Paranoia

A Novel

By: Joseph Finder

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 52 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.

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!

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.

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

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.

Hard To Swallow

The plot is completely implausible, the portrayal of life in a big corporation is a wild caricature, the lead chacacter is a shallow, dishonest underacheiver, and most of the other characters are unpleasant or downright nasty. Downbeat and cynical, but moderately entertaining if you don't mind being a little depressed by its portrayal of the darker side of human nature.

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.

E for excellent

Edge of your seat all the way. Really felt you were apart of the book.

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!

Loved this book, read to the end

Really 4.5 stars. My comments here are for the unabridged version. Sure some people might figure out the ending. (I didn't). Sure some might whine that some of events are unlikely. I just found the book a good read. I did not want to get out of the car at the end of the ride (I listen in the car).
The book starts off with a semi-geek low level stiff using his talents to "borrow" company funds for company party. Our hero gets into a heap of trouble when he is caught. As he has his employer call him into the office to put the screws to him. I know woulkd think about just running away. He is a total screw up. He doesn't apply any of his "talents" to good use. He just shows up for work each day; going through the motions. I am a geek so I kept envisioning myself in the same situations as the main character. Thanks to this major screw up he goes from the mailroom level to the executive suite literally overnight. How come he can do it and I can't? I will try to emulate this guy, pick up some tips. I watch as he gets luckier and luckier, he gets the big raises and the girl no one else can have. Unfortunately for our hero, things begin seeming a lot like work. Now that he is in the executive suite he actaully works hard and damn if he isn't really sharp and fast on his feet; just like me. Behind the scenes, some bad things are happening to distract him. His father's health is failing. He is supposed to be spying on others but now someone is breaking into his expensive apartment and stealing all his secrets. He knows someone is checking up on him. The title comes from the appearance that most anyone in the story is conning some else. Everyting keeps rolling forward to unpredictable conclusion. Even when he is seemingly caught in the act, everything MAY work out for him (or NOT). Up until the last line of the book you won't know who all the con artists are and whether "our hero" gets away with it?? I will definitely look to read more books by this author

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.

This was realt good

Full score on everything, I really record this to everyone. I already did halfway through- that how sold I was on this audiobook

Enjoy

Cheesey but enjoyable!

An easy and fun listen with an outlandish plot of industrial espionage. I enjoyed it.