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Death Benefits
A digital short story from New York Times bestselling author Nelson DeMille that also includes a preview from his upcoming novel, THE PANTHER
Bestselling author Jack Henry is suddenly on the brink of bankruptcy. With bills mounting and the IRS calling, he realizes that he has a major problem on his hands. But who is to blame for his declining fortunes? Certainly not Jack himself. The fault, he determines, lies with his agent, Stan Wycoff - who takes 15% of everything Jack makes for doing absolutely nothing.
Jack needs a way out of his dire financial predicament - and fast. And then he remembers that both he and his agent have substantial life insurance policies on one another. If Stan were to die unexpectedly, Jack would cash in...
But can a famous crime writer commit the perfect crime?
Bestselling author Jack Henry is suddenly on the brink of bankruptcy. With bills mounting and the IRS calling, he realizes that he has a major problem on his hands. But who is to blame for his declining fortunes? Certainly not Jack himself. The fault, he determines, lies with his agent, Stan Wycoff - who takes 15% of everything Jack makes for doing absolutely nothing.
Jack needs a way out of his dire financial predicament - and fast. And then he remembers that both he and his agent have substantial life insurance policies on one another. If Stan were to die unexpectedly, Jack would cash in...
But can a famous crime writer commit the perfect crime?
31 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
632 people are currently reading
1528 people want to read
About the author
Nelson DeMille
261 books7,399 followersNelson Richard DeMille was an American author of action adventure and suspense novels. His novels include Plum Island, The Charm School, and The General's Daughter. DeMille also wrote under the pen names Jack Cannon, Kurt Ladner, Ellen Kay and Brad Matthews.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
August 1, 2012
First of all, this is not a John Corey story, but that's okay, Nelson DeMille was writing great stories for more than two decades before introducing Corey in Plum Island.
Jack Henry was a big-name author, but with two costly divorces, a couple of novels that flopped, movie deals that never materialized, and the IRS hitting on him for back taxes, he was staring at bankruptcy. The idea of giving up his lavish lifestyle was unimaginably painful. Inevitably, Henry concluded that the only way to stay solvent was the unthinkable - murder his agent, Stan Wykoff, for the $5 million payoff on a life insurance policy. Wykoff also had a policy on Henry, so one of them was eventually going to profit from the other's demise. Henry figured he deserved the money more, since Wykoff had already profited hugely off Henry's labors. After struggling a little with his conscience - with his conscience losing - the problem was how to go about doing the deed.
"Death Benefits" dealt with the classic question: Can an author of crime dramas commit the perfect crime; namely, murder his agent and get away with it? Having written police procedurals during his early days, Henry knew that the perfect murder never looked like a murder, it had to look like an accident. With that in mind, Henry set about the grim task. He quickly learned that murder was not as simple as he thought. Along the way, there's an unexpected twist that turned the story on end and set up a marvelous surprise ending.
I said that this wasn't a John Corey story. In fact, Corey was in the story, but in a most unexpected way. If that sounds a bit too enigmatic... well, you'll just have to read the story to understand.
"Death Benefits" originally appeared in "Mystery Writers of America Presents The Rich and the Dead," an anthology of short stories published in 2011.
Jack Henry was a big-name author, but with two costly divorces, a couple of novels that flopped, movie deals that never materialized, and the IRS hitting on him for back taxes, he was staring at bankruptcy. The idea of giving up his lavish lifestyle was unimaginably painful. Inevitably, Henry concluded that the only way to stay solvent was the unthinkable - murder his agent, Stan Wykoff, for the $5 million payoff on a life insurance policy. Wykoff also had a policy on Henry, so one of them was eventually going to profit from the other's demise. Henry figured he deserved the money more, since Wykoff had already profited hugely off Henry's labors. After struggling a little with his conscience - with his conscience losing - the problem was how to go about doing the deed.
"Death Benefits" dealt with the classic question: Can an author of crime dramas commit the perfect crime; namely, murder his agent and get away with it? Having written police procedurals during his early days, Henry knew that the perfect murder never looked like a murder, it had to look like an accident. With that in mind, Henry set about the grim task. He quickly learned that murder was not as simple as he thought. Along the way, there's an unexpected twist that turned the story on end and set up a marvelous surprise ending.
I said that this wasn't a John Corey story. In fact, Corey was in the story, but in a most unexpected way. If that sounds a bit too enigmatic... well, you'll just have to read the story to understand.
"Death Benefits" originally appeared in "Mystery Writers of America Presents The Rich and the Dead," an anthology of short stories published in 2011.
September 12, 2012
You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/09/...
The Panther, Nelson DeMille’s newest John Corey book, will be out soon, so to tide us over until then, the author gave us this fun little digital tidbit. Former bestselling author Jack Henry finds himself going over his finances and soon realizes he’s, er, dead broke. His books aren’t quite selling like they used to, and his writing is in a slump. Then he comes across the bill for a premium on a life insurance policy that he took out on his agent, Stan, about 10 years ago, at the same time Stan took one out on him. He remembers how they jokingly pretended to push each other into traffic after getting the policies. Suddenly, with financial ruin on the horizon, and of course, no more access to the comforts he deems so important, he begins hatching a plan to take care of Stan and collect 5 million dollars. After all, Stan isn’t doing his career any good and he could really use the money. He begins to plan murder, drawing on his research for past crime novels (cleverly pulling on advice that homicide detective John Corey gave him).
Death Benefits is a quick, satisfying little read, and of course has the sly humor that I love about Mr. DeMille’s work. Jack is a self-satisfied, spoiled jerk who wildly overestimates himself, and of course, we all know what happens when you do that, right? A quick, fun, deadly delight!
The Panther, Nelson DeMille’s newest John Corey book, will be out soon, so to tide us over until then, the author gave us this fun little digital tidbit. Former bestselling author Jack Henry finds himself going over his finances and soon realizes he’s, er, dead broke. His books aren’t quite selling like they used to, and his writing is in a slump. Then he comes across the bill for a premium on a life insurance policy that he took out on his agent, Stan, about 10 years ago, at the same time Stan took one out on him. He remembers how they jokingly pretended to push each other into traffic after getting the policies. Suddenly, with financial ruin on the horizon, and of course, no more access to the comforts he deems so important, he begins hatching a plan to take care of Stan and collect 5 million dollars. After all, Stan isn’t doing his career any good and he could really use the money. He begins to plan murder, drawing on his research for past crime novels (cleverly pulling on advice that homicide detective John Corey gave him).
Death Benefits is a quick, satisfying little read, and of course has the sly humor that I love about Mr. DeMille’s work. Jack is a self-satisfied, spoiled jerk who wildly overestimates himself, and of course, we all know what happens when you do that, right? A quick, fun, deadly delight!
August 20, 2012
A great short story by one of the best storytellers I have come across. Usually filled with humour and double-entendres, DeMille takes a break and pens this short story all about how a best-selling author tries to solve his insolvency issues, at any cost.
DeMille paints a realistic thought process that surely would cross the mind of a creative writer to solve his largest issues, namely debt and promised bankruptcy.
Kudos Mr. DeMille. I know you've got so many ideas. Keep 'em coming!
DeMille paints a realistic thought process that surely would cross the mind of a creative writer to solve his largest issues, namely debt and promised bankruptcy.
Kudos Mr. DeMille. I know you've got so many ideas. Keep 'em coming!
June 6, 2017
A nice little short story about an author named Jack Henry who is starting to enter has-been status as a crime fiction novelist and finds himself in debt but willing to do anything to get himself out of it. It's not a John Corey story but that character is mentioned as a detective that Jack Henry has consulted in the past about the best ways to commit a perfect crime. Nelson DeMille is a wonderful story teller with a great sense of humor and the ending of this story is no exception.
August 7, 2012
A short story from DeMille, with delicious irony.
January 14, 2013
An excellent short story from this top flight author. I've read quite a bit of his stuff but this was my first 'short'. It was worth the wait: smart and funny.
May 6, 2025
So so story about a washed up author who plans to kill his agent
April 17, 2015
Cute quick story that made me laugh out loud at the end :)
February 22, 2024
Interesting short read. It was somewhat of lame ending but it was a short story so not a lot of time to build too much into the story.
June 10, 2024
This short story is typical of DeMille's writing: clear, well-written, and a great ending!
November 28, 2017
What can you say about an eBook that takes just a few minutes to read, obviously another of these teaser tales to promote what at the time was DeMille’s upcoming novel, “The Panther” (John Corey #6), an obligatory first chapter of which was included.
The story involves a failing author, once a millionaire, whose financial troubles lead him to the brink of bankruptcy. Ironically, his lazy agent is in the same predicament. For some odd reason they have equal, $5 million dollar life insurance policies on each other (on the author makes sense, but on the agent?!); and they both independently get an idea on how to each solve their money troubles. Get the drift? Will either prevail? {3.5}
The story involves a failing author, once a millionaire, whose financial troubles lead him to the brink of bankruptcy. Ironically, his lazy agent is in the same predicament. For some odd reason they have equal, $5 million dollar life insurance policies on each other (on the author makes sense, but on the agent?!); and they both independently get an idea on how to each solve their money troubles. Get the drift? Will either prevail? {3.5}
July 3, 2018
Okay, I am not always that sharp. Case in point Death Benefits, I didn't realize it was a short story when I finished the book, I was very proud of myself. You see I am a slow reader, I trudge along page after page; however this book I read in an hour??? So...short story.
It isn't bad, it was okay. Most likely I would have rated it higher if the book would have been 350 pages long and it would have taken me 3 weeks to read.
The story is about a man who needs money.....and the title of the book tells you where this story is heading.....quickly very very quickly. Why you ask? Because it is a short story. :)
It isn't bad, it was okay. Most likely I would have rated it higher if the book would have been 350 pages long and it would have taken me 3 weeks to read.
The story is about a man who needs money.....and the title of the book tells you where this story is heading.....quickly very very quickly. Why you ask? Because it is a short story. :)
December 26, 2018
Can this be counted as a short story? Is there something called an abbreviated short story? You can knock this one out in about 15 minutes. I hope DeMille's agent made more than 15% on whatever the author was paid for this one because it's essentially an announcement that all authors want to kill their agents. A predictable ending that lacks the amount of sarcastic wit that usually accompanies DeMille's work. If you have few minutes to spare, you can read this, shrug your shoulders and then forget about this and wonder if DeMille took just as much time to write this as it took you to read it.
December 11, 2020
This was hilarious in more ways than one. I downloaded the book by one of my favorite authors, who usually writes long books, so I was all settled in for a nice long read. It turned out to be all of 27 pages. It was terrific anyway. The story is about an author who just can't seem to write a best seller anymore. In the past he has taken advice from detective John Corey (who happens to be a character in other DeMille books) to write his novels. Now broke, he figures he'll take Corey's knowledge of how to commit a murder and get away with it to kill his literary agent, upon whom he has a life insurance policy. The ending is perfectly delicious.
May 12, 2018
This was a first for me, I didn't know the author. It's because I watched "The General's Daughter" to other day (for the first time also) I thought it was a very good movie so I decided to google Nelson DeMille's name, I liked what I found out and bought "Death Benefits" And was pleasantly surprised, by the easy reading and the end twist of this short story, I have to admit, I didn't see it coming. I really love is writing style and the way he paints out his characters, he's really good! DeMille is already in my top 10 favorite writers with this simple short story!
June 1, 2025
Found this short story too predictable and the writing adolescent. It's not clear whether the short stories in this volume existed and were selected for inclusion or were written on spec for the volume. I suspect having to write something on spec is more difficult. . .maybe that and a tight deadline account for the quality.
May 26, 2017
Great quick read
Wonderful subject if your an author, read this and you will understand. I read this quick Little story at read at lunch. And the twists at the end the
Wonderful subject if your an author, read this and you will understand. I read this quick Little story at read at lunch. And the twists at the end the
June 11, 2017
Short N 2 The Point!
Cute! Characters fully developed. Interesting plot that straightforwardly reaches an unexpected conclusion. Good 10 minutes short story. Greed is a killer!
Cute! Characters fully developed. Interesting plot that straightforwardly reaches an unexpected conclusion. Good 10 minutes short story. Greed is a killer!
September 30, 2017
Weak story
This story has none of the elements that made DeMilles books such page tuners. I was extremely disappointed in this story
This story has none of the elements that made DeMilles books such page tuners. I was extremely disappointed in this story
January 31, 2018
Another page turned by DeMille. I really enjoyed this short story, and enjoyed the resolution. I also appreciated the references to John Corey, a mainstay in a number of his books. Well done.
June 30, 2018
Very short, very predictable parable with a bit of a clever twist to finish. Should have been a bit longer.
January 28, 2019
A short story about an author and his agent. Both men have taken out a 5 million life insurance for the other. They are both going broke and think that they can plan the perfect murder
April 13, 2019
Quick fun
Just a g!impse into the litiary world, Mary even better but soMeone's use of space and the known places i
Just a g!impse into the litiary world, Mary even better but soMeone's use of space and the known places i
January 26, 2021
Review for death benefits
Too short and too simple. Poor plot. Usually like Nelson DeMille but not this time. Will try another book by DeMille if available.
Too short and too simple. Poor plot. Usually like Nelson DeMille but not this time. Will try another book by DeMille if available.
January 18, 2022
This short story was pretty good!
Read
August 16, 2022NOOK
April 21, 2023
Great short story. Kinda had me guessing for a bit but...Bastard/Has-been
October 24, 2023
Hahaha, good one! Didn't realize it was so short, caught me by surprise.
Read
July 7, 2024Did not expect this from DeMille. Starts off like a good read and ends up a few pages later with a flop. Please no more short, short stories
July 7, 2024
3.3 stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews