Rating: 
Summary: moderately disappointing ending
Review: This is my first Perry book and hopefully would not be the last impression I get. _Death Benefits_ starts off wildly interesting; we are drawn to the life of an overachiever (Ellen) who has mastered the art of the chameleon in order to succeed within a large insurance company. She mysteriously disappears, after being responsible for an astronomical 12 million dollar payout to a con-man. The insurance company reacts by calling in their reserves. We are dragged to her manhunt by her friend Walker, who is sure that Ellen is an unwilling victim. Part of the interest at this point comes from Max Stillman, a jack-of-all-trade former police officer who has converted his skills into a bounty hunter/sleuth for the private sector. Part of the fun is watching Stillman and his many antics and deductions about human nature. However, by the time we get drawn into the con-men's town, the gig is up and the rest of the story reads like _The Bedford Wives_ or _Children of the Corn_. The bad guys are faceless and difficult to identify or understand. I was moderately disappointed in this first try of an author that gets such high reviews in his genre. Will try another novel and see if this one was an aberration.
Rating: 
Summary: Another great one
Review: This was a great read. Perry has a new character John Walker, not a professional like the Butcher Boy nor anything like his Jane series. I was glad to see Perry branch out and do new material, many of my favorite authors last year seemed to just plug out another sequal setting up another sequal. Though I would like another book about Walker. Walker is pulled from his small cubicle at an insurance company by Stillman a "trouble shooter" and matures as the case proceeds and expands. At first he resists but since the case involves a former girl freind of his (who seems to be either setup or guilty of pulling of a 12 million dollar insurance scam), he feels the need to see the case through and prove her innocent. All the main characters were well developed and the plot was rivoting. The end was a little quick and the FBI involvement a little weak but all in all a great story.
Rating: 
Summary: Hopefully, the first of another great series.
Review: Thomas Perry has produced an excellent story, with fresh and intriguing characters, that is impossible to put down. He gives us enough to really care about the characters, and want to know more. I hope this is the first of a number of books about these characters.
Rating:
Summary: Good Perry, but not great Perry
Review: Thomas Perry is a superb storyteller. His "The Butcher's Boy" is a masterpiece of suspense. "Death Benefits" doesn't rise to that level, but it is still suspense, wonderfully woven. Ellen Synder, a fast rising star for the McLaren insurance company, leaves before dawn for a mysterious meeting. At McLaren's headquarters, John Walker, an analyst is taken under the wing by Max Stillman, a security investigator. Walker, who had a brief romance with Snyder, is needed because Snyder may have been somehow involved with a multi-million dollar fraud. Thus begins a cross-country journey with timeouts for a few dead bodies, a Florida hurricane, more insurance scams and more than one life threatening experience. Perry's characters have depth and are interesting. A burly computer hacker and his far more attractive associate get involved. The quest leads them ultimately to an odd New Hampshire town with centuries of thievery behind it - and a town where everyone packs a gun and wants to kill Walker, Stillman and Serena, the lissome computer hacker. The ending is a bit disappointing, but still well done. All said, it's Thomas Perry: a masterful suspense novelist at work. It's an enjoyable, often tense read. Jerry
Rating:
Summary: Good Perry, but not great Perry
Review: Thomas Perry is a superb storyteller. His "The Butcher's Boy" is a masterpiece of suspense. "Death Benefits" doesn't rise to that level, but it is still suspense, wonderfully woven. Ellen Synder, a fast rising star for the McLaren insurance company, leaves before dawn for a mysterious meeting. At McLaren's headquarters, John Walker, an analyst is taken under the wing by Max Stillman, a security investigator. Walker, who had a brief romance with Snyder, is needed because Snyder may have been somehow involved with a multi-million dollar fraud. Thus begins a cross-country journey with timeouts for a few dead bodies, a Florida hurricane, more insurance scams and more than one life threatening experience. Perry's characters have depth and are interesting. A burly computer hacker and his far more attractive associate get involved. The quest leads them ultimately to an odd New Hampshire town with centuries of thievery behind it - and a town where everyone packs a gun and wants to kill Walker, Stillman and Serena, the lissome computer hacker. The ending is a bit disappointing, but still well done. All said, it's Thomas Perry: a masterful suspense novelist at work. It's an enjoyable, often tense read. Jerry
Rating:
Summary: Oh, can this man write a thriller!
Review: Thomas Perry is the writer Grisham, Deaver, Frey, et al, only wish they could be. He has a crisp and lucid style -- never degenerates into the hardboiled (though I quite like that style on occasion) -- and he not only understands the way people act, but what's better, he knows how they REact. John Walker is bit younger, more naive, more conventional than any of Perry's protagonists I can recall, and he is the perfect foil for the cynical, earthy Stillman. Perry has a classic gift for delivering dialogue guaranteed to make me laughingly snort my cup of tea, an example being Stillman's theory that it's the soothing quality of doughnuts that makes the Red Cross foist them off on disaster victims. It's funny because, like so much that's funny, it's partly true. What more can I say? If you don't read this book it's your loss. And when you suddenly discover it in some used bookstore 10 years hence, you'll wonder why you ever resisted in the first place!
Rating:
Summary: Another great book by Thomas Perry
Review: Thomas Perry's biggest problem is trying to top his first and best book, 'The Butcher's Boy'. It's been a very entertaining journey so far, and 'Death Benefits' does not disappoint. Perry's writing skills are still at the top of their form - Here's an example from early on in the story: Stillman sat down and squinted up at the waiter for a few seconds as though the two of them were at 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 heels and went off. It seemed to Walker that the pad must be for appraising the customers, and Stillman had scored high. The characters are believable and, of course, as with every Perry novel, you learn something new in case you decide to embark on a life of crime. I knew the 'surprise' last quarter of the novel before the characters figured it out, but no big deal. It's a definite page turner. Read it!!
Rating:
Summary: Intrigue with Insurance Investigators
Review: Thomas Perry's newest novel shifts gears slightly from his successful Jane Whitefield series, but still focuses on missing persons, the occasional murder, and big money pay-offs. Death Benefits introduces us to John Walker and Max Stillman, investigators for a large family-owned insurance company, who are looking for Ellen Snyder, a missing young female insurance executive who is thought to have participated in a fraudulent $12 million death benefit claim. Walker is a deskbound claims analyst who is chosen by the mysterious Stillman, a hired private investigator, to find Ms. Snyder, and maybe the money. Walker has a past relationship with the missing Ms. Snyder, and Stillman plans to exploit this fact to track down his prey. The experienced Stillman and the young, almost naive Walker make an interesting pair, flying from one city to another, running into trouble along the way, committing a few break-ins and burglaries, and discovering that a giant conspirancy may be behind fraudulent death benefit claims. Perry throws in humor along the way, and is very good at balancing the knowing Stillman with the neophyte Walker. Throw in Serena, a mysterious computer hacker, who assists the insurance guys in their quest for the truth, and the end result is an enjoyable romp in the intrigue of insurance fraud. The last part of the book moves at a breakneck pace, and although the ending may appear rather abrupt, the reader looks forward to another pairing of Stillman and Walker, with Serena added for some flavoring.
Rating: 
Summary: I really really tried...
Review: to get through this book. I have devoured every Perry novel I've ever read-he is absolutely one of my favorite authors. That is why I kept reading it, hoping it would eventually capture my interest. I gave up on page 164. All I can say is that "Death Benifits" does not read anything like Perry's other novels...BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: More Please
Review: What can I say, Perry has another winner on his hands. Let's hope this is the start of another series.
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