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    The Risk Profession
    The Risk Profession
    The Risk Profession
    Ebook43 pages39 minutes

    The Risk Profession

    By Donald Westlake

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    About this ebook

    The men who did dangerous work had a special kind of insurance policy. But when somebody wanted to collect on that policy, the claims investigator suddenly became a member of ... THE RISK PROFESSION
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStart Classics
    Release dateFeb 25, 2015
    ISBN9781681460185
    The Risk Profession
    Author

    Donald Westlake

    Donald E. Westlake (1933–2008) was one of the most prolific and talented authors of American crime fiction. He began his career in the late 1950s, churning out novels for pulp houses—often writing as many as four novels a year under various pseudonyms—but soon began publishing under his own name. His most well-known characters were John Dortmunder, an unlucky thief, and a ruthless criminal named Parker. His writing earned him three Edgars and a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Westlake’s cinematic prose and brisk dialogue made his novels attractive to Hollywood, and several motion pictures were made from his books, with stars such as Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson. Westlake wrote several screenplays himself, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of The Grifters, Jim Thompson’s noir classic.

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    • 3/5
      I listened to the librivox edition.

      I think it was a clever enough mystery - maybe readers of that genre would have been able to solve it but I didn't. I did like the attention to creative detail - maybe that's what made Westlake worthy to grow beyond pulp stories to become an author of repute.
    • 3/5
      A very short early Westlake In fact, I was surprised to see it listed as a separate title. SciFi mystery featuring an insurance company investigator charged with determining the validity of an asteroid miner's claim. Has a nice, if not totally unforeseeable, twist at the end. Perfect for making the time pass waiting for the dentist.

    Book preview

    The Risk Profession - Donald Westlake

    The RISK PROFESSION

    By DONALD E. WESTLAKE

    Start Publishing LLC

    Copyright © 2012 by Start Publishing LLC

    All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

    First Start Publishing eBook edition October 2012

    Start Publishing is a registered trademark of Start Publishing LLC

    Manufactured in the United States of America

    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    ISBN 978-1-68146-018-5

    The men who did dangerous work had a special kind of insurance policy. But when somebody wanted to collect on that policy, the claims investigator suddenly became a member of ...

    Mister Henderson called me into his office my third day back in Tangiers. That was a day and a half later than I'd expected. Roving claims investigators for Tangiers Mutual Insurance Corporation don't usually get to spend more than thirty-six consecutive hours at home base.

    Henderson was jovial but stern. That meant he was happy with the job I'd just completed, and that he was pretty sure I'd find some crooked shenanigans on this next assignment. That didn't please me. I'm basically a plain-living type, and I hate complications. I almost wished for a second there that I was back on Fire and Theft in Greater New York. But I knew better than that. As a roving claim investigator, I avoided the more stultifying paper work inherent in this line of work and had the additional luxury of an expense account nobody ever questioned.

    It made working for a living almost worthwhile.

    When I was settled in the chair beside his desk, Henderson said, That was good work you did on Luna, Ged. Saved the company a pretty pence.

    I smiled modestly and said, Thank you, sir. And reflected to myself for the thousandth time that the company could do worse than split that saving with the guy who'd made it possible. Me, in other words.

    Got a tricky one this time, Ged, said my boss. He had done his back-patting, now we got down to business. He peered keenly at me, or at least as keenly as a round-faced tiny-eyed fat man can peer. What do you know about the Risk Profession Retirement Plan? he asked me.

    I've heard of it, I said truthfully. That's about all.

    He nodded. Most of the policies are sold off-planet, of course. It's a form of insurance for non-insurables. Spaceship crews, asteroid prospectors, people like that.

    I see, I said, unhappily. I knew right away this meant I was going to have to go off-Earth again. I'm a one-gee boy all the way. Gravity changes get me in the solar plexus. I get g-sick at the drop of an elevator.

    * * *

    Here's the way it works, he went on, either not noticing my sad face or choosing to ignore it. "The client pays a monthly premium. He can be as far ahead or as far behind in his payments as he wants--the policy has no lapse clause--just so he's all paid up by the Target Date. The Target Date is a retirement age, forty-five or above, chosen by the client himself. After the Target Date, he stops paying premiums, and we begin

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