Duane Swierczynski’s Severance Package

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 Blondefollowed 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.