Mortal Risk is a debut novel by Lester James Nixon. Nixon had a long history of working in the insurance industry. I was also an expert in the insurance industry although my expertise had to do with being a form of medical examiner in which both sides of a case would hire me to arbitrate psychiatric claims. On the one hand, it was clear that the insurance side tended not to believe anyone who filed a claim, and on the other, nearly everyone I saw over a span of 35 years had a tendency to exaggerate their claims, sometimes even when the claims were quite solid.
In this story, the insurance companies had sought help from murderers to knock of claimants whose claims would eventually cost the companies millions of dollars. For example, a young claimant who was healthy enough to live a long life, but who would have astronomical medical expenses along the way. Even a retiree with an enviable benefits package who would die soon from an aggressive form of cancer, but then his estate would receive a huge payout, unless the death was deemed a suicide and not the disease itself. There are other such scenarios. The story was so outrageous and unbelievable that the cops would never believe in the conspiracy, so at great risk, the criminal operators had to be caught in the act if they were ever to be punished. Those who died had heart wrenching stories.
The story was mostly carried by dialogue rather than a narration. I’ve often found that delivering such action by dialogue makes it difficult to sustain the fever of action that makes for a spellbinding story. I thought the author designed a good plot but I found the dialogue often to be lacking, not keeping the energy going in an intense way. I rate this one at 3 ½ out of 5, and it’s in my category of airplane books. I can’t give it a strong recommendation.
No comments:
Post a Comment