The Policy

Rating:
Summary: Scary as King but this is based on fact
Review: ProvLife is one of the country's leading life insurance companies. However, the firm wants to enter other markets and has chosen health insurance as a lucrative business. The company's plan is to take over the Massachusetts HMO market. They start by offering their own employees top rate health care for a reasonable cost. Soon, they expand their coverage and their strategic business objective suddenly appears to be within their grasp.

Alexandra Tynan works for ProvLife, evaluating medical data when she notices an alarming trend that makes her question the validity and reliability of the numbers she has been provided to analyze. She begins to investigate and soon realizes that the company's board of directors are making millions of dollars through bogus payoffs while deaths due to alleged accidents go off the actuary charts. As her bosses launder cash overseas, Alex may have uncovered a nefarious plot that could make her the next statistic.

As HMOs ma! ke headlines for their bottom line accounting decisions on health care, THE POLICY takes us one step beyond that scenario into what might seem like the unthinkable. Yet in the talented hands of Patrick Lynch the premise truly seems believable. The pace of the storyline is non-stop and ultra-speed, but should carry a warning label. The masses of us already having troubles with HMOs and other health insurance carriers need to have a tranquilizer handy because this novel will strike a chord of anger and anxiety. Anyone who has not read Mr. Lynch's previous thrillers (CARRIERS and OMEGA) need to because like this novel, the excitement continues long after the last page is completed.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: This book is not an action packed page turner. It is more of a slowly unfolding mystery, which at times can be a little bit plodding. The atmosphere is gray and subdued, by design. The best part about this book is the lead protagonist. She is a three dimensional character: intelligent, determined, flawed in some ways, and refreshingly lacking the superhuman qualities of many lead protagonists in the thriller/mystery genre.

Rating:
Summary: Who would've thought insurance could kill?
Review: This was a well written story that for some reason I didn't expect to grab me and yet it did. To be fair, I had read many of the reviews here at Amazon and it was the general praise that The Policy received that convinced me to buy the book and read it. Had I not visited this site first, I probably would've passed. Now, I'm glad I didn't. Alex Tynan is one of the neater female characters I have met in a book in quite some time. What I liked about her were the several dimensions the two writers who hide behind the pseudonym Patrick Lynch gave her. Like many of us, she has her flaws and has made her share of mistakes. She is not a one-dimensional superhero like we see in many of the bad techno-thrillers. With more than above average intelligence and a tenacity that creeps up on the reader as the novel progresses, Alex reminded me of the proverbial dog with a bone that they just won't give up. Alex is like that and that's what kept me glued to this book. Another interesting skill the authors brought to this storyline was that they picked a dull industry like life and health insurance and somehow, made it seem sinister and evil. Of course, industries themselves are not evil, but the people in them can be and sometimes are. To be sure, this is not a scary book or a true nail-biting page turner in the strictest sense of that label but there is a lot of tension and it grows throughout this novel. The authors did an outstanding job of creating and increasing that tension as the novel progressed. I haven't read any of the other books by the two folks who call themselves Patrick Lynch but rest assured, I most certainly will. These two writers have several other books out and I intend to track them down and gobble them up. Patrick Lynch, whoever you are, keep up the good work and keep the stories coming. You two seem to have a lot to say and some good story lines to use as your vehicles. Thanks for an enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Good story on a scary topic
Review: You get a printout based on a sample of your DNA telling you that you have an inherited disease--even though you have no symptoms now--that will cause you to suffer a slow, agonizing death. Do insurance companies have a right to know this? Do they have the right to test you before issuing a policy? And what happens if this information is manipulated by corrupt people? All these questions are addressed in Patrick Lynch's novel. In this well-told story, we meet the ambitious actuary, Alex, her fast-lane boyfriend, Mark, and her stable mentor, Randal, all of whom play significant roles in answering these questions. The plot is fast-paced, and the characters are quite believeable. This is a great one or two day read--one of those "can't put down" books. Quite enjoyable.