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Nick Heller is tough, smart, and stubborn. And in his line of work, it's essential. Trained in the Special Forces, Nick is a high-powered intelligence investigator - exposing secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He's a guy you don't want to mess with. He's also the man you call when you need a problem fixed. Desperate, with nowhere else to run, Nick's nephew, Gabe makes that call one night.
Jason Steadman is a 30-year-old sales executive living in Boston and working for an electronics giant, a competitor to Sony and Panasonic. He's a witty, charismatic guy who's well liked at the office, but he lacks the "killer instinct" necessary to move up the corporate ladder. To the chagrin of his ambitious wife, it looks as if his career has hit a ceiling. Jason's been sidelined.
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.
When a band of backwoods hunters crash a corporate retreat in the wilderness, executives find themselves held hostage by men who will do anything to get the largest ransom in history. The corporate big shots hadn't wanted junior exec Jake Landry there. But now he's the only one who can save them.
Claire Heller Chapman, a Harvard Law School professor and a high-powered attorney, has just attained a national reputation for her work on several high-profile cases. Her second husband, Tom Chapman, is a successful money manager who adores Claire and her six-year-old daughter. They live in a beautiful house and lead a glamorous and happy life. But a routine police investigation reveals that Tom is not who he says he is.
When former investigative reporter Rick Hoffman loses his job, fiancée, and apartment, his only option is to move back into - and renovate - the home of his miserable youth, now empty and in decay since the stroke that put his father in a nursing home.
Nick Heller is tough, smart, and stubborn. And in his line of work, it's essential. Trained in the Special Forces, Nick is a high-powered intelligence investigator - exposing secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He's a guy you don't want to mess with. He's also the man you call when you need a problem fixed. Desperate, with nowhere else to run, Nick's nephew, Gabe makes that call one night.
Jason Steadman is a 30-year-old sales executive living in Boston and working for an electronics giant, a competitor to Sony and Panasonic. He's a witty, charismatic guy who's well liked at the office, but he lacks the "killer instinct" necessary to move up the corporate ladder. To the chagrin of his ambitious wife, it looks as if his career has hit a ceiling. Jason's been sidelined.
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.
When a band of backwoods hunters crash a corporate retreat in the wilderness, executives find themselves held hostage by men who will do anything to get the largest ransom in history. The corporate big shots hadn't wanted junior exec Jake Landry there. But now he's the only one who can save them.
Claire Heller Chapman, a Harvard Law School professor and a high-powered attorney, has just attained a national reputation for her work on several high-profile cases. Her second husband, Tom Chapman, is a successful money manager who adores Claire and her six-year-old daughter. They live in a beautiful house and lead a glamorous and happy life. But a routine police investigation reveals that Tom is not who he says he is.
When former investigative reporter Rick Hoffman loses his job, fiancée, and apartment, his only option is to move back into - and renovate - the home of his miserable youth, now empty and in decay since the stroke that put his father in a nursing home.
Michael Tanner is on his way home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong MacBook in an airport security line. He doesn't notice the mix-up until he arrives home in Boston, but by then it's too late. Tanner's curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the owner is a US senator and that the laptop contains top secret files. When Senator Susan Robbins realizes she's come back with the wrong laptop, she calls her young chief of staff, Will Abbott, in a panic.
When single father Danny Goodman suddenly finds himself unable to afford the private school his teenage daughter adores, he has no one to turn to for financial support. In what seems like a stroke of brilliant luck, Danny meets Thomas Galvin, the father of his daughter’s new best friend, who also happens to be one of the wealthiest men in Boston. Galvin is aware of Danny's situation and out of the blue offers a $50,000 loan to help Danny cover his daughter's tuition. Uncomfortable but desperate, Danny takes the money, promising to pay Galvin back.
When an ominous, digitally encrypted telephone call is intercepted by the NSA's spy satellites high over Switzerland, FBI Special Agent Sarah Cahill -- irreverent, outspoken, a brilliant counterterrorism expert, a divorced mother of an eight-year-old boy -- is urgently summoned to New York to investigate an imminent terrorist attack on lower Manhattan.
Harrison Sinclair, director of the CIA, has been killed in a car accident. His son-in-law, Ben Ellison - an attorney and ex-agent - instantly hears rumors of sinister forces within the Agency. The hunt for the truth will rush Ben headlong into a web of conspiracy beyond his control, where he is compelled by an artful, inescapable maneuver back into the employ of the CIA, and lured into a top-secret espionage project in telepathy that will endow him with "extraordinary powers"....
Assigned to examine a portentous tape sneaked out of Moscow by a mole, CIA Kremlinologist Charlie Stone finds himself in an espionage investigation of staggering complexity. As he hops among three continents, often the target of both the KGB and the CIA, Stone succeeds in vindicating his father, branded a traitor by McCarthy, while nosing out a plot by the head of the KGB to stage a violent coup during a Moscow summit that will end glasnost and set the world on its ear.
Who is Nola Brown? Nola is a mystery. Nola is trouble. And Nola is supposed to be dead. Her body was found on a plane that mysteriously fell from the sky as it left a secret military base in the Alaskan wilderness. Her commanding officer verifies she's dead. The US government confirms it. But Jim "Zig" Zigarowski has just found out the truth: Nola is still alive. And on the run.
Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He's also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets - i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear.
White House lawyer Michael Garrick has a relatively anonymous position at a very public address. That is until he starts dating Nora Harston (Secret Service code name: Shadow), the sexy and dangerously irresistible daughter of the president. But the confident young attorney thinks he can handle the pressure. Until, out on a date, Nora and Michael see something they shouldn't. To protect her, he admits to something he shouldn't. And when a body is discovered and Michael is the suspected killer, he finds himself on the run.
Meet Mike Daley. Ex-priest. Ex-public defender. And as of yesterday, ex-partner in one of San Francisco's most prominent law firms. Today he's out on his own, setting up practice on the wrong side of town. Then his best friend and former colleague is charged with a brutal double murder, and Daley is instantly catapulted into a high-profile investigation involving the prestigious law firm that just booted him. As he prepares his case, Daley uncovers the firm's dirtiest secrets.
Meet Jake Oliver. The day will come when he's one of the best cleaners in the business, a man skilled at making bodies disappear. At the moment, however, he's a 22 year old rookie cop, unaware his life is about to change. In a burning barn a body is found--and the fire isn't the cause of death. The detectives working the case have a pretty good idea about what went down. But Officer Oliver thinks it's something else entirely, and pursues a truth others would prefer remain hidden - others who will go to extreme lengths to keep him quiet.
Riske is a freelance industrial spy who, despite his job title, lives a mostly quiet life above his auto garage in central London. He has avoided big, messy jobs - until now. A gangster by the name of Tino Coluzzi - once a compatriot of Riske - has orchestrated the greatest street heist in the history of Paris: a visiting Saudi prince had his pockets lightened of millions in cash, and something else. Hidden within a stolen briefcase is a secret letter that could upend the balance of power in the Western world. The Russians have already killed in an attempt to get it back.
It was the deal of the decade, if not the century. A small, insignificant company on the edge of bankruptcy had discovered an alchemist's dream; a miraculous polymer, that when coated on any vehicle, was the equivalent of 30 inches of steel. With bloody conflicts surging in Iraq and Afghanistan, the polymer promises to save thousands of lives and change the course of both wars.
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.
"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)
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.
106 of 110 people found this review helpful
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!
14 of 14 people found this review helpful
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.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful
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."
11 of 11 people found this review helpful
It is a great thriller involving a man I am sure most of us know. Well worth a credit. Finder is a great author.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
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
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
As with his first book, Paranoia, this book had me hooked from the start. Very real, hard lessons and consequenses of the corporate world as well as how it can spill over into your personal life. Full of twists and turns.
I can't wait for his next book.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
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.
21 of 24 people found this review helpful
I am a big fan of Joseph Finder ever since I listened to Paranoia (a must listen as well if you have not already done so) and I really enjoyed this title. I enjoyed the narration by Scott Brick, as always and I like Finder's ability to create a "young" corporate thriller that captures the business landscape that many of us find ourselves in. Often times corporate dramas are set in old, dark and dry settings whereas his backdrops effortlessly weave small town America with big money, high stakes corporations. His protagonists are always well developed and likable and leave you rooting for them to pull through. Well done and a must listen!
4 of 4 people found this review helpful
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.
11 of 13 people found this review helpful