dan simmons' 'darwin's blade'

No it's based on a Darwin Awards.
Go read about it here http://www.darwinawards.com/

Fun reading, even though a bit gruesome topic.

It doesn't seem to be, but it seems to have similar aspects to it... the insurance investigation for one. I just heard about the movie and thought "sounds like their ripping off Simmon's a bit."

I believe it is.

The scene with the rocket car is in the novel only very slightly changed. Several other scenes used in the movie are taken from Simmons book. The scene where the two idiots kill themselves at the Metallica concert is from the book too (though Metallica isn't).

Additionally, the insurance executive who interviews Fiennes early in the movie has a name plate on his desk that reads "Simmons".

I frankly don't understand how they got away with ripping off anecdotes from his book uncredited.