Lifetime Employment [Hardcover]

Floyd Kemske (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992

When Gene gets a big promotion, he finds himself with even bigger problems. Two women need Gene to carry through their plans at Growth Services, Inc., where an extreme policy of lifetime employment means the only way to get ahead is murder.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kemske blends black humor with a serious treatment of the individual's plight within a closed, Kafkaesque society in his satiric first novel, which freely and expertly borrows the techniques found in mysteries and thrillers. The culture here is a corporate one, Growth Services Inc. (what services it provides no one knows), which guarantees lifetime employment. But one can gain promotion only by murdering one's supervisor. Lacking the ill will to move up in the company's hierarchy, protagonist Gene stagnates in a dead-end job as an assistant human resources manager. When a top-level coup installs Cynthia Price as the new CEO, Gene's nonthreatening attitude suddenly makes him prime executive material. Her admonition "Just go where you're told to go and do what you're told to do" becomes his motto, and he looks upon her as his mentor--even though he eventually gets involved in a counter-takeover. Kemske's literary allusions and examinations of corporate philosophy are a treat, but he writes himself into a corner: the novel's end is at best unsatisfactory, at worst cynical.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Floyd Kemske is the author of Human Resources, Labor Day, and The Third Lion.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 231 pages
• Publisher: Catbird Press (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945774184
• ISBN-13: 978-0945774181
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,774,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.