Vanished

By: Joseph Finder

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

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. After being attacked in Georgetown, his mother lies in a coma, and his step-dad, Roger, Nick's brother, has vanished without a trace. Nick and Roger have been on the outs since the arrest, trial, and conviction of their father, the notorious "fugitive financier" Victor Heller. Where Nick strayed from the path, Roger followed their father's footsteps into the corporate world. Now, as Nick searches for his brother, he's on a collision course with one of the most powerful corporations in the world - and they will stop at nothing to protect their secrets, in Joseph Finder's thrilling Vanished. 

©2009 Joseph Finder (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Terrible Reader

I have read a couple of Finder's books and like them but I must say that after listening to about on hour of this book, I can't stand it any more. The reader uses this whining nasal voice for the teenage boy and his mother that has driven me to quite listening. Too bad because I think this is probably an excellent book.

FUGAWDZAKE... STOP IT!

OK... Holter Graham, the actor who read 'Vanished', apparently really thought out his interpretation of this novel's characters. Maybe if he thought a lot less he might not have found these, perhaps accurate, teenage voices? There's a reason people don't like to listen to whiny snowflakes in the real world. And a larger reason they don't want to hear them in escape-fiction. Worse, the extreme interpretation seeped into other characters.

Maybe Joeseph Finder's a terrific author... this was my first exposure to the guy. Maybe... But I've been to plays where the stage lighting was so determinedly distracting that... Well there's an adage, "When a critic starts reviewing the scenery, the play's in trouble." Ditto the interpretive voice of an Audible Book reader.

I'd like to go deeper than that. Can't. Don't waste your credit on the put-offing cerebral and equally annoying dramatics of Holter Graham - unless or until... Audible hires a director to tell this perhaps gifted guy...

"Hey, you know what you're doing with that voice? Well... FUGAWDZAKE... STOP IT!"

convoluted and whiney

The story was engaging but had some unnecessary and confusing turns. I don't want to hear Holter Graham again. His portrayal of Lauren and Gabe was like fingernails on a blackboard. I have never before been tempted to put a story away due to the narrator but I was in this case.

Annoying Narrator

I was half way through the book and I thought I would check out the reviews by other listeners. I could not agree more with the other reviewers on the annoying voice of the narrator. I thought it was just me losing my patience, but apparently others thought so too!

Great business/espionage thriller

I love Joseph Finder's books. "Vanished" is a very good one, in my opinion it is better than the previous one "Power Play", but not as good as "Paranoia". The main character Nick Heller has been very well developed. Nick has a clear opinion about things, has humour, and is generally a likeable guy. Nick scored some bonus points with me for listening to Johnny Cash' version of "Hurt" in the car during a drive. Joseph Finder is in tune with today's business environment, and blends in some nice anecdotes in "Vanished": a conspiracy theory on Enron, the impact of the new President in the USA, a cleverly disguised story around a scandal that in real life involved a key official of the Formula One association. The reason I did not award a 5/5, but only a 4/5, is in the lack of credibility in the business rationale/structuring of the corporate scam that is uncovered, as well as the unrealistic "superpowers" that Nick has in some of the scenes. Other than that, a very enjoyable book that I liked listening to.

Major disappointed...

I'm a HUGE fan of Finder, a fan who always eagerly awaits his next, but this one is weak. The mother and son are so whiny and bratty and obnoxious that they're unsympathetic. The protag also has major flaws; a prime example is when he visits his father in prison. He desperately needs info from his father, but engages in childish sarcasm and obfuscation for far too long.

Then there's the narrator. OH. MY. GOSH. I wish I had read this one with my eyes instead of ears because this guy is one of the most annoying narrators I've ever heard. The whiny, nasally, trembling voices grate on my spine like fingernails on a chalkboard. How does a major release like this get to market without SOMEONE saying, "Whoa, we have a problem?"

Audible seriously needs to bust up the review process into separate components for content and narration.

Corny, weak story a waste of time!

Terrible story and narration.

Nice set-up builds to abrupt end

I have listened to all of Joseph Finder's books to date and find his books and characters an entertaining listen. At first, this one did not disappoint. Although the set up is different this time around, with the hero not a corporate insider, the environments will be familiar to fans of Finder. The narration by Holter Graham was engaging and not distracting in the least.

The only beef I have with this book is the ending. After 8+ hours of intrigue, the ending caught me off guard... and not in a good way.

Poor to say the least...

I just got done listening to the masterful and superbly narrated Rain Gods by James Lee Burke and I know that is a very hard act to follow but this really was awful. The writing and the annoying narrator.

I was actually a fan of Finder and thought that his earlier books were pretty good. They were both witty and interesting. I feel as though the target audience is in the 10 year old range for this latest book. I also feel that he got a little Grisham "Street Lawyer" esq. in using the medium to vent, in this case about the horrors of tortue, extraordinary rendition and Haliburton and all the rest of it. I'm listening to a novel not CNN or NYT. Also was extremely tired of the incessant name dropping of current gadgets. Do I really need to know that the little wimp had white headphones on from his iPod and on and on and on...

I wouldn't waste your time or credits on this.

Sorry Mr. Finder - go back to writing about business from the inside/first person and leave the special forces tough guy stuff to the others. There is only one Mitch Rap and this guy was a wimp.

Thriller/mystery for today's news

VANISHED by Joseph Finder is the first thrilling Nick Heller mystery. Nick is former Special Services turned corporate intelligence specialist. He's also, one of two sons of a ruthless white collar, money maker spending the final years of his life in jail. Nick was working on a case involving billions of dollars of stolen illegal money, when his 14 year old nephew, Gabe, called asking for help. Gabe's Mom has been attacked and is in the hospital, and Gabe's Dad is missing. Nick flys immediately to Washington, D.C., to help his brother's family.

As I've found Joseph Finder's other books to be, there are a number of seemingly unrelated paths being investigated at the same time, that keep his readers thoroughly involved in the story. This story is deeply immersed in companies and government issues that fit right into our present national and international history, Greed, lies, misplaced trust, misused intelligence, and family loyalties drive this mystery deep, hard and fast. Finder definitely knows how to develop scenes with descriptions that push the thrills of his novels into heart racing reading!