Paranoia

A Novel

By: Joseph Finder

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Adam Cassidy is twenty-six and a low level employee at a high-tech corporation who hates his job. When he manipulates the system to do something nice for a friend, he finds himself charged with a crime. Corporate Security gives him a choice: prison or become a spy in the headquarters of their chief competitor, Trion Systems. They train him and feed him inside information. Now at Trion, he's a star, skyrocketing to the top. He finds he has talents he never knew he possessed. He's rich, drives a Porsche, lives in a fabulous apartment, and works directly for the CEO. He's dating the girl of his dreams. His life is perfect. All he has to do to keep it that way is betray everyone he cares about and everything he believes in. But when he tries to break off from his controllers, he finds himself in way over his head, where nothing is what it seems and no one can really be trusted. And then the REAL nightmare begins....

©2004 Joseph Finder (P)2004 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

"Is it too early to declare Finder's fifth novel the most entertaining thriller of 2004?....A first-rate surprise ending packs a wallop. This novel is the real deal: a thriller that actually will keep readers up way past their bedtimes." (Publishers Weekly)

"A twisting, stealthily plotted story...as a savvy genre piece with built-in momentum, it works just fine...the book weaves a tangled and ingeniously enveloping web." (The New York Times)

"What keeps the pages turning isn't the suspense, though, as much as it is Finder's detailed portrayal of the Machiavellian world of the mega-corporation and its high-stakes intrigue." (The New York Times Book Review)

"This thriller is engaging from the opening lines and doesn't let up until the surprising end. Scott Brick narrates flawlessly....This great performance is a perfect fit for the writing." (AudioFile)

Not bad

Scott Brick is a great narrator as usual. The story was okay. It was at least semi-entertaining. The liberal references were absolutely annoying since they didn't add to the story line at all but irritated me.

Phenomenol!

This was probably the best, most entertaining, compelling audio book I've ever read, and I've read hundreds. It had everything, combined with Scott Brick's reading, who is absolutely the best, the story grabbed me from the beginning, and never let up. I actually went through a bit of depression as I was coming to the end--not knowing when or 'if' I would ever find another similar caliber story.

Great, up-to-date and suspenseful - with a twist

I am into technologies and the topics are definite up-to-date with todays technologies. It is very suspenseful industrial espionage story and the twist at the end was great and I did not saw it coming!

Totally worth your credit.

It's difficult to write anything. By trying NOT to spoil the ending, means there is something good enough, it shouldn't be spoiled, and that's giving away too much info.

don't think you know the story by watching the mov

Great book! Lots of twists with interesting characters.
this was my second listen (couple of years apart) and I enjoyed it even more the second time around.

Great Story

I liked this book and thought it was a good mystery and I didn't guess the ending. I will try other books by this author.

a lot of fun

A worthwile listen. The story hooked and entertained the entire time.

Loved this book, read to the end

Really 4.5 stars. My comments here are for the unabridged version. Sure some people might figure out the ending. (I didn't). Sure some might whine that some of events are unlikely. I just found the book a good read. I did not want to get out of the car at the end of the ride (I listen in the car).
The book starts off with a semi-geek low level stiff using his talents to "borrow" company funds for company party. Our hero gets into a heap of trouble when he is caught. As he has his employer call him into the office to put the screws to him. I know woulkd think about just running away. He is a total screw up. He doesn't apply any of his "talents" to good use. He just shows up for work each day; going through the motions. I am a geek so I kept envisioning myself in the same situations as the main character. Thanks to this major screw up he goes from the mailroom level to the executive suite literally overnight. How come he can do it and I can't? I will try to emulate this guy, pick up some tips. I watch as he gets luckier and luckier, he gets the big raises and the girl no one else can have. Unfortunately for our hero, things begin seeming a lot like work. Now that he is in the executive suite he actaully works hard and damn if he isn't really sharp and fast on his feet; just like me. Behind the scenes, some bad things are happening to distract him. His father's health is failing. He is supposed to be spying on others but now someone is breaking into his expensive apartment and stealing all his secrets. He knows someone is checking up on him. The title comes from the appearance that most anyone in the story is conning some else. Everyting keeps rolling forward to unpredictable conclusion. Even when he is seemingly caught in the act, everything MAY work out for him (or NOT). Up until the last line of the book you won't know who all the con artists are and whether "our hero" gets away with it?? I will definitely look to read more books by this author

Fantastic. Edge of your seat suspense & intrigue.

This is scary. But it doesn’t use horror to scare us, it uses fear of being discovered and close calls. If you liked The Firm by John Grisham, you’ll like this. It’s similar in suspense, intricate characters, neat things happening, and surprising things happening. The main guy is not likeable, but I’m rooting for him. He is Adam age 26, a slacker. He does the bare minimum in his job to get by. Doesn’t care much about anything. He does something stupid thinking at worst he’ll get fired. But his vindictive employer threatens to send him to jail unless Adam goes to work for another company Trion -- as a spy. (Wyatt thought Adam would be a good spy because Adam was great at making up lies on the spot.) It was fun to see how Wyatt’s people groomed Adam. They told him how to dress and how to act. He must arrive at work 45 minutes early every day. They fed him technical information to use in his job. One of the fun things was that I did not expect Adam to be good, but he turned out to be a star in his new job. Some surprising things happened, caused me to laugh. Really good entertainment.

CAUTION SPOILER (Something I wanted to know before I read the book - Is it a happy ending?):
I “require” happy endings. I don’t want the guys I root for to go to jail or get killed. And this ending was good enough for me.
END SPOILER.

AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR.
Scott Brick is not a favorite of mine. He is often too sarcastic, condescending, and smart-alecky. But in this book it fit. Adam starts out not likeable. Several characters are not likeable. So the unlikeable narrator worked. He also does women well which a lot of male narrators don’t do.

Genre: suspense thriller.

THE MOVIE (not good):
The movie people changed too many things. They changed the plot, the events, the ending, the company name, product names, and character names. They added a chase scene. The movie had none of the uniqueness, specialness, and richness of the book.

disappointed...not buying into the story

After all of the glowing reviews, I was a little disappointed with the book. I found myself not completely buying into the circumstances in the book. As a result, I didn't get wrapped into the emotions. Perhaps I am unfairly comparing this book to the incredible Robert Ludlum books I have read recently (Jansen Directive, etc). The performance by the narrator is quite good.