Rating: 
Summary: Buy it.
Review: Paranoia Joseph Finder's latest, is due out on January 20. Finder, author of High Crimes, The Zero Hour and more, is the quintessential voice of the contemporary thriller. This is due in no small part to his expertise in espionage and international affairs. He writes for The Washington Post, The New Republic, and The New York Times , to name a few. A member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, a summa cum laude Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale, with a Masters in Russian Studies from Harvard, the man is no slacker.St. Martin's Press believes Paranoia will be The First Blockbuster of 2004. As a reviewer, I'd have to agree. It's damn good. The main character gets a 5 on a 1 to 5 scale because he's a smart ass and as clever as he is funny. I'm partial to smart asses. The attention grabbing quotient of the plot gets a 5 for both speed and efficiency. The gory-ness level is a 2. Not a lot of blood, guts, and gore but Adam does get a smack or two. The basic plot of Paranoia? Adam Cassidy, young, sarcastic, sharp high-tech guy gets blackmailed into committing corporate espionage. He either cooperates or he goes to jail. Corporate Security trains Cassidy, feeds him insider information, and he rises to the top level of the competitor's food chain. Or so he thinks. Drives a Porsche, gets a corporate luxury apartment, works as personal assistant to the CEO, falls for a beautiful woman ... is it all as it appears? Who can he trust? Who will he betray? Can he even trust himself? Where does survival begin and where do ethics and morality end? Don't keep yourself in suspense, buy the book. It's worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine job
Review: Joseph Finder's latest should put him on the bestseller list. He's at his peak with his 'Big Business' thrillers just as Grisham was years ago with his legal thrillers. You'll gain a whole new perspective on the world of high-tech as you rush to the end of this highly enjoyable thriller. Keep up the good work Joe.
Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Another One From The Master
Review: This book is so full of cliches, that if removed, the novel would look shotgun blasted. The characters are the usual boring crew of stereotypes, the plot the stock formulaic manipulation with a wet fuse of an ending. The humor, if we can call it that, is mostly scatological (i.e. the "get the K-Y jelly" variety). Dialogue is straight out of comic books (i.e. "That's not a threat, it's a promise.") The book is sure to be a winner and transformed into another Hollywood borefest. It's surprising that readers are still fooled by this level of generic, cribbed pap, but I guess if they weren't, publishers would finally stop printing this junk. If you have an I. Q. over a hundred--avoid.
Rating:
Summary: Big Brother IS watching . . .
Review: Young, brash, Adam Cassidy has a problem. Even though Adam's pretty low on the food chain at Wyatt Telecom, he impersonates an important executive in order to throw an extravagant retirement party for a loading dock employee named Jonesie. This was no ordinary retirement party, however. It came complete with a fancy-schmancy caterer, ice sculptures, Dom Perignon, and a Jamaican reggae band. When Wyatt's security cop finds the party in full swing at 1:30 in the morning, the gig is up. And so, it seems is Adam's life as a free man. Adam's broken enough laws to land him in prison for years. The total time for embezzlement, wire fraud, mail fraud, forgery, and high tech crimes adds up to around 55 years behind bars. Not a bright future for a 26 year old. However, in a stunning confrontation with ruthless CEO, Nicholas Wyatt, Adam learns that he's not being fired, nor is he being prosecuted, and prison is not an option, either. His relief is short-lived when he learns that, in exchange for not pressing charges, Wyatt expects him to become a corporate spy and infiltrate their rival, Trion Systems. Trion has a new "silver bullet" they're about to unleash on the high-tech world. According to Wyatt Telecom's well-placed sources, Trion has something that will knock Bill Gates off his throne. Wyatt orders Adam to steal the new technology for them in exchange for his freedom. Adam is given a crash course in how to behave like a corporate whiz kid and then he's turned loose in Trion to spy his way into project AURORA, Trion's treasure chest. While Adam undergoes some intense tutoring by Wyatt brass, once Trion hires him, he's on his own and must operate mostly by instinct. Wyatt wants AURORA and they want it yesterday. How Adam gets it, or what happens to him in the process is of no consequence to Nicholas Wyatt and his henchmen. Be warned: Once you start PARANOIA, you'll find it hard to put down. Joseph Finder has written a high-speed, high-stakes thriller where nothing is as it seems and the final twists aren't revealed until the last possible moment. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A modern thriller with some real meat
Review: As mainstream novels go, Joseph Finder's Paranoia is the cream of the crop. There hasn't been one of this caliber since the heyday of Michael Crichton. Finder, a former intelligence officer who has written and published extensively in the field, writes with a flair that sets him above his contemporaries. Like Crichton, he is smart, believable, and persuasive - and also writes a hell of a good suspense story. His crisp, fluid prose keeps the story moving along at breakneck speed: he oodles out loads of suspense that will keep those pages a-turnin'. This is, as some of the better current writers have shown, a winning formula: it keeps the mainstream reading public interested, while also dangling enough substantial meat to insure that more sophisticated readers perk up and pay attention also. I hate to keep the Crichton comparison running, as it is never fair to an up-and-coming writer to be compared to an already-successful one, but Finder's novel also shares another characteristic that Crichton's work has always had in spades: it is timely. Corporate crime is at an all-time high in America, and this book tackles the issue. Finder explores the underhanded actions and questionable motives that drive much of the modern business world. How closely it parallels reality is debatable, but the reader's credulity is not stretched past the breaking point - and it is entertaining. Early critical raves that Finder has somehow "rewritten the rules for the contemporary thriller" are premature, but the book does feature several fresh aspects that are a breath of much-needed air for readers disgusted with the sorry state of the contemporary novel. Chief among these is Paranoia's unique protagonist. Far from a hero, perhaps even an anti-hero, Paranoia's Adam Cassidy is something the likes of which we patient readers have not seen in quite some time. Though the book is narrated in the first-person, here we have a story in which the protagonist's main concern is not, essentially, the book's main concern - a fact that the novel's denouement makes abundantly clear. And there we get to the book's one real weakness: its ending, which is far too inconclusive. A sequel to the book is not really possible, given the aforementioned denouement; taking this into context, the actual ending of the book is far too sudden and abrupt. It casts something of a negative light onto what is otherwise a quite enjoyable, very readable, and mostly successful contemporary thriller. In summary, all fans of contemporary thrillers should line up to buy this; fans of Crichton and the like in particular should apply. Finder is a rising star in contemporary writing, sure to become very successful and popular in ensuing years. Paranoia should help him.
Rating:
Summary: Corporate Espionage at its Best!
Review: Adam Cassidy is used to getting paid for doing as little work as possible, but when he takes $78,000 from his employer Wyatt Telecom to throw a retirement party for a loading dock worker... things change. When his boss finds out he is offered an altermadum, go to jail or get a job at Trion Systems (Wyatt Telecom's competition) and spy on them. Suddenly he is in over his head and doing more work than he's ever done in his life. This book was a great read because it had a different storyline than any I had ever read, making this novel both refreshing and captivating. Joseph Finder creates a character in Adam Cassidy that is believable and has you rooting for him the entire read. This book has everything you are looking for, an exciting plot and terrific characters. A great read.
Rating:
Summary: This is a real page-turner!
Review: Adam Cassidy is a young, underachieving employee of a high-tech company. He has an unusual sense of humor and one of his practical jokes gets him into big trouble with his bosses. Much to his surprise, he is called in, not to be fired, but to be asked to be an industrial spy at a competing company. Since he is not in a position to refuse, Adam accepts the assignment. He becomes interested in an attractive female employee and begins a delicate balancing act, doing the work of the new company while acting as a spy for his old one. He is coming very close to discovering the secrets that he has been sent for when circumstances threaten to expose him as a fraud. This is an imaginative story of corporate greed and double-dealing, with all sorts of interesting twists and turns. It will make a great movie! How about Ben Affleck in the leading role?
Rating:
Summary: Makes Grisham's The Firm Seem like a Nice Place to Work
Review: Joseph Finder has created a delightful, fast-paced and gripping masterwork of suspense in Paranoia. This is the 21st Century's, The Firm! I can see this book being a bestseller in short order and have no doubt it will eventually be made into a delightfully exciting major motion picture. Adam Cassidy is a likeable and exceptionally intelligent. yet somewhat aimless twenty-something, employed in a fairly insignificant management position in a high tech company. He could care less about the position, doesn't find himself challenged by his work, and isn't quite yet sure what he wants to be when he "grows up." Outside of work, Adam seems to spend his time partying and keeping tabs on his dying father who lives nearby. Despite his father's sickness, he's a mean old man who has a lot of bitterness about life. Adam seems to be his father's favorite scapegoat and visits to the house are usually pretty unpleasant. Employment for Adam is something one is expected to do at his age. As a result of his carefree attitude toward his job, Adam has few qualms about cutting corners whenever he can. He comes to work late, leaves early, surfs the net and does as little as he has to in order to stay employed. While hanging out and smoking with the guys on the company's loading dock, Adam befriends a dock worker who has served his entire life at the company and is about to retire. Adam, having little respect for the firm's upper echelon feels for the old man and for how little he has been recognized for all his efforts on behalf of the company. Adam hatches a comical and touching plan to recognize his friend from the loading dock upon his retirement. Without authorization, in fact, winging it, Adam diverts some executive funding to throw Jonesy a retirement party to rival the most extravagant executive blowouts. And, suitably, it is held on the company's loading dock where Jonesy has spent his life. The party is an amazing success and Jonesy is sent off in a style never before experienced by any hourly worker and never likely to be repeated again. Adam prepares for the trouble he will find himself in once his generosity to Jonesy on behalf of the company is found out. He had psychologically prepared himself to be fired for his generous prank -- perhaps he was even hoping for that. Instead, the company's CEO has an entirely different sort of payback for Adam, and it will change his life in ways he never imagined. Adam is sent on an espionage mission on behalf of his boss by being required to get hired by the company's chief rival and to report back on what they are working on. Once employed in his new job, Paranoia hits its stride. Adam struggles with being caught up in a double life and an unforgiving former boss who expects big results. So that this review doesn't give away the best aspects of the story, let's conclude with the image of Adam on the rollercoaster ride of his life - full of chills, and spills and holding your breath! Author, Joseph Finder has created an exciting and memorable story, even an ultimately very moral story, in the life of Adam Cassidy. Finder has woven a tale so complex that it remains suspense filled to the very last page. Highly recommended
Daniel J. Maloney
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Rating:
Summary: Learn the meaning of the word - Paranoia
Review: "When you work at a big corporation, you never know what to believe." Truer words were never spoken and these were uttered by the "hero" of this novel. Joseph Finder is a wonderful novelist. He doesn't write bad books. He has four previous - The Moscow Club, Extraordinary Poers, The Zero Hour (my all time favorite) and High Crimes. All worth your time if you are so inclined. Adam Cassidy is the "hero." He is an employee of Wyatt Telecom and decides, for whatever reason to pull a funny on the corporation and orders an unauthorized "retirement party" for a low level employee. Management is not amuzed. He is offered facing charges for the thousands of dollars his prank has cost and "going to jail for at least 20 years" or doing the bidding of the CEO. Duh! He is asked to become a corporate spy and go to work for Trion Systems, the arch competitor of Wyatt Telecom. If he says no - he is looking at 20 years for his little escpade - if yes - he life will never be the same again. Duh! At Trion his life takes off - he is a star - he is driving fast cars and living in the fast lane, in more ways than one. He is a star, but with a problem. He is a hoax and he knows it and some day his whole life is going to change. How Joseph Finder takes this set up and turns it into a compelling, page turning novel with some interesting twists at the end is what keeps us buying his efforts. This is a keeper.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic from cover to cover!
Review: Joseph Finder has become a writer whose books I will buy simply because his name is on the cover...YES, this writer and his books are the terrific! If you are a reader who enjoys books of this thrilling genre and you haven't had a chance to sample the compelling writing style of Joseph Finder then "PARANOIA," is the perfect book to start with! The characters are lively and believable and the plot had me glued to my cozy chair from the first page to the last. I won't tell you what the story is about because so many other wonderful reviewers have already done that. What I will tell you, however, is BUY THE BOOK! You will not regret it! Take a bow Joe, you've certainly earned it with your newest novel! It's another BESTSELLER to be sure! Paranoia gets my highest rating!
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