Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Power Play  By  cover art

Power Play

By: Joseph Finder
Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.99

Buy for $14.99

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

An off-site corporate event gone disastrously wrong. The largest ransom in history. The price-tag: dead or alive. Now, in Joseph Finder's explosive thriller Power Play, it's up to Jake Landry—a modest, steady guy with a dark, hidden past—to save them all...

It was the perfect retreat for a troubled company. No cell phones. No BlackBerrys. No cars. Just a deluxe lodge surrounded by thousands of miles of wilderness and a desolate seacoast.

Jake Landry is a junior executive at the Hammond Aerospace Corporation, a steady, modest, and taciturn guy with a gift for keeping his head down—and a turbulent past he prays he's put behind him. Ordered to fill in for his boss at the annual offsite, he's out of his element. He's uncomfortable with the lavish accommodations and especially with the arrogant, swaggering men who run the company and the only person he knows there is the new special assistant to the CEO—who happens to be Jake's ex.

Then a band of hunters, apparently lost in the woods, crash the opening-night festivities. Soon the execs of a billion-dollar company, cut off from the rest of the world, find themselves at the mercy of a group of men with guns...and a cunning plan to take Hammond Aerospace for all it's worth.

But the hostage takers aren't who they appear to be and neither is Jake Landry. The high flyers hadn't wanted Jake to come along. Now he's the only one who can save them.

©2007 Joseph Finder (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC

Critic reviews

"[This is Finder's] most entertaining and compelling novel of adventure and intrigue yet." (Boston Globe)

What listeners say about Power Play

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    272
  • 4 Stars
    397
  • 3 Stars
    196
  • 2 Stars
    37
  • 1 Stars
    17
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    126
  • 4 Stars
    100
  • 3 Stars
    37
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    104
  • 4 Stars
    103
  • 3 Stars
    43
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
    6

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Ton of Fun!

This book was especially fun for me because I got it without reading the synopsis (I'm a big Joseph Finder fan, and just grabbed the book based on the author) so the story turns took me completely by surprise.

This book is a little different that the others by the author, and it's hard to pinpoint exactly why - it seems like a one-off; a little shorter, a little less character development, but a lot of fun.

Dennis Boutsikaris is a great narrator and did a good job.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible story, remarkably narration, beautiful writing

One of the few mystery/thrillers I listen to at least once a year. I can think of only 3 novels in the genre that grabbed me in the first chapter and only got better from there.

Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
Bombproof by Michael Robotham
Power Play by Joseph Finder.

Two of them share the same narrator, actor Dennis Boutsikaris. Frankie Machine and Power Play are both masterpieces of narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

4.5 stars!

Power Play is easily among Joseph Finder's best suspense thrillers. The publisher's summary provides just enough information to entice the potential listener without giving away the plot. Actor Dennis Boutsikaris does a wonderful job of narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

WOW

Talk about a page turner! Can't put it down!

Say, are there anymore trite phrases to describe a great thriller?

If you like Finder, and I sure do, this might be his best yet although "Company Man" is still probably his classic for unexpected twists.

To my friends at Audible, please get more Finder.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow! Perfect!

There are a few elite writers that come out with terrific books every time. Nelson DeMille, Harlan Coben, David Baldacci, and the great Joseph Finder have never let me down yet. This title follows the formula of "ordinary joe, somewhat under-doggish, thrust into extraordinary situation", that is always wonderful escape-ism if it isn't too predictable. You are rooting for the hero Jake Landry right from jump street, and he's a great hero to root for throughout the book. My only complaint is the 8+ hour time was too short!! I was left wanting more, but hopefully Mr. Finder has another one coming down the pike soon enough.
Narrators really make the read, and Dennis Boutsikaris was note perfect here. Scott Brick would be proud! I highly recommend this title to anyone who loves the above mentioned writers, I buy at least six audiobooks a month, having three different accounts with Audible, and this has been the best book in a while. Namaste!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A classic Finder ...

This was a very pleasant and fast read – and a classic Joseph Finder at that.

If this is your first Finder book – you can think of him as John Grisham – with the court rooms exchanged by the corporate highlife.

The first 1½ hours of the book is fairly slow – but it quickly picks up pace from there on.

Not a book that will stay with you for years – but simply plain old entertaining. And I guess, that’s probably what most people expect from a book....

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great for a road trip

We listened to this book during a long car trip; our first exposure to Joseph Finder.

We became totally lost in this gripping story. Our "pitstops" were quick so we could get back to the story. We also enjoyed hearing an interview with the author after the conclusion of this book.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading/listening to his other books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing - Not the best from Finder

I downloaded this book as it was from Finder. It is such a silly plot, highly predicatable and the flow not gripping at all. The characters are mediocre and a bit outalndish at times. No...even if you are a Finder fan...let this one pass

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Not So Thrilling Thriller

The premise of the plot is exciting and intriguing. All of the senior executives of a large publicly held aerospace company, are on an annual team-building retreat in a secluded lodge, totally without communications with the outside world. The lodge is taken over by a bunch of hoods, who hold them hostage for the payment of $500 million. It quickly becomes apparent that the executives are the victims of a well-planned plot aimed at them. Just to make sure that they take their plight seriously, a few are killed early on, and, in order to save their own lives, the captives start trying to figure out how to transfer that enormous sum of money to the thugs. In fact, the only ones in the company who could effectuate the payment to the kidnappers, are the hostages themselves.

While that’s pretty exciting stuff, the plot is transparent and not easily believable. The characters are one-dimensional and only mildly interesting corporate stereotypes, living with endless intra-corporate intrigues and rivalries. The hero is so improbable that he should be wearing a superman costume.

Still, I did want to learn how it would all turn out, and there was enough suspense to keep me reading. There were a few interesting bits about the engineering problems of building a jet plane, and I wish there were more. Some insight into the struggles of a woman as CEO over a group of men, was welcomed. Fortunately, the story progressed rapidly and the book was not tedious.

This is a mediocre, but not terribly bad, adventure/suspense novel, which is perfect for interrupted listening while traveling. You can come back to it after long absences between trips, and pick up the thread of the story without confusion or wondering what’s going on. The characters are relatively few, as are the events. This is not a literary book, and I can think of many others of this genre that are better reads. Having bought it, though, I never thought of not finishing it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Very Average

Am I the only Finder fan who was disappointed with this book? First off, I don't know why Scott Brick wasn't used as the narrator, but he should have been. This narrator was fine, but wasn't Brick. Second, I felt the first 1/2 of the book was so slow. It wasn't grabbing my attention and I had to go back several times and re-listen - not because I couldn't understand it, but because I was bored and not paying attention. Lastly, I think as a soldier in Corporate America, I could relate to some extent to characters in his other books or they reminded me of people I have worked with. In this book everyone seemed far-fetched.

I am interested in other Finder fans take on this book. I hope he isn't losing his touch so soon. If you are a fan of his but have other stuff on your wishlist, this one can wait.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful