The Policy [Paperback]

Bentley Little (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 2003

Unemployed, divorced, and living in a new state, Hunt Jackson would be considered a risk by most insurance companies. Lucky for him, he's found one that will give him a policy. All he has to do is sign on the dotted line-and note a minor provision: they require a pound of flesh for their investment. No backing out. No joke. No running away.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Similar in style and structure to Little's previous books (The Association, etc.), this chilling tale revolves around a handful of tightly knit characters living in Tucson, Ariz.-including recently divorced Hunt Jackson, his new wife, his co-workers and his best buddy from high school-who are continually harassed by a pesky insurance salesman. The salesman tries to convince them to purchase bizarre policies protecting them from the law, their bosses and even death, and if the clients refuse, inexplicable consequences usually follow. When Jackson turns down additional insurance, for example, he is incomprehensibly charged with child molestation and thrown in jail. Then he buys so-called conviction insurance while behind bars, and the alleged victim is killed in a car accident. One of Little's primary strengths is his ability to create believable characters whose lives are disrupted by a seemingly mundane yet supernatural force. Those characters then emerge as heroes by single-handedly defeating that force-in this case, an omnipotent insurance company that is bent on destroying the world one policyholder at a time. That said, by this point in the author's career-this is his 14th novel-Little's approach, while still enjoyable, has become predictable.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A master of horror on a par with Koontz and King. (Midwest Book Review) If there's a better horror novelist working today, I don't know who it is. (Los Angeles Times) A master of the macabre. (Stephen King)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Signet (September 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451209540
• ISBN-13: 978-0451209542
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Satirist Returns, September 16, 2003

By 

Jeffrey Leach (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Policy (Paperback)

I always wait with bated breath for a new Bentley Little novel. It's not that every book written by this master of horror works perfectly: a few of his stories don't work at all in terms of horror or satire, the two styles usually employed by this author. "The Policy," Little's latest, first crossed my consciousness back in April or May, and I've been waiting for it ever since. Now that I have read this book, it is an easy call to place this story about the evil machinations of the insurance industry squarely into Little's social satire cannon. This is a good thing because I definitely adore this author's jabs at American obsessions. "The Policy" covers territory instantly familiar to readers of "The Store," "The University," and "The Mailman." If you like to laugh until your sides ache, pick up a copy of this book or the other three I just mentioned. "The Policy" is vintage Bentley Little, from the increasingly bizarre occurrences throughout the story to the lackluster conclusion so dominant in this author's work.

"The Policy" centers on the character of Hunt Jackson, a newly divorced man lacking direction in his life. After losing his job at a big defense contractor on the West Coast, he decides to chuck the Southern California lifestyle and return to his childhood hometown of Tucson, Arizona. Hunt quickly reconnects with his grade school buddy Joel, now a professor at the local junior college who lives in town with his wife and daughter Lilly. Before too long, Jackson acquires a new job with the county trimming trees, and soon after this event he meets Beth, a business associate of Joel's wife. Moreover, Hunt makes quick friends with two men on his trimming crew, Edwards and Jorge. The only dark cloud on the horizon consists of a few unpleasant encounters with his insurance company, specifically over a cracked windshield and ransacked house. Hunt tries to put these unfortunate incidents out of his mind, instead wishing to focus on his new relationship and his new friendships. Eventually, Jackson marries Beth and moves into her house.

Jackson's insurance problems quickly escalate into the realm of the weird with the appearance of a strange man promising insurance policies of a most unusual sort. Other companies offer home, auto, and health protections, but this gentleman, working for an enigmatic corporation called "The Insurance Group," sells insurance guaranteeing protection from arrest, from losing one's job, and a life insurance policy with supernatural implications. Moreover, when this guy offers insurance, you better accept it immediately or face horrifying consequences. The Jacksons, and eventually everyone they know, learn the hard way that turning down a new policy from The Insurance Group translates into destroyed property, personal injuries, and the threat of serious prison sentences. Hunt and Beth rapidly begin to wear down under the hard sell tactics of this ominous figure. In order to combat the evil insurance agent, they must travel to an old city in Mexico in order to infiltrate the headquarters of this mysterious group.

The biggest difficulties of "The Policy" echo the problems found in other Bentley Little novels: plot threads that go nowhere and a conclusion that gives lame a new meaning. Several times throughout the story, Little describes in intricate detail that the guest room in Beth's house harbors a ghostly apparition, but this supernatural event never finds a place in the larger story. Another puzzling event involves Hunt's ex-wife Eileen. At one point in the story, Jackson notices his ex getting on a bus in Tucson, an incident that leads to a bit of soul searching on the main character's part. The next thing we know, his ex-wife is dead, killed in a rampage as part of an insurance policy Hunt and Beth bought from the salesman. What does this have to do with anything in the story? Good question. As far as I can tell, the reappearance of Eileen well into the story does nothing to propel the narrative in any meaningful way. Hunt never even meets his wife in Tucson.

The conclusion is more problematic than a few unfinished plot threads. Many of Little's books contain great build up, and then fade into banality in the end. The same problem plagues "The Policy." The final confrontation between the main characters and the evil salesman's company fails to convey even a modicum of interest, and at one point Hunt gets the salesman to do something that is so extraordinarily unbelievable that I snorted aloud. Repeatedly, the characters fighting the insurance company discover answers out of nowhere. Are we really to believe that it's this easy to defeat an evil from time immemorial? Little unquestionably possesses a fine imagination and apt writing skills, but he must work harder on constructing conclusions worthy of his ideas. Future failures in this area could result in a significant loss of his fan base.

Despite a few difficulties with "The Policy," the author still delivers several humorous situations. We've all dealt with smarmy insurance salesman and the rip offs associated with filing claims, but the people in this story face insurance problems firmly entrenched in the regions of the supernatural. Imagine discovering that an insurance company switched all of your household items with artwork depicting lewd imagery, numerous copies of Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life," and grossly inappropriate furniture. Moreover, imagine an insurance agent performing a physical exam on your pregnant wife, or having your real teeth replaced with solid silver plugs. At the very least, remember to look for these words for a good laugh: "the fall of Rome" and "nonpayment." If you cannot see the humorous implications of these situations, you probably ought to stay away from "The Policy."

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ludicrous yet frightening, November 30, 2003

By 

Eileen Rieback (Coral Springs, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Policy (Paperback)

What is the scariest thing a horror author can conjure out of his imagination? A vicious extraterrestrial monster, a vengeful phantom, the boogeyman under the bed? According to Bentley Little, it is an insurance agent! However, this insurance agent doesn't just bother people with a few phone calls or glossy brochures. He also strongly suggests to his clients that if they turn down his policies, some ghastly events will occur, helped along by a group of supernatural insurance company enforcers. The characters in "The Policy" are caught up with just such an insurance agent, forced to take more and more insurance coverage until they are faced with making the most Faustian of contracts to stay secure. Eventually, overinsured Hunt Jackson and his friends have had enough, and they set out to destroy the insurance company.

As with other Little novels, this one takes an ordinary organization and turns it into all-powerful and horrific evil. But this story is more outrageous than the rest, to the point where it has more than one foot into spoof territory. The author does build up a lot of suspense, although it is interspersed with off-the-wall insurance claim handling and policy fine print. I would have given the book 4 stars were it not for the ending, which was silly and surreal. All in all, though, this was an entertaining read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insurance anyone?, January 11, 2005

By 

L. Maynard (Dallas, Tx) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Policy (Paperback)

I am an avid Little fan and I love the way he can take an everyday, ordinary fact or occurance and turn it into a true work of horror. My favorite novel by Little is The Association, it just doesn't get any better than that. I believe it is his best work to date. With that in mind, I awaited the arrival of The Policy with bated breath and couldn't wait to tear into the pages. I was only mildly let down.

While the story is not as powerful as The Association, it didn't end quite as silly either. This book is about a group of people and how their lives are affected by the horrors of insurance salesmen, and what happens when certain types of insurance is declined or bought.

This was a really fun read. There was so much satire mixed in with the horror. One minute I was laughing and nodding my head, thinking to myself how many times I have been suckered into more and more "protection", the next minute I was riveted to my seat cheering for a character in the book to not open the door or go outside.

It is hard to talk much about this book without giving too much of the story away, but this book is certainly worth your time. Of course, the book would have been much shorter if the characters would have been offered insurance against insurance agents, but maybe that is another story for another time. Buy this book, you won't regret it.