What do you think?
Rate this book
Severance Package
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 the hard way.
Paperback
First published May 27, 2008
24 people are currently reading
709 people want to read
About the author
Duane Swierczynski
525 books915 followersDuane Swierczynski is an American crime writer who has written a number of non-fiction books, novels and also writes for comic books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 244 reviews
July 24, 2012
Severance Package is a wickedly adrenalized, pulsating, page-turning piece of pulp. Like seriously, wtf? Everything is exquisitely exaggerated and unleashed in comic technicolor. I would love to have seen this as a graphic novel actually (or a slick Tarantino cinematic production), since so many of its best characteristics are both visceral and visual.
This novel IS NOT grounded in realism, flirting much more with parody and noir. And what can I say? I loved it! It's bloody and ridiculous. Unbelievable and silly. Yet still manages to keep you riveted and rapidly turning pages to see what the freakin' hell is going to happen next. Awesome for summer. Brain candy of the sweetest kind (that will rot your brain if you consume too much) ... but this ... this is the perfect amount presenting the perfect escape from life's stresses (and asshole bosses).
December 13, 2021
This is a review I wrote some time ago about Severance Package. I was...displeased by this ^ book. Today I came across a book that looks "very interesting. The synopsis almost convinced me to buy it. Then I checked out who wrote it...yep another book by Mr. Swierczynski.
I am checking with other readers on that one before I spend money on it and even if it gets rave reviews, after this one I'll go very slowly before spending money on it.
Severance Package
************ SPOILER ALERT **************
I decided to put everything below under a spoiler tag as there was no way to describe thispile of excr errrr puddle of vomi ahhh, uhhh I mean disappointing piece of crap err, novel, yes that's it a disappointing novel... Anyway there's not way to discuss my disappointment without some open discussion of what passes for a story here.
Anyway, I'm putting it almost all under a spoiler tag.
Another major disappointment....and I "bought" this one, that is paid good money, actual legal tender that could have been used for other things like food, utilities, rent, toilet paper.....a readable book. It bears out a rule I should have learned to live by long ago. Don't buy a book just because the synopsis sounds "really interesting".
The premise of this book sounds fascinating. You go into work and the place you work turns out to have been a front for a shadowy intelligence service that's being shut down. The management staff are being retired, permanently. In other words you're to be killed.
I am checking with other readers on that one before I spend money on it and even if it gets rave reviews, after this one I'll go very slowly before spending money on it.
Severance Package
************ SPOILER ALERT **************
I decided to put everything below under a spoiler tag as there was no way to describe this
Anyway, I'm putting it almost all under a spoiler tag.
Another major disappointment....and I "bought" this one, that is paid good money, actual legal tender that could have been used for other things like food, utilities, rent, toilet paper.....a readable book. It bears out a rule I should have learned to live by long ago. Don't buy a book just because the synopsis sounds "really interesting".
The premise of this book sounds fascinating. You go into work and the place you work turns out to have been a front for a shadowy intelligence service that's being shut down. The management staff are being retired, permanently. In other words you're to be killed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2021
Fast paced, graphic and ultra violent. I saw another reviewer say it was Tarantino-esque, and I can definitely agree with that. My only quibble is with the very end, and by that I mean literally like the last couple of pages. It was easy to see the twist coming and I spent the last few pages hoping I wasn’t right; I was. But still, all in all it was very entertaining. I’ll probably try another Swierczynski in the future.
March 18, 2012
Getting called in to work on a saturday? That is the worst. Getting called in to work on a Saturday and being told that you're a front for a secret government counter-terrorism unit? That's.. interesting. Getting called in to work on a Saturday and being told that your office is being shut down and you're all going to be killed? Well, is it too late to take a sick day?
Swierczynski gives us the third installment in a sort of Philly-based unofficial crime trilogy. I say unofficial because it doesn't appear to be listed as one - even though a character from The Wheelman carries over to The Blonde followed by a character from that carring over to Severance Package. It shoud be noted that these all take place in the same city roughly a year apart.
Out of the three, this was probably the most violent - and that's saying something. It also has one of the coolest fight scenes I've encountered. If anything, Swierczynski has taught me to stay away from plate glass windows if I ever get involved in a fight with a trained assassain - they will use those windows if need be.
Outside of Lisbeth in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Molly Lewis is easily the most badass female lead out there. There are points where I swear I heard the trademark score from the Terminator films as she pursued her co-workers.
On the back of the novel, it says it begs for someone like Tarantino to direct the movie version. While I don't know if it fits his style; I couldn't help but think about the movie "Shoot 'Em Up" while I read this book. It's probably the closest thing I can think of in terms of what already exists. It's full of cliche dialouge and over-the-top violence. At this point, I would expect nothing less from Swierczynski - and that's not a bad thing.
Swierczynski gives us the third installment in a sort of Philly-based unofficial crime trilogy. I say unofficial because it doesn't appear to be listed as one - even though a character from The Wheelman carries over to The Blonde followed by a character from that carring over to Severance Package. It shoud be noted that these all take place in the same city roughly a year apart.
Out of the three, this was probably the most violent - and that's saying something. It also has one of the coolest fight scenes I've encountered. If anything, Swierczynski has taught me to stay away from plate glass windows if I ever get involved in a fight with a trained assassain - they will use those windows if need be.
Outside of Lisbeth in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Molly Lewis is easily the most badass female lead out there. There are points where I swear I heard the trademark score from the Terminator films as she pursued her co-workers.
On the back of the novel, it says it begs for someone like Tarantino to direct the movie version. While I don't know if it fits his style; I couldn't help but think about the movie "Shoot 'Em Up" while I read this book. It's probably the closest thing I can think of in terms of what already exists. It's full of cliche dialouge and over-the-top violence. At this point, I would expect nothing less from Swierczynski - and that's not a bad thing.
January 30, 2018
Another outrageous all action thriller from Duane Swierczynski. Half a dozen "key personnel" of a firm that they're told is cover for a CIA operation are called in for a special meeting in the company's conference room on the 36th floor of a large office block in Philadelphia. Their boss shocks them by saying that they must drink the champagne provided and they'll all "fall asleep" - forever. If they refuse, he'll shoot them in the head. And that's when the fun starts.
There's a lot of violence - most of it committed by the 3 women in the group - while one of the men is incapacitated by a sarin gas canister attached to one of the exit doors on the stairs. Most of this disparate group of men and women are not what they seem and all the while their every move is being monitored by 2 men in a flat in Edinburgh, Scotland.
As usual with a Duane Swierczynski story, the action is non-stop while confusion (and violence) reigns, before we begin to piece the truth - or some of it - together. The humour is plentiful and jet black. If you can stomach people being stabbed, shot and savagely beaten at an alarming speed, then this is the book for you. Wallow in it!!!
There's a lot of violence - most of it committed by the 3 women in the group - while one of the men is incapacitated by a sarin gas canister attached to one of the exit doors on the stairs. Most of this disparate group of men and women are not what they seem and all the while their every move is being monitored by 2 men in a flat in Edinburgh, Scotland.
As usual with a Duane Swierczynski story, the action is non-stop while confusion (and violence) reigns, before we begin to piece the truth - or some of it - together. The humour is plentiful and jet black. If you can stomach people being stabbed, shot and savagely beaten at an alarming speed, then this is the book for you. Wallow in it!!!
November 17, 2019
For the past 30 years I've worked in the soul-sucking corporate world of cubicles and department meetings. Office cliques aren't really any different from high school cliques; you're either a cool kid or you're not. I've been in both camps through absolutely no effort on my part. I just want to put in my time and go home and not tell anyone about what I do for a living. So a novel about a handful of office workers at each other's throats one Saturday afternoon would be right in my wheelhouse. A vicarious fantasy to snack on. This was a fun book for what it is. It's extremely violent and over-the-top action. It would be a terrible movie. It would be a terrific graphic novel. It makes little sense in the end. And I loved Molly throughout.
June 28, 2008
There's been a terrible mix-up. Author Duane Swierczynski seems to have submitted this screenplay to a publishing house, and it somehow got printed and marketed as a book.
Rife with cliche, Severance Package is about a wimp whose boss decides to kill his company. Cheesy, comic-book violence prevails, which I guess is supposed to be both fun and shocking.
Maybe it's because I just finished a *real* violent book reading with literary value (Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle), but Severance Package just seemed kind of... lame.
You've seen this story a thousand times. Save your eyes a night of hard work and go watch something with Angelina Jolie in it instead.
Rife with cliche, Severance Package is about a wimp whose boss decides to kill his company. Cheesy, comic-book violence prevails, which I guess is supposed to be both fun and shocking.
Maybe it's because I just finished a *real* violent book reading with literary value (Murakami's Wind-Up Bird Chronicle), but Severance Package just seemed kind of... lame.
You've seen this story a thousand times. Save your eyes a night of hard work and go watch something with Angelina Jolie in it instead.
September 16, 2011
Interesting premise that descends into an unending orgy of violence.
March 18, 2008
I flew through this book and enjoyed every minute of it. It's an action-packed story about a finance company that's actually a front organization for a black ops anti-terrorist squad. Apparently, the orders have come down for the entire squad to be liquidated, and the book begins with the boss telling his entire managerial staff that the reason he called them in for a Saturday morning meeting is because he has to kill them all (and himself as well). He's booby-trapped all of the exits from their offices on the 36th floor of a Philadelphia high-rise, and he would prefer that they all submit quietly to the quick, painless death he's offering them. They, of course, do not, but rather than banding together to get out of the situation, the employees instead demonstrate agendas of their own, some of which are in direct conflict. By 1/5 of the way through the book, the situation has become a bloody battle royale in which every person must fend for themselves and no one is what they seem.
This book is relatively short--only 250 pages--and almost all of it is devoted to straight-up action. The author almost certainly had to make a conscious choice to keep backstory and character development to a minimum. This choice could have hurt the book as a whole if it weren't for the fact that its incredibly fast-paced narrative was both creative and attention-grabbing. "Severance Package" is such a page-turner that you don't even miss the character detail that you're not given. In fact, it helps to keep the plot enjoyable despite the fact that the characters are all pretty much doomed from the start. If you cared about them too much, the many brutal things that happen to them over the course of the book might make the read less enjoyable and more of an ordeal. As it is, "Severance Package" stays fun despite the brutality. It's the sort of nihilistic, blackly humorous romp that the best post-modern action movies are made of. If this book isn't sitting on Robert Rodriguez's desk right now, it should be.
This book is relatively short--only 250 pages--and almost all of it is devoted to straight-up action. The author almost certainly had to make a conscious choice to keep backstory and character development to a minimum. This choice could have hurt the book as a whole if it weren't for the fact that its incredibly fast-paced narrative was both creative and attention-grabbing. "Severance Package" is such a page-turner that you don't even miss the character detail that you're not given. In fact, it helps to keep the plot enjoyable despite the fact that the characters are all pretty much doomed from the start. If you cared about them too much, the many brutal things that happen to them over the course of the book might make the read less enjoyable and more of an ordeal. As it is, "Severance Package" stays fun despite the brutality. It's the sort of nihilistic, blackly humorous romp that the best post-modern action movies are made of. If this book isn't sitting on Robert Rodriguez's desk right now, it should be.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2021
My actual rating is 2.75 Stars. Since I don't enjoy rating a book less than 3 stars, I rounded up lol. It's not that I disliked the book, but I just wanted more from it. I love a good action book every now and then, even the violence if there's a rhyme and reason for it (ex. justifiable revenge, self-defense, good vs evil, etc.)….but this was just too much and too little at the same time, and maybe that's all it was meant to be *shoulder shrug*
March 22, 2015
Perhaps the best way I can describe this book is to say it's as if Swierczynski reverse-engineered a movie that was Die Hard meets The Bourne Identity meets The Expendables. Wasn't that a novel? No? Well then write a novel based on the movie. It is non-stop mayhem with characters taking Rocky like punishment and then continuing to perform superhuman feats. So it has the flavor of a comic book and of grossly unrealistic but nonetheless entertaining action movies. Strong elements of parody, as well. Hopefully intentional. It's a super fast read and the plot propels you to the bloodied end. Enjoyable, but not without its shortcomings. Big chunks of the plot seemed to be made up on the fly; can't tell if that is part of the parody or how the book was actually written. There's a lot of unnecessary repetition, particularly early in the book. Some of that is a function of the multiple close third-person narrators, but we really don't need to have the scene replayed multiple times. The switch in POVs doesn't buy much because all the narrators pretty much sound like the same voice. Think omniscient POV would have allowed a smoother flow.
October 6, 2008
Make sure to read this thing in one sitting. It wouldn't be quite as effective otherwise. Recommended for anyone looking for a BATTLE ROYALE-like rush.
April 6, 2011
There's a cliche that pops up in cartoons and old slapstick comedies. A character with a ball and chain 'round his/her ankle stuffs said ball into a cannon, lights the cannon's fuse and shoots himself/herself over a wall. Well, you can't do that in real life---they already proved it impossible (and extremely dangerous, obviously) on "Mythbusters". But you can do it reading a book.
That book is SEVERANCE PACKAGE by Duane Swierczynski. Do you want to taste the power of great storytelling? Cleanse your palate and dig in. Do you want a story that blasts off like a rocket from the first page and doesn't let up until the last? Look here. Do you like action scenes that are so potent, they play like mind-movies that make you forget you're reading? This is for you. Do you enjoy three-dimensional characters (i.e., flawed human beings, not perfect superheroes or neurotic basket cases) who, by book's end, feel like old friends? Welcome home. In SEVERANCE PACKAGE, Duane Swierczynski serves up all this and more.
I'm going to be a smarta*s here and refuse to summarize the plotline for you. If you want that, go to amazon.com. All I can say is that the first time I cracked SEVERANCE PACKAGE, I read 130 pages in one sitting. And I'm no speed-reader. Much like the aforementioned cartoon character chained to that cannonball, the minute I started this book, I found myself helplessly pulled along with the story. I finished the rest of it two days later. Thank God it was a weekend. Once I started this novel, I didn't want to do anything else until I finished it.
Duane Swierczynski's writing here is so cinematic, so action-packed, you suspect Quentin Tarantino teamed up with comics artist Jack Kirby to pen a novel. But Swierczynski goes past anything either one of those guys (whom I respect) ever did. The women, for example, in SEVERANCE PACKAGE (Amy, Nicole and especially, Molly) make the Bride from KILL BILL look like June Cleaver. And Swierczynski packs enough twists and turns between these covers to keep you guessing until the end. Then, he still keeps you guessing. And hoping for a sequel.
Enough said. Go get this book and read it. When you're done, Duane Swierczynski will be your new favorite author. He's already mine.
That book is SEVERANCE PACKAGE by Duane Swierczynski. Do you want to taste the power of great storytelling? Cleanse your palate and dig in. Do you want a story that blasts off like a rocket from the first page and doesn't let up until the last? Look here. Do you like action scenes that are so potent, they play like mind-movies that make you forget you're reading? This is for you. Do you enjoy three-dimensional characters (i.e., flawed human beings, not perfect superheroes or neurotic basket cases) who, by book's end, feel like old friends? Welcome home. In SEVERANCE PACKAGE, Duane Swierczynski serves up all this and more.
I'm going to be a smarta*s here and refuse to summarize the plotline for you. If you want that, go to amazon.com. All I can say is that the first time I cracked SEVERANCE PACKAGE, I read 130 pages in one sitting. And I'm no speed-reader. Much like the aforementioned cartoon character chained to that cannonball, the minute I started this book, I found myself helplessly pulled along with the story. I finished the rest of it two days later. Thank God it was a weekend. Once I started this novel, I didn't want to do anything else until I finished it.
Duane Swierczynski's writing here is so cinematic, so action-packed, you suspect Quentin Tarantino teamed up with comics artist Jack Kirby to pen a novel. But Swierczynski goes past anything either one of those guys (whom I respect) ever did. The women, for example, in SEVERANCE PACKAGE (Amy, Nicole and especially, Molly) make the Bride from KILL BILL look like June Cleaver. And Swierczynski packs enough twists and turns between these covers to keep you guessing until the end. Then, he still keeps you guessing. And hoping for a sequel.
Enough said. Go get this book and read it. When you're done, Duane Swierczynski will be your new favorite author. He's already mine.
December 6, 2011
David Murphy has called a mandatory Saturday meeting for his key employees. Everyone's pretty pissed about this (who wants to work on a SATURDAY?!) but that's before they get there. When they arrive, they learn that the elevator's been disabled, there's a bomb on the stairway exits and they have two choices: drink poison for a fast, painless death or get shot in the head (which may be fast and painless or may not. Hard to tell).
A blurb on the back says that this book "begs for the next Tarantino to direct" and I completely agree. It definitely seems like a Tarantino movie (or his future replacement) and that's basically all you need to know about this book and the insane level of violence in it.
Because the employees? They do not go gentle into that good night. There are a lot of unexpected twists throughout, and it seems like pretty much everyone has a secret (which generally tends to be an affinity with a weapon).
One of the things I really like is when authors have characters cross over from book to book. There's a cameo here from one of the minor characters in The Blonde (which itself is connected to The Wheelman). I love feeling like it's a real world I'm reading about. (Except for the fact that Duane Swierczynski writes about a world I don't really want to be part of, since I am not a fan of real world violence.)
I'm a little mad at everyone I know who has read Duane Swierczynski and didn't clue me in about how insanely awesome his books are. Still, I guess the important thing is that I'm here now. I've read everything except for one other book, and I'm hoping to read that one soon.
Highly recommended (if you have a strong stomach. If not, remember, I DID warn you about the violence and the blood.)
A blurb on the back says that this book "begs for the next Tarantino to direct" and I completely agree. It definitely seems like a Tarantino movie (or his future replacement) and that's basically all you need to know about this book and the insane level of violence in it.
Because the employees? They do not go gentle into that good night. There are a lot of unexpected twists throughout, and it seems like pretty much everyone has a secret (which generally tends to be an affinity with a weapon).
One of the things I really like is when authors have characters cross over from book to book. There's a cameo here from one of the minor characters in The Blonde (which itself is connected to The Wheelman). I love feeling like it's a real world I'm reading about. (Except for the fact that Duane Swierczynski writes about a world I don't really want to be part of, since I am not a fan of real world violence.)
I'm a little mad at everyone I know who has read Duane Swierczynski and didn't clue me in about how insanely awesome his books are. Still, I guess the important thing is that I'm here now. I've read everything except for one other book, and I'm hoping to read that one soon.
Highly recommended (if you have a strong stomach. If not, remember, I DID warn you about the violence and the blood.)
February 16, 2019
This book is nuts.
The premise is nifty. Your boss calls you in for a weekend meeting, then proceeds to tell you and your co-workers that the office was a front, it's been shut down, and now he has to kill you.
From there, it gets weird. Like, "psychotic Russian gymnasts doing a routine down twenty flights of stairs to outrun a cloud of sarin gas" kind of weird. That's not a metaphor, it's an actual example from the book.
The action is non-stop, brutal, and often ridiculous. One person performs an emergency tracheotomy on themselves, another gets their hands cut off by a dismantled paper-cutter. Vicious, lunatic action, and not for those with weak stomachs or faint hearts.
The plot has loose ties to The Wheelman and The Blonde, but you don't need to read those first. If you like this, though, you will dig those.
This is a breakneck thriller, but not a tidy one. There are some major plot holes, and a shock ending that doesn't really make any sense. This is visceral, not cerebral, and if you can't or won't turn your brain off for it, go elsewhere for your thrills.
I love it, though, and will probably read it at least a third time, because sometimes you need something dark, nasty, and silly.
The premise is nifty. Your boss calls you in for a weekend meeting, then proceeds to tell you and your co-workers that the office was a front, it's been shut down, and now he has to kill you.
From there, it gets weird. Like, "psychotic Russian gymnasts doing a routine down twenty flights of stairs to outrun a cloud of sarin gas" kind of weird. That's not a metaphor, it's an actual example from the book.
The action is non-stop, brutal, and often ridiculous. One person performs an emergency tracheotomy on themselves, another gets their hands cut off by a dismantled paper-cutter. Vicious, lunatic action, and not for those with weak stomachs or faint hearts.
The plot has loose ties to The Wheelman and The Blonde, but you don't need to read those first. If you like this, though, you will dig those.
This is a breakneck thriller, but not a tidy one. There are some major plot holes, and a shock ending that doesn't really make any sense. This is visceral, not cerebral, and if you can't or won't turn your brain off for it, go elsewhere for your thrills.
I love it, though, and will probably read it at least a third time, because sometimes you need something dark, nasty, and silly.
September 4, 2008
I love gallows humor. And Duane Swierczynski delivers. It's film noir meets TV's The Office, with a healthy dose of superfluous bedlam. The plot requires one to suspend disbelief, but it's over-the-top funny. Talk about taking fluid rounds (after-work drinking) a step to far, Duane does it with great style. I wonder if he'll be at B'Con 2008 and can I buy him a beer?
Now I'm the girl who likes Jason Statham, Sam Jackson, and Frank Miller movies. Duane's novels have the feel of graphic comic-book novels. Why just shoot them when you can watch them get beat to pulp for three minutes then get shot? If you enjoy gratuitous violence, outrageous plot twists, and need to blow off some vicarious steam towards the boss. Then this is your book. If you can find humor in the telling by someone how they stepped on their own foot and broke it then you'll laugh all the way through this one.
Now I'm the girl who likes Jason Statham, Sam Jackson, and Frank Miller movies. Duane's novels have the feel of graphic comic-book novels. Why just shoot them when you can watch them get beat to pulp for three minutes then get shot? If you enjoy gratuitous violence, outrageous plot twists, and need to blow off some vicarious steam towards the boss. Then this is your book. If you can find humor in the telling by someone how they stepped on their own foot and broke it then you'll laugh all the way through this one.
July 7, 2016
Not much of a story here and what little there is was exremely cliché...
February 20, 2019
Имам забележки, но са неуместни, имайки предвид, че „Обезщетението” няма никакви претенции за „висока” литература. Просто господин Шверджински ни поднася поредната порция кръвожадно угощение с много пуцане, ритане, мъчения и отрязани крайници.
Но, да го оставя да ви разкаже за...
... Джейми. Наскоро станал баща начинаещ писател, който отива на оперативка след месец бащинство. В събота! И на всичкото отгоре шефът му заявява, че всички на оперативката трябва да умрат, за предпочитане като се отровят с шампанско, за по-стеснителните – куршум в главата. Трийсет и шестия етаж е капсулован, асансьорите изключени, а стълбищата заредени с зарин. Или...
... Дейв. Шеф на корпоративна фирма, прикриваща антитерористични финансови операции, на окйто са поръчали да закрива. За предпочитане с осем трупа и взрив. Или..
...Моли. Наскоро постъпила в ЦР-6 оперативен агент, която е решила да се докаже на наблюдателите, като изземе функциите на шефа си и пречука всички. Или...
...Никол. Внедрен агент на ЦРУ, която за три години не е хванала шефа си в нито една издънка. До тази събота. Или...
...Ани. Или...
...Пол. Или...
...Кийн.
Забавна касапница на малко площ и ограничен текст. Героите са само скицирани, с достатъчно ретроспекции за мотивация. Ситуацията е неясна. Мазалото е много.
Най-големия минус за мен беше постоянното изкачане на 11 септември. Вярно че става въпрос, малко или много, за антитерористи, ала ВСЯКА ретроспекция беше свързьана с това. Ми писна ми от това мрънкане. Ясно, трагедия, голяма, ама ми писна всеки да ми я набива, все едно е холкоста.
Но, да го оставя да ви разкаже за...
... Джейми. Наскоро станал баща начинаещ писател, който отива на оперативка след месец бащинство. В събота! И на всичкото отгоре шефът му заявява, че всички на оперативката трябва да умрат, за предпочитане като се отровят с шампанско, за по-стеснителните – куршум в главата. Трийсет и шестия етаж е капсулован, асансьорите изключени, а стълбищата заредени с зарин. Или...
... Дейв. Шеф на корпоративна фирма, прикриваща антитерористични финансови операции, на окйто са поръчали да закрива. За предпочитане с осем трупа и взрив. Или..
...Моли. Наскоро постъпила в ЦР-6 оперативен агент, която е решила да се докаже на наблюдателите, като изземе функциите на шефа си и пречука всички. Или...
...Никол. Внедрен агент на ЦРУ, която за три години не е хванала шефа си в нито една издънка. До тази събота. Или...
...Ани. Или...
...Пол. Или...
...Кийн.
Забавна касапница на малко площ и ограничен текст. Героите са само скицирани, с достатъчно ретроспекции за мотивация. Ситуацията е неясна. Мазалото е много.
Най-големия минус за мен беше постоянното изкачане на 11 септември. Вярно че става въпрос, малко или много, за антитерористи, ала ВСЯКА ретроспекция беше свързьана с това. Ми писна ми от това мрънкане. Ясно, трагедия, голяма, ама ми писна всеки да ми я набива, все едно е холкоста.
June 17, 2018
Nothing good ever comes to people forced into work on a Saturday. This is especially true when you find out your office has been a front for a secret counterterrorism agency that’s been shut down and, well, everyone knows just a little too much. The solution? Drink the spiked champagne and go to sleep peacefully (and permanently) -- or get your brains blown out. Lucky for the reader, some choose to fight back and it's the bloody mess you hoped it would be. This book reads like a graphic novel or a Tarantino script, though maybe I'm giving it too much credit. Bottom line: It's a fun, fast read and that's the most you can expect from a book like this.
February 19, 2023
The final twist left me cold and was frankly unnecessary. That being said this was an entertaining airplane novel and I employed it as such, enjoying it very much over the course of my trip.
It was pretty cool fun.
It was pretty cool fun.
August 25, 2008
By now you've read all the adjectives describing Swiercynski's latest creative spin on mayhem: graphically brutal, uber-violent, twisted, and over-the-top. And yeah, it reads like a comic book - or at least like Frank Miller's remarkably distorted gore fest in film: "Sin City". But I couldn't help feeling that in Swierczynski's beautifully warped mind "Severance Package" is his idea of a love story - a totally off-the-rails dissection of love gone bad in ways that we mere mortals could never conjure, but can certainly enjoy. Intersecting stories of unrequited love, fake love, undying love and perverted love running jagged and bloodied through an adrenaline-charged broken field rush through the seemingly benign corridors of drab cubes, conference rooms and corner offices - a high rise nightmare of terror that simultaneously conjures images of 9/11 and "Die Hard."
So you've probably got the plot by now - a crew of seemingly work-a-day Philadelphia office drones are dragged into the office on a typically and oppressively hot and humid Philadelphia Saturday morning, generally bitching or specifically fighting off hangovers, for a secret and critically important meeting called by boss David Murphy. But much to their collective, um, chagrin, Murphy offers a couple of non compelling choices: take poison or a .22 slug to the head - either way you've got to die (attention "spoiler police": this is already disclosed on the book jacket). From this bizarre premise of the ultimate in wacko bosses and bad days is the office, Swierczynski pens a raucous and wonderfully convoluted tale of clandestine operations, extreme office politics, survival and black humor in a voice that is uniquely his own, and is fast becoming the high bar in pop pulp fiction.
With this guy, the superlatives just can't capture his originality, hip irreverence, and street smart wit. So maybe it is the literary equivalent of eye candy, maybe it is impossibly violent, and maybe no one will ever confuse it with Tolstoy or Faulkner. But it will also never be confused with the drivel of contemporary crime "thrillers" that tend to make best seller lists these days. Starting with "The Wheelman", Duane Swiercynski has been reeling off contemporary noir hits each more outrageous than the predecessor - "The Blond", the brilliantly offbeat "Secret Dead Men" - while compiling a terrific anthology of crime, "Geezer Noir", in his spare time.
In any event, call it what you will, but do yourself a favor and just read all of these new crime classics - in thirty years folks will be talking about Swierczynski with the same sense of awe and reverence reserved today for Chandler, Thompson, and Hammett. Keep 'em coming, Duane!
So you've probably got the plot by now - a crew of seemingly work-a-day Philadelphia office drones are dragged into the office on a typically and oppressively hot and humid Philadelphia Saturday morning, generally bitching or specifically fighting off hangovers, for a secret and critically important meeting called by boss David Murphy. But much to their collective, um, chagrin, Murphy offers a couple of non compelling choices: take poison or a .22 slug to the head - either way you've got to die (attention "spoiler police": this is already disclosed on the book jacket). From this bizarre premise of the ultimate in wacko bosses and bad days is the office, Swierczynski pens a raucous and wonderfully convoluted tale of clandestine operations, extreme office politics, survival and black humor in a voice that is uniquely his own, and is fast becoming the high bar in pop pulp fiction.
With this guy, the superlatives just can't capture his originality, hip irreverence, and street smart wit. So maybe it is the literary equivalent of eye candy, maybe it is impossibly violent, and maybe no one will ever confuse it with Tolstoy or Faulkner. But it will also never be confused with the drivel of contemporary crime "thrillers" that tend to make best seller lists these days. Starting with "The Wheelman", Duane Swiercynski has been reeling off contemporary noir hits each more outrageous than the predecessor - "The Blond", the brilliantly offbeat "Secret Dead Men" - while compiling a terrific anthology of crime, "Geezer Noir", in his spare time.
In any event, call it what you will, but do yourself a favor and just read all of these new crime classics - in thirty years folks will be talking about Swierczynski with the same sense of awe and reverence reserved today for Chandler, Thompson, and Hammett. Keep 'em coming, Duane!
January 5, 2015
Severance Package - Duane Swierczynski
Duane Swierczynski… people in the book world will remember him for books like “The Blond”. Comic book readers will remember him as the new force behind the Marvel series Cable and Iron fist.. he also has a couple one offs i have never heard of.
Severance Package was published last year. I had seen it on a number of bookstore shelves but never bothered to pick it up. It looked like manga and i just dont dig on the manga. US comics yes, Japanese comics, rarely. Yes, I remember. no judging of books based on how they look… bad jason BAAAD jason..
So I am at work one day and a friend of mine, Shannon, caught me downstairs at work one day and pressed its glorious rough paperyness into my hands. Its rough cut pages and soft wafflely cover immediately caugth my attention.
The front cover carried some cheesy text, “ever want to kill your boss? well guess what, the feeling is mutual”.. i could have done with out that blurb..
So, enough.. the book, as stated on the back of the cover. The main character gets called into work on a Saturday. There is a big meeting, and he has to drop what he is doing to head in early on a day off. On his arrival, he enters a room with a few people, some Pepperidge farms cookies, and all the makings for a bunch of mimosas.
The boss man tells people that they are a front for a blag bag spy operation and that their funding has been pulled. everyone in the room will die today. The only choice they have is to drink a mimosa and die peacefully by fast acting poison, or get a bullet in the brain.
Sarin gas, explosives, acrobatics, torture, mutilation, humor, firefights… this book has it all. Everything takes place in about a 1 hour period of time from what I can tell.
There really isn’t much to talk about with this book. it gets your heart racing a little, and you are wide eyed through out the book. it is very enjoyable. This is a fast read, you pick it up and you do not put it down until you are done. you get sucked into the plot and are not given much of an opportunity to get to know any individual. It is the story that matters, less about the individuals and more about the situation they are all in. Who is a “bad guy/good guy” is less important than their interactions.
Severance Package is not by any means a classic. Regardless of the intentions of most authors, I doubt it will have a huge impact on the written world. What it does have an impact on is your cerebellum and stomach. It hits you where your bruises will not show, and you smile when the aching settles in. Then you tell others to read it :)
--
xpost RawBlurb.com
Duane Swierczynski… people in the book world will remember him for books like “The Blond”. Comic book readers will remember him as the new force behind the Marvel series Cable and Iron fist.. he also has a couple one offs i have never heard of.
Severance Package was published last year. I had seen it on a number of bookstore shelves but never bothered to pick it up. It looked like manga and i just dont dig on the manga. US comics yes, Japanese comics, rarely. Yes, I remember. no judging of books based on how they look… bad jason BAAAD jason..
So I am at work one day and a friend of mine, Shannon, caught me downstairs at work one day and pressed its glorious rough paperyness into my hands. Its rough cut pages and soft wafflely cover immediately caugth my attention.
The front cover carried some cheesy text, “ever want to kill your boss? well guess what, the feeling is mutual”.. i could have done with out that blurb..
So, enough.. the book, as stated on the back of the cover. The main character gets called into work on a Saturday. There is a big meeting, and he has to drop what he is doing to head in early on a day off. On his arrival, he enters a room with a few people, some Pepperidge farms cookies, and all the makings for a bunch of mimosas.
The boss man tells people that they are a front for a blag bag spy operation and that their funding has been pulled. everyone in the room will die today. The only choice they have is to drink a mimosa and die peacefully by fast acting poison, or get a bullet in the brain.
Sarin gas, explosives, acrobatics, torture, mutilation, humor, firefights… this book has it all. Everything takes place in about a 1 hour period of time from what I can tell.
There really isn’t much to talk about with this book. it gets your heart racing a little, and you are wide eyed through out the book. it is very enjoyable. This is a fast read, you pick it up and you do not put it down until you are done. you get sucked into the plot and are not given much of an opportunity to get to know any individual. It is the story that matters, less about the individuals and more about the situation they are all in. Who is a “bad guy/good guy” is less important than their interactions.
Severance Package is not by any means a classic. Regardless of the intentions of most authors, I doubt it will have a huge impact on the written world. What it does have an impact on is your cerebellum and stomach. It hits you where your bruises will not show, and you smile when the aching settles in. Then you tell others to read it :)
--
xpost RawBlurb.com
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2013
This is one of those books that once you start reading it, you won't be able to put it down. Fortunately I was on a plane to Madrid and had nothing else to do because otherwise I would have spent an entire evening or Sunday afternoon reading it. The character are engaging. The story is fast paced and exciting. And the action does not let up.
After a month of paternity leave, Jamie DeBroux returns to the office on a Saturday morning for a special meeting. Unfortunately he finds out that his company is a front for an intelligence agency, that the office is closing down and that closing down means everyone must die. But almost immediately Jamie's boss finds out that there are other plans in the works; continuing the bad luck for Jamie, they still involve the death of everyone.
The story becomes an action packed tale of creative deaths and plans falling apart. Things naturally focus on the events unfolding but the characters involved are entertaining and definitely pull you in. Naturally you'll feel for Jamie who is forced into a chaotic world that he thought was normal; at least he was the one that I identified with the most. The story did have a few holes in it but at the same time those holes could also be looked at as the characters being human and making mistakes. And there were several very human mistakes made by them. And if you spend too much time analyzing the events, you'll realize they don't really make sense. Don't worry though because it does not take away from the enjoyment of the book at all. So block off a few hours, make yourself comfortable and start reading.
After a month of paternity leave, Jamie DeBroux returns to the office on a Saturday morning for a special meeting. Unfortunately he finds out that his company is a front for an intelligence agency, that the office is closing down and that closing down means everyone must die. But almost immediately Jamie's boss finds out that there are other plans in the works; continuing the bad luck for Jamie, they still involve the death of everyone.
The story becomes an action packed tale of creative deaths and plans falling apart. Things naturally focus on the events unfolding but the characters involved are entertaining and definitely pull you in. Naturally you'll feel for Jamie who is forced into a chaotic world that he thought was normal; at least he was the one that I identified with the most. The story did have a few holes in it but at the same time those holes could also be looked at as the characters being human and making mistakes. And there were several very human mistakes made by them. And if you spend too much time analyzing the events, you'll realize they don't really make sense. Don't worry though because it does not take away from the enjoyment of the book at all. So block off a few hours, make yourself comfortable and start reading.
August 17, 2010
I bought this book while I was extremely frustrated with my place of employment and because the author’s last name is barely pronounceable (like mine). One reviewer on the cover leaf stated that the book begged to be the next Tarantino movie. I thought it would be a fun read.
Although I read the whole thing and was intrigued from the cover to the last page, I was by no means impressed. Mixed metaphors, bad puns, lame one-liners... This book reads like a conversation with some college student telling his cheesy idea for a movie while he warms a can of soup on the hotplate in his dorm. Despite Swierczynski’s efforts at character development, there are too many characters for the reader to really identify with any of them. The plot is poorly constructed. The surprise ending is neither surprising, nor an actual ending. I read the whole thing because I wanted more of an explanation of what was occurring, but Swierczynski explained everything away by making it all top secret government crap.
Maybe I am not meant for this genre of novel. Or, more likely, perhaps Duane Swierczynski is not meant for it.
Although I read the whole thing and was intrigued from the cover to the last page, I was by no means impressed. Mixed metaphors, bad puns, lame one-liners... This book reads like a conversation with some college student telling his cheesy idea for a movie while he warms a can of soup on the hotplate in his dorm. Despite Swierczynski’s efforts at character development, there are too many characters for the reader to really identify with any of them. The plot is poorly constructed. The surprise ending is neither surprising, nor an actual ending. I read the whole thing because I wanted more of an explanation of what was occurring, but Swierczynski explained everything away by making it all top secret government crap.
Maybe I am not meant for this genre of novel. Or, more likely, perhaps Duane Swierczynski is not meant for it.
March 16, 2009
I enjoyed Severance Package and would definitely agree with the back cover blurb - it would be great to see Tarantino direct a movie version. That being said, it didn't quite grip like his previous two, The Wheelman and The Blonde.
This books tells the story of a Saturday meeting at the office - a Saturday meeting from hell. The boss reveals (to the surprise of some) a secret about the company they are working for and a terrible future planned for them all. And now it is every man and woman for themselves, as each claws their way out of the mess.
It was a little hard, for some reason, to keep the characters straight. I mean, there were only something like 8 or 9 of them. And Swierczynski was never completely clear when or if certain ones were dead, and it felt like he was purposefully withholding info, which was a little annoying. But it had the usual crackling dialog and frenetic pace, so it was another great read.
This books tells the story of a Saturday meeting at the office - a Saturday meeting from hell. The boss reveals (to the surprise of some) a secret about the company they are working for and a terrible future planned for them all. And now it is every man and woman for themselves, as each claws their way out of the mess.
It was a little hard, for some reason, to keep the characters straight. I mean, there were only something like 8 or 9 of them. And Swierczynski was never completely clear when or if certain ones were dead, and it felt like he was purposefully withholding info, which was a little annoying. But it had the usual crackling dialog and frenetic pace, so it was another great read.
August 7, 2012
Duane Swierczynski is an author that dispenses with characterization and relies almost exclusively on dialogue and swift action to carry the reader through the book. In essence, and if this book is any indication, he's a pulp writer. And if you're into this style of writing than you've come to the right place.
John Locke fans (and yes, I'm one of them) would say that the dialogue is not as good as what the Donavan Creed novels deliver. Locke too dispenses with characterization and description and takes the reader through mind bending plot twists and turns in easy-to-read novels. But Swierczynski makes up for the dialogue with some rather creative if not shocking plots.
Assessment: I read it in a day and enjoyed it. Enjoyed it enough to want to try his three part series starting with Fun and Games.
John Locke fans (and yes, I'm one of them) would say that the dialogue is not as good as what the Donavan Creed novels deliver. Locke too dispenses with characterization and description and takes the reader through mind bending plot twists and turns in easy-to-read novels. But Swierczynski makes up for the dialogue with some rather creative if not shocking plots.
Assessment: I read it in a day and enjoyed it. Enjoyed it enough to want to try his three part series starting with Fun and Games.
July 31, 2008
Another GR reviewer wrote:
"There's been a terrible mix-up. Author Duane Swierczynski seems to have submitted this screenplay to a publishing house, and it somehow got printed and marketed as a book."
...and she is dead on. I like Swierczynski's sense of the absurd, and this book had the potential to be really fun in a day-at-work gets all crazy-ass psycho-violent sense. It did not live up to that potential, however. The separate story threads never really come together in a worthwhile fashion and the ending is enough of a joke to make the staunchest adherents to the deus ex machina school cringe.
"There's been a terrible mix-up. Author Duane Swierczynski seems to have submitted this screenplay to a publishing house, and it somehow got printed and marketed as a book."
...and she is dead on. I like Swierczynski's sense of the absurd, and this book had the potential to be really fun in a day-at-work gets all crazy-ass psycho-violent sense. It did not live up to that potential, however. The separate story threads never really come together in a worthwhile fashion and the ending is enough of a joke to make the staunchest adherents to the deus ex machina school cringe.
June 25, 2008
Shallow but I enjoyed it anyways. Could have done a bit more plotwise & with the characters since both were very thin. But the hook (being trapped on a floor with your coworkers and having to murder your way out) was enjoyable enough that I didn't really care. That being said, the last 2 pages totally wrecked this book. I'm willing to stretch my disbelief only so far but when things are impossible/don't make any sense (but for the shock value), the whole thing is cheapened.
October 21, 2017
Prendete una delle peggiori sceneggiature di film d'azione della "The Asylum", ci aggiungete un "pizzico" di banali luoghi comuni e poi una dose corposa di cazzate ed infine conditela con una dose "generosa" di sangue e sudore ed eccovi servito: "Uccidere o essere uccisi" Duane Swierczynski!!
Inutile perdita di tempo e di carta... e poi la copertina? Non c'entra nulla con la storia ahahahah
Amen!!
Inutile perdita di tempo e di carta... e poi la copertina? Non c'entra nulla con la storia ahahahah
Amen!!
October 7, 2019
All I can say is Duane Swierczynski does it for me. I enjoy his novels. Severance Package, like the rest of his books, would make for an excellent movie. A movie that would fit perfectly with the styles of Quentin Tarantino.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 244 reviews