Paranoia

By: Joseph Finder

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 56 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) 

Clever and interesting.

I enjoyed this title very much. It's a clever tale of high-tech intrigue, greed and corporate espionage that's well written, fast paced and has well drawn characters. We are not beaten over the head with the moral lessons too severely, yet they are a bit obviously drawn (hard to avoid it, actually). If you are looking for a truly thought provoking book try the new John le Carre novel. If you want a clever, bright and shiny literary romp then this title is the one for you. Recommended.

69 of 70 people found this review helpful

Pleasant surprise

I had run out of my "type" of audiobooks to listen to and was going on a long trip. I 'm hooked on a few authors I like and rarely look for someone new.
Found "Paranoia" and decided to take a chance..... What a pleasant surprise. Now I can't wait to listen to more from this author.
contemporary-fresh-lot's of twists... very good

23 of 23 people found this review helpful

Good corporate espionage thriller

I bought this for a long road-trip and I got so caught up in the story that I took the unusual step of bringing my Ipod into my hotel room and listening to it at night in bed! I love business thrillers, which are pitifully few, since everyone wants to write about detectives, lawyers, or the CIA these days.

Essentially, this book focuses on the actions of an employee of a fictional tech firm who is coerced into spying on a competitor by taking a job with them. His job is to learn all he can about a mysterious, earth-shattering invention the competitor is working on. Corporate espionage, in other words.

Despite my love of the book, and of the twists and turns it takes, I have a few misgivings. The plot conclusion was great, but the final couple of paragraphs were unsatisfying. It's almost as if the author failed to submit the last page of the story to the publisher. Also, the story's hero can be rather stupid at times. Finally, while the character's dad's health issues and bad attitude provided a mildly interesting side story, I think the author spent too much time on the father-son relationship. Just my opinion.

Overall, great book. I hope to find more like it.

16 of 16 people found this review helpful

A pleasant surprise!

I've listened to 30 good novels this year. The toughest part about audiobooks, is that you need both a great author/novel, and you need a great narrator. This book delivers on both. Scott Brick brings this novel to life, and Joseph Finder writes a gripping plot with 3-Dimensional characters. This is my first time with a Joseph Finder book, so I was hesitant at first, but once I started listening, I couldn't get to sleep! I normally fall asleep to good books with my 60min Sleep Timer, but I kept resetting the timer every 60min until I realized it was 5AM and I hadn't slept yet! I couldn't believe it. Rest assured, once you start this book, you won't start looking for your next book until you've finished it. Enjoy!

28 of 29 people found this review helpful

Paranoia Is Such Fun!

I loved everything about this book when I read the paper version some years ago. I brought the book in for a co-worker at the time, who told me she was angry at me the next morning as she stayed up all night reading it. So, when I saw it on sale, I figured I'd give it a second go-round in audio.

You can imagine my surprise, when after listening to it and enjoying every moment of it, I read the reviews and realized it was narrated by Scott Brick! He did a great job capturing the brash personality of Adam Cassidy! He really added to the listening experience! (I am not usually a fan but may have to reconsider.)

Short summary? Adam Cassidy is in the tech industry in a boring, going-nowhere type of job. For kicks, he hacks his company's systems to finance a fancy and much too expensive retirement party for a guy on the loading dock. When caught red-handed, he is given a choice of prison or spying for his company by infiltrating their most serious competitor. This is when the fun begins. There is a secondary thread involving Adam's relationship with his abusive, difficult father who is dying of lung disease. It is interesting enough to justify being there.

Basically, it is a tale of corporate espionage laced with bits of humor. It kept me smiling. This is not a subject I would seek out nor would I expect to find it as fun as I did. I am not a suspense junkie, either, but this book kept me reading and nail-biting til the wee hours. Sure, it takes a bit of suspending your reality, but if you are willing to do that, you are in for a very amusing listen.

Highly recommended!

11 of 11 people found this review helpful

Very good

This was my first Finder book and I have now ordered another. Gripping and well written and read.

9 of 9 people found this review helpful

A Fun Read

A fun read. Happy, sad and a great ending. A very modern suspense novel. I think everyone can relate with the likable main character. Buy this book or you'll miss a good one.

27 of 30 people found this review helpful

3.5 a Better Rating Really

Good story, plot, but not totally plausible. A fun read overall. Just a times hard to swallow. The narrator was excellent, the pace good. The details got a bit beyond reality at times.

12 of 13 people found this review helpful

Paranoia is the perfect title

After 9 years as an Audible member and a library of approximately 700 audiobooks, how did I miss Paranoia? The book is excellent and narration is by Scott Brick who is simply the best.

Young Adam Cassidy, the main character, is caught by two CEOs as a pawn in a high stakes corporate battle. The suspense is terrific. Adam takes apparently huge risks to his personal safety. The ending is not easily predicted. I highly recommend this excellent thriller.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Can the upcoming 2013 movie live up to the book?!?

Since I really enjoy this author's exciting books and PARANOIA is coming out at the movies next month, I decided that I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie. This is definitely an exciting thriller--no murders or spying between nations, but a new type of modern day thriller. Espionage between high tech companies and the extremely rich and powerful people who control these things dominates this book.

Adam Cassidy is just a lovely tech guy with little ambition in life but to have fun at little expense and effort on his part. He hacks his companies system to host a going away party for one of the dock workers. His "party" ended up costing more than $70,000, and he got caught. The head of his company makes Adam a deal----spy on the competitor company, and maybe we won't prosecute, sending you to jail for most of your lifetime. Adam's first person account of all the turns and twists in this endeavor makes for a thriller every bit as exciting as any world wide spy thriller. His dying, foul mouthed father adds another element of interest to the story also.

Once again, Joseph Finder does not disappoint for thrills and excitement. His characters are rich in detail, and he has the hi tech computer age down perfectly. Though I loved this book, the technology changes from it's publication until today adds another level of "unintended" fun to this book---oh how technology has grown!!! Will be interesting to see how this updates in the movie. It might seem to make this book dated, but it actually adds to the enjoyment of this extremely well written book!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

querky

very american, techy book. Good fun, plenty of suspense. Quite original. I like the way it is written in the first person. He tells it with hindsight, and he knows what the outcome is before the story starts, although we have to wait till the end.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful