Company Man

A Novel

By: Joseph Finder

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Joseph Finder's New York Times best seller Paranoia was hailed by critics as "jet-propelled," the "Page Turner of the Year," and "the archetype of the thriller in its contemporary form."

Now Finder returns with Company Man - a heart-stopping thriller about ambition, betrayal, and the price of secrets.

Nick Conover, the son of a factory worker, is the CEO of a major corporation in a company town. Nick, once the most admired man in Fenwick, Michigan, is now, having presided over massive layoffs, the most despised. A single parent since the recent death of his wife, he's struggling to insulate his 10-year-old daughter and angry 16-year-old son from the town's hostility. 

When his family is threatened by a nameless stalker, events spin quickly out of control and Nick is faced with a dead body and damning circumstances. To protect his family, he must cover up the homicide with the help of his old friend and corporate security director. 

Now Audrey Rhimes, a police investigator with an agenda of her own, is determined to connect Nick to the homicide. In the meantime, Nick begins to unravel a web of intrigue within his own corporation, involving his closest colleagues, that threatens to gut the company and bring him down with it. With everything he spent his life working for hanging in the balance, Nick Conover discovers that life at the top is just one small step away from a long plunge to the bottom. 

©2005 Joseph Finder (P)2005 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

"A frightfully good suspense thriller." (Booklist)
"Mr. Finder's Company Man confirms what his Paranoia made clear: he has unusually keen instincts for back-stabbing in the business world. And somehow or other, exotica about the workings of a company that manufactures office furniture become unnaturally interesting here." (The New York Times)

Nail-biting suspense

For the first hour or so I believed the plot was so transparent that I would not finish the book. Even so there was plenty to keep me going until I realized there were layers and layers of plots and that I should ignore what I thought I knew.

It's a good thing I did because this novel delivers a lot of bang for the buck. It's a thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat (or driving around and around the block) with very human characters that really grab you. There are a number of characters I hope the author follows in later books, but to protect the suspense I won't say who they are.

<i>Paranoia</i> was good, <i>Company Man</i> is great.

Joseph Finder is now on my list of favorites authors along with Nelson Demille, ahead, even, of Robert Ludlum.

I read a hundred novels a year...

I read a hundred books a year, most of them thrillers, and I'm a very picky reader. I abandon half the books I start because they just don't hold my attention. Bearing all this in mind, COMPANY MAN just claimed a firm place on the list of the top ten thrillers I've read. Ever. It's a pressure cooker of tension from the beginning and it never lets up. Finder has become one of those few authors whose next book I anxiously await.

He Does it Again

I loved "Paranoia" the last of Finder's books. But this novel far surpasses it. There are many characters in this book and they are all well drawn. I loved many of them even if they were working against eachother.
It is exciting from the beginning: heart pouding. So well written that I thoroughly enjoyed the way he brought instant life into every scene
After I finished it I felt the way I did after Hoag's "To kill the Messanger" - Satisfied!

Scott Brick

While hesitating to purchsase this book, I saw that Scott Brick had narrated it. That made up my mind. I was instantly mesmerized; Scott's incredible vocalizations makes any book he reads come alive in a way that no other narrator can.

Company Man kept me awake, especially towards the end. The amazing twists and turns were completely unexpected. There aren't enough stars to rate it fairly. Thanks for a wonderful "read."

Very entertaining!

I too previously listened to PARANOIA and enjoyed it enough to give COMPANY MAN a try. I was not disappointed and feel that COMPANY MAN is a better book overall, with more plot twists and detail. Like PARANOIA, the author writes in a contempory fashion, describing modern mundanities like corporate politics, instant messaging, Google, Voicemail, Spam (Nigerians who wish to share their pilferred millions with nobody but you), and infuriatingly slow-moving gates at the "gated community."

This book is NOT by any means a "classic," brimming with eloquent, inspirational prose. However, I did not expect it to be. COMPANY MAN is pure entertainment, easy to listen to, keeping one looking forward to the next chapter. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cliches? Sure, plenty of them. Predictable? Sometimes, but so what? That is part of the fun, like watching a Hollywood thriller. Certainly well worth the price of admission and one of my more enjoyable listens from Audible.

Fantastic Story.

I went back and forth about whether or not to buy this book for months; I had loved other Joseph Finder books, but the synopsis for this one just didn't look that interesting to me.

I'm so glad I finally got it. I found this story far more interesting than the summary represented. The part of the story that focused on the corporate issues was awesome, and the storyline about the police detective was fantastic.

I'm a fan of Scott Brick (the narrator) but BE WARNED - he tends to inspire a strong reaction from people, either very positive or very negative. If you aren't already a fan of Scott Brick, make sure to listen to the sample before making a final decision on whether to buy.

Unique With Characters You Can Identify With

It is a great thriller involving a man I am sure most of us know. Well worth a credit. Finder is a great author.

ANOTHER GOOD ONE

A very good, entertaining read/listen... I enjoyed it very much, but the ending was a bit pradictable. I like all this writers book, and especially I enjoy his narrator, Scott Brick. This one I found to be not quite as good as "KILLER INSTINCT", which I enjoyed ALL the way till the end and wanted more ...

Absolutely worth it!
entertainment rating = 8/10,
intelligence rating = 7/10,
artistic rating = 5/10

Liked Paranoia, ...but this was awful

I really liked Paranoia and looked forward to another book by Finder. This, however proved to be an anticlimax. The plot is simplistic-- like the author have read a bunch of mediocre books and cut and pasted the story together. The characters are unbelievably bland and full of cliches. Every thought or action is drawn out and overdone. It seems like things are described at least three times- when they actually happen, when someone finds out what happened, and when he or she tells another character about what they found out. The 'twists' are transparent and predictable, you can not believe that the people did not see them coming. The strong language would not have bothered me had there been some purpose behind the words, but of course there was none.
All in all a bad investment. I went to the bookstore and checked out the end (no suprises) and saved myself the agony of having to listen to the entire book.

Flatlined!!!

I loved Joseph Finders last book and really looked forward to this one! (I managed to save a book credit for three whole weeks until the release date finally arrived.) I got through the first four and a half hours before finally raising the white flag and blowing 'the last post.' This book just seemed to 'idle along' until finally my interest ultimately 'flatlined.' I briefly adopted the idea of hiring my own 'sleuth' to track down the nail biting suspense I'd heard so much about but then I do hate throwing good money after bad!

Entertaining read with a few good twists

it takes a while to get into this book - long drawn out to start but eventually picks up. interesting characters and they are well developed. a bit repetative in places but overall a good suspense read.