cover image The Policy

The Policy

Patrick Lynch. Dutton Books, $24.95 (384pp) ISBN 978-0-525-94340-2

How does a third-rate life insurance company in America's smallest state stop losing money and start raking in profits? They cheat. And kill. Take a brilliant scam that makes big bucks for top execs, a foolproof plan to move millions of dollars nearly risk-free into health-care (so credible that readers will suspect their own insurers), a deadly security enforcer--and add a poor 20-ish beauty fresh from grad school to gum up the works--and you get a top-notch thriller. Rhode Island's Provlife has skyrocketing profits and the lowest payouts in the industry when it makes a move into health insurance. Lovely Alex Tynan, a lowly new actuary, stumbles into a suspect stat, asks the wrong people the right questions and gets her bosses' attention in a bigger way than she imagined. A top v-p's fatal ""accident"" sends his secret mistress to Alex with tales of millions and a stolen computer printout. After the mistress turns up drowned, Alex unravels the computer text, dodging killers up to the final shoot-out in a Newport mansion. Assured writing and a sublimely sneaky imagination casts an actuary (arguably the mousiest occupation on the books) as the star of this nail-biter. The wintry Rhode Island setting is cut like a Cranston accent, while cold corporate games, masquerading as camaraderie, cast an icy menace throughout the proceedings. (Sept.)