Quitters, Inc.

The main character, Richard ("Dick") Morrison, is a middle-aged man who would like to quit smoking. A friend advises Morrison to go to Quitters, Inc., the firm that had he says helped him kick the habit. The firm is said to have a 98% success rate with their clients and guarantees that once the person has enrolled for treatment, he will never smoke again.

Morrison finds out about the brutal enforcement methods used by Quitters, Inc. from Vic Donatti, Morrison's quitting counselor. These include administering non-fatal electric shocks of increasing intensity to his family members if he is caught smoking a cigarette, and eventually, with enough infractions, administering shocks to him as well. Donatti also reveals that after the ninth infraction, Morrison's mentally disabled son's arms would be broken. Finally, if Morrison commits a tenth infraction, Donatti says, placing a gun on his desk, Morrison would become part of "the unregenerate two percent." "But even the unregenerate two percent never smoke again. We guarantee it."

With some difficulty, Morrison is able to quit, after only one slip, which results in his wife being abducted and shocked. But she understands- she too wants Morrison to quit smoking, so she forgives him. Morrison, however, now must deal with other aspects of the firm's strict methods. His counselor gives him a prescription for some diet pills, and said that if he does not lose the weight he has gained as consequence of quitting smoking, then his wife's finger will be cut off. Morrison loses the weight, but later learns that the friend who sent him to Quitters, Inc. had not been so lucky... His wife is missing a finger.

To be completed...