about to be seriously messed with.
Swierczynski's greatest creation here is Molly, a red-headed killing and torture machine who is so bad she is good. All the current summer crop of cinema fictional superheroes, including Batman himself, would run and hide under the bed if they ever met Molly. Think of Linda Fiorentino from The Last Seduction and imagine her being a million times more ruthless and violent. That's Molly.
But Molly, who may not be who she claims either, has a soft side. She is, after all, trying to provide for her ailing mother and ventures to the dark side out of unrequited love and a desire never to be a victim again. She's nuts, but a hell of a woman.
And she never loses control. Nor will she ever give up. But still, she finds time in the middle of a small war to stop and fix her hair. "The pain didn't matter though. Her appearance did," Swierczynski writes. After all, on job interviews: "A battered face would not impress her employers." You should not root for her, but you do. Molly is the ultimate guilty pleasure.
SEVERANCE PACKAGE is not for the squeamish. People are hung upside down out of 36th story windows. Others get sarin gas blasts to the face. Some suffer bullets to the head and other body parts or are attacked with razor blades, pix axes, saps, you name it. The blood flows. And yet, somehow the strongest manage to survive and fight on, at least for awhile. If you like action, you will love this book. It is a wild ride but also a fun read that keeps pages flying past.
Swierczynski is great at keeping the suspense building to a boil. Readers have no idea how this story will end. It is not clichéd. And in true noir fashion, he provides twists galore that will keep you guessing even beyond the last page. In his nightmare world, people fight and die, even if they don't know exactly why or for whom. Few are truly innocent, and heaven help those who are.
Noir was born in a time of uncertainly in the mid-20th century. Now we live in another uncertain time in a new century and noir is back, thrilling us with its bleak vision. Swierczynski is one of the up-and-coming stars of the mystery world. Go out and read all his books as soon as possible. You will not be disappointed.
--- Reviewed by Tom Callahan
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
A Wildly Improbable "E-Ticket" Ride!!, 2008-07-23
Duane Swierczynski has developed an outrageously breakneck pacing of his novels that almost compel the reader to turn pages as quickly as possible to avoid putting the book down. As he did with "The Blond", "Severance Package" starts with a bang and then relentlessly pulls the reader into a nightmarish rollercoaster ride that at times leaves one gripping the book to keep from setting it down.
"Severance Package" begins with 7 employees of a financial institution being called into work unusally on a Saturday to meet with boss, David Murphy. Some are shocked to discover that they are part of a top secret organization that has been ordered to shut down and each of them must die as a part of the closure. The entire 36th floor of the building has been rigged to prevent escape and the employees, some who are not who they seem to be, are told to choose suicide by poison or death by a bullet to the head.
After the initial disbelief, the wild sometimes over-the-top action begins as chaos and panic set in and everyone begins fighting for his/her life. The novel indeed reads like a screen play with distinct action scenes occurring on a regular basis and the whole thing reading like a movie running in the reader's head.
Yes, there is considerable reason to suspend disbelief at times but that is OK because this is the type of book that requires the reader to enjoy the ride more than the scenery. Sure, there are some outrageous scenes which defy logic and physicality from a small female but so what if the ride is as compelling and satisfying as it was for this reader.
I was more disappointed in the characerizations developed in this novel--or lack thereof. Few characters were fleshed out, and even Jamie, Swierczynski's Everyman in this story, is not an overly sympathetic character who we should care deeply about.
No, this book is about the motivation and the wild relentless ride that forces each of us to imagine what we might do to escape a similar circumstance--trapped at the top of a highrise with killer(s)determined to destroy every living being and with elevators and stairways closed off. It is a "Die Hard" meets a seemingly indestructible killer scenario laced with competing covert agencies, double crosses, moles, incredible violence, and even a cockeyed love story thrown in the mix.
There are flaws in this book that I chose to submerge for the fun of the ride--of seeing how each new action or potential death scene might evolve. How will these desperate characters, some who are trained killers, interact to escape certain death? Will anyone survive, and if so, who will it be? The ultimate flaw is the ending which, while darkly comical, is incomprehensible and illogical. Still, I rate the book 4 stars simply for Swierczynski's ability to hold my interest and keep me guessing until the end.
1 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Quick hit, 2008-07-22
This book is a quick hit, and I DO mean 'hit'. It's essentially a bunch of people trying to kill each other, and the book is cleverly plotted so you find out why as it goes along. In the meantime, the wild action pulls you along. You could find a few places to pick at the plot like a loose thread on sweater, but that's not the point of this type of reading. I don't think it took me 90 minutes to read - I couldn't put it down. Average-paced readers will spend more time with it. If it were just as good but longer, I'd give it a fifth star.
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