Severance Package – Duane Swierczynski
Dec 10th, 2010 by Ashley
Grabbed this book randomly on the shelf in Milpitas Library. I was at a loss as to what to bring on this road trip we were to take. Generally you don’t need a book as much as a bunch of nicely made mixed tapes (CDs), which I had indeed prepared. But we were to fly to and fro Vegas and take off from there, so a book or two was essential. It further proved to be a wise move when we were in line for the Buffet at Wynn for THREE WHOLE HOURS.
The book stood out among its fellow hardcover competitions. I hate carrying hardcover books around. That’s probably why I rarely finished my hardcover books (e.g. Red Carpet and Other Banana Skins by Rupert Everett and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close By Jonathan Safran Foer.) Its description on the backcover intrigued me.
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.
It seemed to be a pleasant pulp read. So I checked it out, thinking I’d give it a 5-page probation before deciding whether I would take it. In any case, I’ve also checked out Lawrence Block’s Eight Million Ways to Die. It’s been a long while since I last read it. I’d like to rekindle my relationship with Matt Scudder.
So the night before my birthday, lying on my bed I opened Severance Package, and I was almost unable to put it down. I like how Swierczynski introduces his characters one by one in short paragraphs by following their movements prior to the meeting, so you feel like you know the “key personnels” instantly and are drawn to the events that were to happen to the them. But soon, the excitement fell over. What had seemed to be an intricate design turned into something haphazard, albeit lethal, which resembles the mess that confused the hell out of J.K. Simmons in Burn After Reading. The characters are flat and their personalities changed by the minute which makes it hard to feel for them. Their actions didn’t make sense, even the person who kept shouting “this doesn’t make sense” was not making much of it, and newly made revelations were not supported by previously made statements. And I am sure mocking the absurdity of life wasn’t its intention at all.
And the ending sucks! I’m usually very tolerate of mediocre ending cos I know firsthand how a good ending is hard to come by. But this is just plainly irresponsible and trying to look smart when it looks utterly foolish.