Finder

Rating:
Summary: "Finder" delivers action with intelligence and heart
Review: "Finder" is the follow-up to Greg Rucka's highly praised debut "Keeper." Rucka's hard boiled hero is Atticus Kodiak, ex-military bodyguard and detective who now has his own freelance personal security service. The end of the last book left Kodiak physically and emotionally battered, and this book opens with him working below his potential as a bouncer at a club catering to the New York S&M scene. He is pulled out of his slump when he encounters the daughter of a colonel for whom he had provided security while at the Pentagon, Erica Wyatt. After this chance encounter, he is thrust into the role of her protector. Once he is forced into this role, his personal life, past and present, violently collides with his duty to protect his client and his need to find the truth behind the lies that everyone is telling. Rucka shows again that he has mastered two very important skills in the page-turning genre: he writes interesting, well-drawn, and complex characters, and he knows how to write a chapter, that when it ends, compels you to read the next one. Once "Finder" gets going, just as with "Keeper," you won't want to get off until you get through the entire wild ride. I dropped everything to mentally sprint through the last 60 pages alongside the hero. I highly recommend this book and its predecessor, and I truly look forward to the next one

Rating:
Summary: "Finder" delivers action with intelligence and heart
Review: "Finder" is the follow-up to Greg Rucka's highly praised debut "Keeper." Rucka's hard boiled hero is Atticus Kodiak, ex-military bodyguard and detective who now has his own freelance personal security service. The end of the last book left Kodiak physically and emotionally battered, and this book opens with him working below his potential as a bouncer at a club catering to the New York S&M scene. He is pulled out of his slump when he encounters the daughter of a colonel for whom he had provided security while at the Pentagon, Erica Wyatt. After this chance encounter, he is thrust into the role of her protector. Once he is forced into this role, his personal life, past and present, violently collides with his duty to protect his client and his need to find the truth behind the lies that everyone is telling. Rucka shows again that he has mastered two very important skills in the page-turning genre: he writes interesting, well-drawn, and complex characters, and he knows how to write a chapter, that when it ends, compels you to read the next one. Once "Finder" gets going, just as with "Keeper," you won't want to get off until you get through the entire wild ride. I dropped everything to mentally sprint through the last 60 pages alongside the hero. I highly recommend this book and its predecessor, and I truly look forward to the next one

Rating:
Summary: Another strong outing for Kodiak
Review: (3.5 stars) Picking up three months after the events in KEEPER, Rucka combines another fast-paced plot with some welcome fleshing out of his main protagonist, Atticus Kodiak. Kodiak has issues and I still think he's implausibly young for what he does but this time that actually plays into the story somewhat as his relative inexperience - not to mention his immaturity in dealing with relationships - is highlighted when he comes up against the SAS, in what is basically an extremely over-the-top custody battle.

Like Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series, Rucka earns a suspension of disbelief because he's so good at developing his characters. If there's one flaw, it's the same problem KEEPER had, with New York City feeling a little too sterile. The names and places are all correct but there's a certain something missing, that something that Block does so well in making the City a living, breathing character as opposed to simply a backdrop.

All in all, another strong, if flawed, outing and I look forward to reading the next installment in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Atticus and his team are lousy bodyguards
Review: I must agree with the reader from Carpinteria, CA. I would not want these people protecting me. Why would a professional team take a job when the principal's father won't give them any info about the nature of the danger? Since one set of killers already know where he lives, why move Erika there? The list of implausibilities goes on and on.

Rating:
Summary: Better then Keeper
Review: I thought this second adventure of Atticus was even better then the first. Although there are some implausible events, I felt it was an entertaining read with an air of tension. Atticus seems cut from the down on the luck hero rather then the invicible superman cloth that arises too often these days. If you can't see the movies one night and are in the mood for an action detective type flick definitely pick this up.

Rating:
Summary: A stunning drama of consequences
Review: In Finder, as in Keeper before it, Greg Rucka has given us something incredibly rare these days; a story that is rife with the consequences of human actions. Finally a story that is not a "comedy" in the strict sense of the word; order is not restored at the end of Finder...a resolution indeed occurs, yet it is an outcome based on the actions of the characters. Many authors and screen-playwrights today seem to be afraid to let their heroes suffer for choices made, not Rucka. This not only makes for a refreshing and welcome change, but also a realistic story with deep three dimensional characters that get into your head and take up residence. This is one of the gutsiest books out today and you would all do yourself a favor by snatching it up.

Rating:
Summary: Greg Rucka writes addictive books!
Review: Love his books. I read Keeper and Finder, and am ordering Smoker too.. Atticus Kodiak isn't the typical invincible hero, and doesn't always win. Once I start reading, I have a hard time stopping... And he wears glasses, stud :-)

Rating:
Summary: Another strong outing for Kodiak
Review: Picking up three months after the events in KEEPER, Rucka combines another fast-paced plot with some welcome fleshing out of his main protagonist, Atticus Kodiak. Kodiak has issues and I still think he's implausibly young for what he does but this time that actually plays into the story somewhat as his relative inexperience is highlighted when he comes up against the SAS - not to mention his immaturity in dealing with relationships - in what is basically an extremely over-the-top custody battle. Like Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series, Rucka earns a suspension of disbelief because he's so good at developing his characters. If there's one flaw, it's the same problem KEEPER had, with New York City feeling a little too sterile. The names and places are all correct but there's a certain something missing, that something that Block does so well in making the City a living, breathing character as opposed to simply a backdrop. All in all, another strong outing and I look forward to reading the next installment in the series.

Rating:
Summary: A bodyguard that cares-a delighful read
Review: Professional bodyguard Atticus Kodiak lost his best friend during his last assignment. The incident leaves him extremely wary to be entrusted guarding the life of another human being. Working as a bouncer in a New York S&M club, he is horrified to recognize fifteen year old Erika, the daughter of the couple he once guarded when he still served with the Marines. Although he had an affair with her mother, Atticus always thought of Erika as his little sister. Even without having seen her in four years, his protective instincts surface. He quickly hustles her out of the club and back to his apartment. When he awakens in the morning, she is long gone. ....When he goes to her father's house to see if she went back home, he finds a very angry old man dying of AIDS, whose lone joy in life is scoring off his ex-wife. Both of them use Erika as the battleground and given his history with the family, Atticus is shocked when his ex-boss hires him to watch over Erika. Apparently, she is the bait between two sets of British trained agents. One works for Erika's mother. The other works for her father. Atticus becomes caught up in a maelstrom of slush funds, rogue agents, and multiple deceptions as he seeks to protect his young charge from becoming killed, or perhaps even worse. ......Greg Rucka's breezy style of writing makes for a fast-paced, exciting story line filled with fully developed three dimensional characters that readers will easily care about, especially Atticus. The audience's involvement with the characters turns FINDER into a wonderful reading experience that is easy to start, but impossible to put down until it is finished. The main protagonist is a complex anti-hero, who is still learning about himself and his environment. It is easy to feel sympathetic towards him especially when he becomes his own worst enemy by allowing emotions such as love and trust get in the way of his job. It will be fascinating to see how Atticus grows and changes in subsequent tales. ....... Harriet Klausner 5/18/97

Rating:
Summary: Kind of disappointed
Review: Reading these two novels was like watching two lousy chess games by a low IQ player cursing all the time with dirty words and tough talks. Very bad scenarios with stupid and unprofessional characters in pretentious and inplaucible plots. Rucka should change his main character's occupation since he was not capable in the protection business at all, and talking tough with lot of "fucks" or "fuckings" won't help these characters a bit. The stupidity of these pathetic roles sometimes even caused anger and frustration during reading. Making two SAS teams hiring by a divorced US couple was even ridiculous, and the development of the sequel and its ending were neither believable nor logical. Almost all of the characters in these two books were either stupid or unprofessional. Rucka should improve himself first to write his specified profession stories. Very disappointed and hated to be fooled by the blind praises