Financial thriller whiz Joe Finder has fully and seamlessly entered the world of Lee Child and James Rollins. A rousing, lightning-paced thriller from the first page to the last. ” —Providence Journal
“If Jack Reacher met Nick Heller in a dark alley, my money's on Reacher. But it would be ugly. Or would it? Actually, I think they'd go for a beer together and set the world to rightsbecause Joseph Finder has given me a terrific new hero to root for. This is an action-packed, full-throttle, buy-it-today-read-it-tonight series that you definitely shouldn't miss.” —Lee Child
“A humdinger....a thriller to enjoy for its Washington locales, convincing familiarity with cutting-edge spy gadgetry, and taut action scenes.” —Washington Post
“Cliffhangers galore, the fascinating tradecraft of corporate espionage, and an engrossing story will propel readers through this outstanding thriller. Highly recommended as a great summer read.” —Library Journal (starred review)
“Written in staccato chapters that are emotionally supercharged and action-packed, this thriller will more than satisfy adrenaline junkies and have them guessing until the very end.” —Publishers Weekly
“Breakneck pace and labyrinthine schemes . . . ingenious.” —Booklist
“Heller is Finder's new series character and ...will very shortly be mentioned in the same breath as Reacher and Bosch...If you only read one book this summer, make it Vanished.” —Crimespree magazine
“Moves at the pace of an injected neuro-toxin…You'll curse Finder for keeping you up into the early hours.” —Shots magazine
“Finder ratchets up the suspense while making Vanished both a business thriller and an old-fashioned heist. As usual, Finder knows how to measure out the action for the ultimate impact.” —Sun Sentinel
“Finder is that rare thriller author who actually writes well. He manages deft characterization, offhand one-liners, and a fine sense of place....In the best thrillers everything is connected. Pay attention to the details here, because they all fit into the surprising and timely plot of this first-rate effort.” —SmartMoney
“Even though I'd been warned that everyone who'd read it did so in one sitting, I cracked the cover at 10 p.m., figuring yeah, yeah, one sitting, right. When I passed out at 4 a.m., I was thinking, boy, if I could just keep my eyes open long enough to finish this!” —Myles Knapp, Contra Costa Times
“A white-knuckle tale of suspense.” —Chicago Sun-Times on POWER PLAY
“Its premise is enough to send chills through corporate boardrooms, and through civilian readers too.” —Janet Maslin on POWER PLAY, The New York Times
“A fast-paced fun ride…a delicious, perfectly prepared mixture.” —Boston Globe on POWER PLAY
“A bloody, rollicking thrill ride...the plot moves at light speed.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch on POWER PLAY
“The action is swift…keeps the plot bubbling and the pages turning.” —Wall Street Journal on POWER PLAY
“Thrilling. . . Start Power Play this afternoon and you'll have the nightstand lamp burning at bedtime.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on POWER PLAY
“A finely crafted excursion into the dark heart of executive-suite skullduggery...plenty of action and suspense.” —Forbes on POWER PLAY
“[A] masterpiece...strong plotting, memorable characterization...a readability quotient to the degree that it almost seems as if putting the book down at any point before finishing it is akin to a criminal act...A fabulous offering.” —Bookreporter.com on POWER PLAY
“Unstoppable.” —USA Today on KILLER INSTINCT
“Masterful.” —Houston Chronicle on KILLER INSTINCT
“Explosive…wickedly fun.” —Entertainment Weekly on KILLER INSTINCT
“Master of a complex suspense formula...flawlessly executed violence, crisp dialogue, and taut pacing.” —The New York Times Book Review on KILLER INSTINCT
“A first-rate thrill ride.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on KILLER INSTINCT
“A roller coaster of a read.” —Cosmopolitan on KILLER INSTINCT
“It starts off with a bang and doesn't slow down until the last page.” —Ottawa Sun on KILLER INSTINCT
With Vanished, author Joseph Finder launches a four-book thriller cycle featuring tough, smart, and stubborn Nick Heller. In this fierce series starter, Heller receives a late-night call from his nephew Gabe. The call qualifies as a four-alarm emergency: Nick's sister-in-law has been beaten into a coma, and his brother Roger, with whom he has never been on the best of terms, has vanished. Possibilities, all of them disquieting, flash across Heller's mind: Is Roger on the run or has he been kidnapped? Or is he somehow connected to the schemes that drained $12 billion from U.S. funds earmarked for Iraq? Whatever the high crime, Nick Heller is on the case, and he's using all his Special Forces and high-tech skills to solve it. Pulsing action; plausible detail.
This is a thriller to enjoy for its Washington locales, convincing familiarity with cutting-edge spy gadgetry and taut action scenes…Any thriller that uses Dean & Deluca's celebrated chocolate chip cookies as an investigatory tool deserves kudos for cleverness. What Vanished lacks in narrative coherence, it makes up for in invention.
The Washington Post
Known for his stand-alones, bestseller Finder (Power Play) introduces Nick Heller, an elite corporate intelligence specialist and former Special Services badass, in this exciting series opener. After a frantic call from his 14-year-old nephew, Gabe, Heller returns home to Washington, D.C., from a job in California to find Gabe's mother in a coma and Gabe's stepfather, Roger, who is Heller's older brother, vanished without a trace. Though the brothers have been estranged since their father's much-publicized securities fraud conviction years earlier, Nick vows to protect Gabe and his mother and unravel the mystery of Roger's alleged abduction. The investigation leads him to some disturbing revelations about Roger, not the least of which involves a powerful-and dangerous-private military company. Written in staccato chapters that are emotionally supercharged and action packed, this thriller will more than satisfy adrenaline junkies and have them guessing until the very end. (Aug.)
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Few recent thrillers have as many heart-skipping moments and as rousing a climax as Finder's (www.josephfinder.com) follow-up to Power Play (2007), also available from BBC Audiobooks America. When Special Forces-trained investigator Nick Heller's estranged brother, Roger, is kidnapped, Nick must face off against some of Washington's most powerful forces to find him. Narrator Holter Graham (www.holtergraham.com) puts his significant acting skills to work, especially in his voicing of the truly unique protagonist. The suspense never falters, and listeners will be pleased by the satisfying ending to this complex tale. [Includes a bonus interview with the author; the St. Martin's hc, published in August, was a New York Times best seller.—Ed.]—Joseph L. Carlson, Vandenberg Air Force Base Lib., Lompoc, CA
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you,” thinks Nick Heller, the knowing, sarcastic hero with the heart of gold. This devilishly plotted thriller is so engrossing that you may not even mind when your own life is stalled in traffic. Holter Graham throws himself at the job, cracking his voice as an arrogant teen and pleading piteously as a woman whose eyeballs are threatened by a scalpel-wielding mercenary. In an “extra features” interview Finder asks Graham questions—which shows Finder to be spectacularly modest. But we’d rather have it the other way round. A good narrator should be like God or Flaubert’s artist. “One must sense him everywhere but never see him.” B.H.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine