Overview
"A high octane thrill ride!" - San Francisco Chronicle on Paranoia
Joseph Finder's New York Times bestseller 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 is the CEO of a major corporation, a local boy made good, and once the most admired man in a company town. But that was before the layoffs.
When a faceless stalker menaces his family, Nick, a single father of two since the recent death of his wife, finds that the gated community they live in is no protection at all. He decides to take action, a tragedy ensues - and immediately his life spirals out of control.
At work, Nick begins to uncover a conspiracy against him, involving some of his closest colleagues. He doesn't know who he can trust - including the brilliant, troubled new woman in his life.
Meanwhile, his actions are being probed by a homicide detective named Audrey Rhimes, a relentless investigator with a strong sense of morality - and her own, very personal reason for pursuing Nick Conover.
With everything he cares about in the balance, Nick discovers strengths he never knew he had. His enemies don't realize how hard he'll fight to save his company. And nobody knows how far he'll go to protect his family.
Mesmerizing and psychologically astute, Company Man is Joseph Finder's most compelling and original novel yet.
Synopsis
CRITICAL PRAISE FOR JOSEPH FINDER AND PARANOIA
"There's a new John Grisham in town!" - People
"Jet-propelled. . . this twisting, stealthily plotted story...weaves a tangled and ingeniously enveloping web...[with a] killer twist for the end." -The New York Times
"A built-for-speed thrill ride . . .Mr. Finder, who has written nonfiction about the intelligence world, brings an authoritative-seeming knowledge of trade-craft to his fast-paced, first-person tale of techno-espionage . . . edgy and knowing." - Wall Street Journal
"Riveting. . . Perhaps the finest of the contemporary thriller novelists, Finder is an expert on suspenseful storytelling that is at once slick and substantive. . . . You may think you've read one mystery too many. Find Finder and you'll think again." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"The archetype of the thriller in its contemporary form...real escapist pleasure." - The New Yorker
"This year's first contender for Page Turner of the Year is Joseph Finder's Paranoia . . . a terrific tale . . . riveting. . . The corporate thriller just got an upgrade." - USA Today
"Paranoia is a cleverly nuanced suspense story....Fresh, original and without cliché, this is a cerebral, contemporary thriller that ends with a wrenching twist followed by a supple extra turn." — Boston Herald
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
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.
Editorials
Janet Maslin
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
Library Journal
Like Finder's previous novel (Paranoia), this thriller is set in a major American corporation. Nick Conover is the popular local boy who made good by becoming CEO of his Michigan hometown's office furniture manufacturing company. That was before the business was bought by a Boston financial holding firm. Soon Nick lays off half of the workers and becomes the most hated man in town. His family is then threatened by a stalker, who appears to be a troubled ex-employee. Nick kills this person outside his home and tries to cover it up with the aid of his head of security. Now he faces a police investigation led by a church-going detective. Further complicating Nick's life is conflict with his teenage son and an affair with a troubled young woman. The plot here is quite good, with several excellent twists and turns and interesting leading characters. Scott Brick presents the story in an engaging fashion; recommended for all audio collections.-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Lib., Parkersburg Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.Kirkus Reviews
A Michigan furniture company CEO's desperate bid to avoid losing control of his firm takes a back seat (or does it?) to murder most foul. Ever since he laid off 5,000 employees-half of Stratton Corporation's workforce-in response to a mandate from Stratton's new owner, Fairfield Equity, everyone in Fenwick has hated "the Slasher," Nicholas Conover. But nobody hates him more than the nutcase who's been breaking into his gated community, scrawling threatening graffiti inside his house, and most recently eviscerating the family dog. His nerves already frayed by his wife Laura's accidental death and his defiant teenage son, Nick gets his old hockey friend Eddie Rinaldi, now Stratton's security chief, to install a state-of-the-art burglar alarm in the house Laura picked out not long before she died. The alarm works all too well. It's been in place only a few days when it summons Nick to a confrontation with an intruder he shoots dead. In one of the few unbelievable moments in this adroitly plotted tale, Nick's old buddy Eddie persuades him to hide the corpse, and from that moment on, Nick watches in anguish as Det. Audrey Rhimes closes in on the truth inch by inch. Or he would watch if he weren't frantically trying to balance the day-by-day demands of his hurting kids with the need to do something about his suspicion that Fairfield Equity is isolating him, doing an end run around his America-first policies, and getting ready to sell him down the river-presumably to the unanimous cheers of his friends and neighbors. These headaches may not sound like enough plot for 500 pages, but Finder expertly doles out the suspense and comes up with a climactic twist altogether more plausible and satisfyingthan the last-minute revelation in Paranoia (2004). A highly efficient thriller combining state-of-the-art corporate malfeasance with the old-fashioned kind. You can almost hear the movie cameras grinding away. Author tourFrom the Publisher
Praise for Paranoia:"There's a new John Grisham in town!"—People magazine (Critic's Choice) on Paranoia
"This thriller is engaging from the opening lines and doesn't let up until the surprising end. Scott Brick narrates flawlessly, using one voice that manages not only to portray Adam's satiric sense of humor but also to capture each of the many other characters' personalities...Brick maintains tension and builds nonstop suspense. This great performance is a perfect fit for the writing. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award." —AudioFile
"Jet-propelled...weaves a tangled and ingeniously enveloping web...[with] a killer twist for the end."—The New York Times
"A built-for-speed thrill ride..." —Wall Street Journal