The Policy » (Unabridged)

Patrick Lynch is a pseudonym for Philip Sington and Gary Humphreys, whose previous novels, Carriers and Omega were both national bestsellers. Carriers was made into a TV movie and Omega has been optioned by Universal. The authors divide their time between London and the South of France.

Patrick Lynch, best known for his tales of spellbinding medical suspense Carriers and Omega, returns with The Policy, a frighteningly plausible thriller about corruption, greed, and murder within the halls of a major insurance company. When Alex Tynan, an actuary with ProvLife Insurance, notices that her employer's numbers seem too good to be true, she grows suspicious of the company's moral standing. When one of ProvLife's executives is found dead, apparently by an accident in the home, Alex begins to investigate and is soon thrust into a dangerous web of corporate conspiracy and deceit.

Publishers Weekly

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.)