Company Man

February 28, 2005
Though Finder has written several novels—including one made into the film High Crimes
—he hit bestseller lists in a big way only with last year's terrific Paranoia
, so this follow-up can be considered a test of his consistency, critically and commercially. While it doesn't dazzle as Paranoia
did, this is a solid, engrossing thriller that takes a few risks. Finder's primary risk is a protagonist who, while basically decent, is no paragon. Nick Conover, the youngish CEO of the Stratton Corporation, in Fenwick, Mich., has fired half of the high-end office furniture company's 10,000 employees at the bidding of new ownership in Boston. As a result, much of Fenwick hates Nick, including the person who has been breaking into his mansion and scribbling "No Hiding Place" on the walls, and who then kills the Conover family dog—presumably Andrew Stadler, a fired employee and erstwhile mental patient. When Stadler accosts Nick one night, Nick, panicking, shoots him dead, and then, under the influence of his shady corporate security director, covers up the crime. The two cops assigned to the murder prove dogged, sending Nick into a generally beleaguered state that's slightly alleviated by his new romance with, of all people, the daughter of the murdered man, but exacerbated considerably by his discovery that his Boston masters intend to sell Stratton to Chinese government interests. A thriller like this rides on its characters, and Finder creates full-blooded ones here. As in Paranoia
, his understanding of byzantine corporate politics is spot on, and the novel's pacing is strong, with steady suspense. Credibility wavers as Finder heaps Job-like trials upon Nick and then ends the book on an optimistic note, but there are few thriller fans who won't stay up to finish this assured tale. Agent, Molly Friedrich
.

December 1, 2004
Did Nick Conover, a CEO vilified for massive layoffs, do in the stalker who threatened his children?

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2005
Finder follows his latest corporate espionage best-seller, " Paranoia " (2003), with a thriller that, while still set in the business world, is distinctly smaller in scale. The novel's tension centers on the hero's ethical conflict between saving his small company and laying off workers he's known since he was a kid. Nick Conover has risen from working-class origins to the position of CEO of a metal-bending company in a Grand Rapids-like town in Michigan. He has also fallen from the status of well-liked employer to that of despised boss, thanks to layoffs and outsourcing. As the book opens, Conover is dealing with personal as well as business crisis: he's a recent widower, with a preteen daughter and a teenage son, both with a palimpsest of problems; meanwhile, his house is regularly broken into and spray-painted with the words "No Hiding Place." His life keeps sinking: a deranged man breaks into the house, Conover kills him, and his longtime pal talks him into burying the body. More sickeningly suspenseful tail-diving follows, as police work demonically to tie Conover to the homicide. Finder overdoes it a bit with detail--like many hyper-realists, he has a tendency to count the knives and forks--but even so, he's written a frightfully good suspense thriller. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)