Overview
It was the perfect retreat for a troubled company. No cell phones. No BlackBerrys. No cars. Just a luxurious, remote lodge surrounded by thousands of miles of wilderness.All the top officers of the Hammond Aerospace Corporation are there. And one last-minute substitute — a junior executive named Jake Landry. He's a steady, modest, and taciturn guy with a gift for keeping his head down and a turbulent past he's trying to put behind him.
Jake's uncomfortable with all the power players he's been thrown in with, with all the swaggering and the posturing. The only person there he knows is the female CEO's assistant—his ex-girlfriend, Ali.
When a band of backwoods hunters crash the opening-night dinner, the executives suddenly find themselves held hostage by armed men who will do anything, to anyone, to get their hands on the largest ransom in history. Now, terrified and desperate and cut off from the rest of the world, the captives are at the mercy of hard men with guns who may not be what they seem.
The corporate big shots hadn't wanted Jake there. But now he's the only one who can save them.
Power Play is a non-stop, pulse-pounding, high-stakes thriller that will hold the reader riveted until the very last page.
Synopsis
An off-site corporate event gone disastrously wrong.
The largest ransom in history. The price-tag: dead or alive.
Now it’s up to Jake Landry—a modest, steady guy with a dark, hidden past—to save them all…
POWER PLAY
“THE PACE GALLOPS RELENTLESSLY…AN ENTRON-MEETS-‘DELIVERANCE’ TWIST.”—THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“GRABS YOU BY THE THROAT AND DOESN’T LET GO.”—HARLAN COBEN
“A NAIL-BITER OF A READ.”—LIBRARY JOURNAL
“I DARE YOU TO READ THE FIRST PAGE. YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO STOP.”—TESS GERRITSEN
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
Mr. Finder's strong suit is technical expertise, and he fills this book with seductive bits of inside information…Power Play starts cleverly and later devolves into more conventional suspense tactics. But its premise is enough to send chills through corporate boardrooms, and through civilian readers too.
Editorials
Janet Maslin
Mr. Finder's strong suit is technical expertise, and he fills this book with seductive bits of inside information…Power Play starts cleverly and later devolves into more conventional suspense tactics. But its premise is enough to send chills through corporate boardrooms, and through civilian readers too.—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Finder's newest mixture of business technology and pulp fiction focuses on Jake Landry, the sole Hammond Aerospace junior exec attending a company retreat at a swank hunting lodge. He is alternately shunned or insulted by the obnoxious upper-level corporate types until the lodge is invaded by a band of homicidal hunters, and Landry is forced to fall back on lessons he learned on the wrong side of the tracks. Boutsikaris's low-key, amused delivery of Landry's narration is a vocal tightrope walk that successfully suggests enough intelligence to make his aero-tech talk credible and enough edgy cynicism to suggest a checkered past. His timing also gets the most out of the fast-paced action sequences. But his most helpful contribution to the success of the audio is his ability to find unique voices for the executive cadre. Finder individualizes his villains well enough, but he skimps a bit with the Hammond hierarchy, making it hard for the reader to recall one spoiled and pampered blowhard from another. Boutsikaris uses a variety of timbres and tones to give each true distinction. Simultaneous release with the St. Martin's hardcover (Reviews, June 18). (Aug.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationLibrary Journal
Finder (Company Man) continues his exploration of the business world with this thriller, set in the aerospace industry. Although he's low on the corporate food chain, Jake Laundry receives an invitation to the annual company retreat far from civilization. With his boss abroad, Jake doesn't have much of a choice. The others at the rustic lodge include the new female CEO, who is despised by most of the company, and Jake's ex-girlfriend, who now works as the CEO's assistant. Before he has a chance to prove that he deserves to be at the lodge as well, their isolated location becomes a source of terror as a group of local hunters take them hostage. Now, instead of bonding with his fellow workers, Jake must help them stay alive. Juggling the dog-eat-dog ethics of corporate life with a tense, scary plot, Finder's nail biter of a read is recommended for all popular fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ4/15/07.]
—Jeff Ayers
From the Publisher
Praise for Killer Instinct:
"A superb story that dazzles with its heart-pounding suspense."--The Boston Globe
"Wickedly fun!"--Entertainment Weekly
"A first-rate thrill ride, punctuated with the kind of character development most authors shun…"--The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A masterful blend of contemporary thriller and a character driven plot."--Houston Chronicle
"Guaranteed to be a winning listen."--AudioFile