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Involuntary Separation
Involuntary Separation: Corporate Downsizing Gone Fatally Wrong by Rick Lacey is a compelx and deftly written novel about murder in the upper management of an international oil company. Revenge, suicide, and one man's single-minded obsession to halt corporate downsizing make for an exciting and savage unfolding drama that will compell the reader's total attention from first page to last. Also highly recommended is Rick Lacey's early novel Cat Fever. |
Complex plotting and strong Characterizations
Involuntary Separation:
John McCall finds his boss murdered, still seated at his desk with a bullet through his head. The letters ISP have been carefully written in marker with the P around the bullet wound. ISP, involuntary separation seems to be a powerful motive, but with hundreds of past employees laid off and hundreds more potentially threatened, suspects abound. Oddly, the victim was not that heavily involved in the previous downsizing and would not have been involved in the next one either.
John has already worked with the police on a previous case. Two years ago his wife Alicia and her best friend were brutally raped and murdered. While investigating Alicia's murder, police received so many calls from John's office phone late at night that they labeled him a workaholic with extreme dedication to Moon Oil. John is equally dedicated to ending corporate layoffs targeted to artificially inflate quarter reports. His dedication proves to be his downfall when Moon Oil uses his financial computer model to justify downsizing.
With rumors flying regarding another downsizing, John intends to find a way to stop it. His long-term financial forecasting models predict dire consequences for the economy if corporations continue to downsize, but John has not as yet been able to predict short-term negative results. When a second board member is murdered and ISP is found be brutally slashed on his belly, every employee of Moon Oil, past and present, becomes suspect. Meanwhile, the chairman of the board assigns John to keep an eye on Beatrice Winter because she has "the eyes of a killer".
Author Rick Lacey makes restitution for his own participation in a sever corporate downsizing at BP Oil by drawing upon his personal experiences as a Senior Financial Analyst in INVOLUNTARY SEPARATION. Lacey admits that INVOLUNTARY SEPARATION was written to start a national dialogue regarding corporate abuse in general and corporate downsizing in particular. The novel's psychotic killer seek revenge even while exposing the dangerous power plays that occur behind fancy boardroom doors. While the primary murder plot will hold readers riveted, it is the exposure of big business that will make readers indignant and angry with the abuses corporations perpetrate on their employees. Indeed, corporate abuses abound with an eye only for the next quarter: never mind the devastation to America's families and workforce, not to mention to the long term health of the company. Consequently, the novel succeeds with a powerful tale that affects every citizen of America. In addition, Lacey's sophisticated prose will appeal to literature lovers who enjoy a touch of metafiction, irony, and satire. Note: Some discerning readers will be ethically challenged by John's evolving personal relationship with his psychiatrist. INVOLUNTARY SEPARATION comes very highly recommended.
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Pat (Punta Gorda, Florida) |
Involuntary Separation
There are a great many very good psychological thrillers out there, but this is the only one that satisfactorily explains how a person becomes a psychotic killer. All the others just expect you to accept that a person is a psychotic killer. I've always been fascinated by psychotics but never understood how someone becomes psychotic. Now that I understand it, I'm going back to re-read all my favorites. All you other novelists beware, Rick Lacey has just raised the bar. If you don't really understand psychosis and the psychotic transformatic experience, find another career because readers won't just blindly accept your characters anymore.
Laura LaGuardia Cape Coral News Press: Rick, congrat's! Maybe I can sneak a blurb in foototes! Yes, I finished. It was great. I loved all the Ohio references, it was neat to read a book and actually have been in those places on pages. You did a great job on The Jake... I could taste the beer and see the fireworks... it made me painfully homesick though. I even vacationed in Litchfield, N.C. My ex-husband was (is) a good golfer and we would stay at a place called Litchfield by the Sea. Anyway, once I really started the book it was hard to put down, I even cheated a few times and read ahead. You've got a great story, and the true realism of your experiences comes through any of the fiction. I wish you great success with it. Keep me informed of all the good news so I can do my part by getting the word out.
Involuntary Separation from Barnes and Nobel: November 20, 2002: Involuntary Separation: Corporate Downsizing Gone Fatally Wrong by Rick Lacey is a complex and deftly written novel about murder in the upper management of an international oil company. Revenge, suicide, and one man's single-minded obsession to halt corporate downsizing make for an exciting and savage unfolding drama that will compel the reader's total attention from first page to last.
RebeccaReads: Come into corporate America where John McCall, a brilliant Vice President of Finances is directed to affect a dramatic corporate downsizing & where murder, revenge & suicide ensue.
“Confronting one of the most consequential issues of our time, Involuntary Separation compels us to see what really motivates corporate downsizings & why we must stop them if we expect our great society to survive.”
The very loyalty which once ensured a lifetime of employment is now the very thing that will assure unemployment because money, corporate money, is really the only thing on the bottom line.
Rick Lacey has written of what he knows, having been involuntarily separated from BP Oil. He decided to get the word out in a mystery novel about this form of corporate slaughter. I think Rick Lacey made his point. This is a hard book to read; first because of the quality of the writing--just about every “no-no” is present, however, the subject matter is important & the reading does get better as the story progresses.
If the subject & the politics of corporate downsizing intrigues you, you will find Involuntary Separation quite interesting.
(05/11/03)
Rebecca
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