Bryan Hampton transfers to the Las Vegas Department of
Justice after having a case sabotaged by dirty politicians
in Chicago. He wants a fresh start and hopes that working
with old college friend Jay Dixon will provide an
uncorrupted environment in which to pursue health care
fraud and abuse no matter the dollar amount. With the help
of two private sector organizations, Bryan becomes part of
a 'Dream Team' of investigators that use sophisticated
software and data resources to uncover a fraud ring that
will stop at nothing to get rich.
UNBRIDLED GREED is clearly a personal and passionate work
by author Barry Johnson. Johnson's career as a dentist, an
employee of a health care database, software, and
publishing company, and then as a fraud prevention
entrepreneur makes him very knowledgeable on the subject of
health care fraud. This is clearly felt in the very weighty
explanations of medical billing and coding, types of fraud,
and the ramifications that such fraud perpetuates. There
were many 'Tell me again how that works' type conversations.
Reading this story truly felt like I was trying to wade
through three hundred and forty-one pages of insurance
documents and the stipulations of their coverage. The
action and building of tension in such a far-reaching
criminal case is lost in the pontificating and redundant
dialogue. The characters show very little ambiguity or
depth. They're good or they're bad. Characters who remain
complicit to fraud, no matter the reason, are viewed as
traitors and without honor. Bryan is intolerant,
obstinate, and smug. He truly seems to care more about the
fraud perpetuated on Medicare and large insurance carriers
than the pursuit of a murderer that is tied to the case.
I'll admit to feeling like a criminal myself when reading
this because I couldn't feel angry that large insurance
carriers were being defrauded. I think my attitude might
have been 'it serves them right.' This is part of the
pervasive attitude Johnson is trying to fight against but
it's really hard to care if a multi-billion dollar company
loses a few million when it denies coverage to thousands
and barely covers the expenses of those paying in. If the
story had contained more shades of gray rather than the
black and white ethics Johnson tries to force, I might have
been more inclined to see the crimes as crimes.
UNBRIDLED GREED lacks a sympathetic view of the world and
tries to label all fraud as actions based upon the greedy
masses looking for an easy way out. This in no way excuses
the crime, but understanding why people remain complicit to
illegal activities goes beyond good or bad ethics.
Unfortunately, there isn't a character in Barry Johnson's
story to represent the complex and complicated nature of
human actions. There is a wealth of knowledge in Johnson's
writing about this complex field of fraud, but the
moralizing tone coupled with unwieldy dialogue really make
this story difficult to get through.
When a major fraud investigation is thwarted by politics and
bribes, Department of Justice investigator Bryan Hampton
tires of fighting corruption and cronyism in Chicago. He
transfers to Las Vegas to work with a former college
classmate, Paul Dixon, newly appointed as U. S. Attorney for
the Nevada District. Dixon has vowed to aggressively fight
health care fraud and abuse, which victimizes countless
patients and robs Americans of over five billion dollars
annually.
Hampton and Dixon team up with two private sector
organizations and using sophisticated new software, massive
data resources, and traditional investigative efforts, they
uncover a highly organized fraud scheme swindling insurers
of millions of dollars every month. What they don t realize
until it s too late, is the degree of violence the criminals
are willing to inflict, in order to feed their greed. The
story powerfully exposes the corruption, greed and violence
surrounding the crooks who perpetuate the fraud.
This reviewer's moral judgements and comments about human nature and right and wrong are indicative of one of the very issues this work tries to reveal. The Occupy Wall Street liberal attitude that big corporations steal from the masses so anything the public does to get back at them including fraud is justified is simplistic and old thinking. Criminals are stealing hundreds of billions from our government and private health care plans and we the public (including you, Jennifer) pay through higher premiums and taxes. Attitudes justifying or ignoring this activity is equivalent to self-flagellation and demonstrates ignorance of reality.
Furthermore, moralizing is something this nation needs more of if we are to remain great. There is good and bad and the shades of gray and complexity in ethics this reviewer wants to see in Bryan Hampton and other characters in this story are the justifications morally compromised individuals look for in others. This they do simply to justify their own behaviors, which she even acknowledges by writing "I admit to feeling criminal myself ...". We should all recognize those insights when we sense them and see less complexity in right and wrong decision-making and everything will begin to appear less gray.
Jennifer is correct about the dialogue being tedious in places and the story bogging down. My editor warned me about that but I insisted on trying to communicate the complexity and diversity of how health care fraud is perpetrated and did it at the expense of the story. That mistake I admit to and will not repeat in future stories.
By the way Jennifer, Dixon's first name is Paul not Jay as you note in your first paragraph. Perhaps Paul (who is based upon a real person without any complex moral conundrums) you would have portrayed as having a split personality, and Jay his alter ego would be filing false claims and assisting Bennett Watson, master criminal, who has also been Father of the Year in Las Vegas ten years running. (Barry Johnson 1:02pm May 28, 2013)
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