Books : Severance Package

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Author name: Duane Swierczynski

: Severance Package
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780312343804
ISBN number: 0312343809
Label: St. Martin's Minotaur
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: May 27, 2008
Publishing house: St. Martin's Minotaur
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 61753
Studio: St. Martin's Minotaur



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Editor's Notes and Comments:

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.





Customer Reviews
User popularity level: out of 5 stars

Rated by buyers 3 out of 5 stars - Falls apart about 2/3 through
This starts as a great fun read in the tradition of a Pulp Fiction or Sin City, or perhaps reaching back farther, the Most Dangerous Game. It has a cool setup with it's main characters locked in an office where they're to all be killed (for reasons that are never made clear). For more than half the book, the action proceeds in a fun if not overly plausible manner. But then things just go too far, Molly (the chick on the cover), turns into a Terminator like uber killing machine. We start spending too much time with the gay CI6 agents controlling the action (or are they). And the battles between the victims become way too predictable.

A shame really, because it really starts out so cool.


Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - What a ride!
This is the very first book that I have read by this author, but I know that it won't be the last. His style of writing is really "over the top", but in a good way. The plot is like taking a roller coaster ride into a series of dark tunnels, not knowing what's going to appear when you come out at the end of each one. The action is fast and furious, and if at times it seems a bit "too much", I can forgive that because the story is so engrossing and kept me turning page after page, eagerly devouring the events. The characters aren't really well-defined, but perhaps in a book of this type they don't really need to be. Read it for yourself and see what I mean.


Rated by buyers 2 out of 5 stars - Something to read in the laundromat
This book reads quickly, and thank god because otherwise I would have put it down at some point. I almost did in the very first couple chapters, but morbid curiosity kept drawing me on. Not regarding the story necessarily, but because 1) I wanted to see how many self-referential items the author would include in this book. Can any Philadelphia author NOT write like all they can make is bad fanfic about Rittenhouse Square? All the silly references to local bars, restaurants, convenience store chains, etc, not even well described as if written only for a Philadelphia local. I disagree with the comment that he brings the details of the city to life. Rather, I think he self-indulgently assumes his reader will appreciate these references; and 2) His use of real people and places, as he puts it, "used fictitiously". Usually, I expect a fiction writer to put more work into their book, come up with a more original story, not just overlay what reads like a violent and disturbing daydream over real people and places (yes I can easily guess who he based characters on and where he based places on, etc), like when kids tell stories but change "Benny" to "Lenny". This would have been a great story told at summer camp, but it doesn't quite work as a serious book.


Rated by buyers 4 out of 5 stars - A "Kill Bill" sensibililty
When someone tells me a book is written with a movie script in mind, it turns me off. But What if you could watch a terrific, violent movie and read the characters' minds? This harrowing scary ride of a book does that. Very simple, yet too vivid not to enjoy. The author tells you terrible things, and he feels for his characters, but that doesn't stop him from telling the tale.


Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - As sudden as a blood soaked Pink Slip
Brutal. Violent. Relentless. Fun. This could be easily be a four-word review, as these particular words go a long way in preparing you for Bill Swierczynski third novel, out on the heels of The Blonde. Severance Package does a wonderful job of combining corporate office politics and the deadly world of nothing-is-as-it-seems espionage, raising the question of exactly which profession is more ruthless, cut throat, and soullessly ambitious. One would be tempting to describe it as a cross between The Office and Three Days of the Condor, but that would barely be doing it justice.

Bill Swierczynski's writing style has one major asset that many authors tend to overlook these days: brevity. His descriptions are colorful and informative, yet they aren't weighed down by their own poetic license. Characters and locations are set up and knocked down as quickly and efficiently as dominoes, without ever leaving the reader confused or unsatisfied.

Even the story itself, which takes place in the time frame of a few hours, is tight and compact, with all of the action and suspense layered delicately from beginning to end. Swierczynski's storytelling style is as quick and hard hitting as a lead sap to the temple.

The comic book reminiscent illustrations scattered throughout the book are interesting and fun, even though some might find them a little distracting. Of course, considering that Swierczynski authored the Cable series for Marvel Comics, and is currently helming a six issue run of The Punisher in Garth Ennis' absence, the presence of the silhouette artwork is understandable.

If you like your novels short, sweet, and chock full of balls-to-the-wall action, you should definitely not pass this one up. Just don't forget to punch in.


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