The Founders

Rating:
Summary: heart pounding page turner
Review: Ian Ross is one of the five founders of TDV, or True Dimensions Video. The company is on the brink of releasing their newest technology, a 3-dimensional software that will revolutionize the way the world watches TV, movies, and advertising. This new software will generate hundreds of millions of dollars for it's creators. It's a hot little bit of technology to say the least. Suddenly Ian's good friend (one of the founders of TDV) dies under mysterious circumstances. The police report calls it a suicide, but Ian suspects otherwise. When a second member of the founders dies in "an accident", Ian's worst fears begin to realize. Someone is out to methodically get rid of all five founders.

Ian Ross and his girlfriend, famous actress Christina Pous take on the formidable and dangerous task of identifying and stopping the assassin. Ian's friend Lluis and a police inspector are other nicely drawn characters who get involved in the hunt. As more members of The Founders are mysteriously killed, the heat is on. You can almost hear the clock ticking as Ian races to warn the others and get ahead of the murderer. I was biting my nails through the whole book.

The Founders is everything a mystery thriller should be. This heart pounding page turner allows the reader to try and piece together clues, but author Norman Carmichael weaves in some excellent surprises and plot twists to keep us guessing. The conceptual descriptions of the 3D software will be intriguing to anyone immersed in today's world of high speed internet, reality television shows and Sharper Image catalogs. Carmichael's literary painting of the various settings- Spain, France, London, and Washington DC-are truly a delight. I hope Mr. Carmichael considers making The Founders into a film.
Review by Gretchen Olson of BookReview.com.


Rating:
Summary: Murder, suicide, complicity, greed, power are all mixed in
Review: Every so often, when I am just about given up on self-published books, one crosses my desk and pleasantly surprises me, reconfirming my faith that there are still some very good ones around.
Such was the case when in an afternoon I devoured first time novelist Norman Carmichael's thriller, The Founders.

This is the sort of a novel that hooks you from the first page onwards with its mixture of interwoven intriguing events and characters. In this case, we have a start up technology company that is soon to launch an IPO. Murder, suicide, complicity, manipulation, a paid assassin with ties to terrorists, greed and power are all thrown into the mixing bowl.

The book's principal focus centers on TrueDimensions Video (TDV), a company that has come up with a product that is about to revolutionize the way one watches television, movies and the Internet.
Using a technology that had been around for nearly fifty years, a team of five individuals had combined their unique talents to create an enterprise that would in all probability lead them to tremendous wealth.

Up to now, three- dimensional viewing of movies depended on the wearing of specialized and bulky eyewear. This was on the verge of changing with the company's new hardware and software. Action would leap off the screen and viewers would feel they were actually part of the scene, and not merely passive observers. You can well imagine the market for such a product, particularly sporting events, and the immense revenue this could bring in with virtual advertisements.

Carmichael spins a good tale with this classic mystery novel. Three of the five co-founders of the company mysteriously die. Two seemed to have committed suicide, while the third one is blown up together with her husband in a helicopter accident.
Is this coincidental or is there some devious plot behind these deaths related to the company's impending IPO?

We are continually peering over the shoulders of one of the two remaining founders, Ian Ross and his girlfriend Cristina Pous, who are collaborating with detectives and police investigators from various cities and law enforcement organizations in trying to solve the mysteries of these untimely deaths. They all appear to be muddling along and trying to make sense of it all, while Ned Schuyler, the other surviving co-founder confronts Ross with the latter's attitude, approach and motives.

The book's fast paced action propels us through some exciting and chilling adventures, as we watch the plot unraveling in Barcelona, London, Washington and France.
Readers are challenged with many clues popping up all over the place, some based on speculation, others partially revealed or even concealed; all permitting us to try and solve the mystery on our own before reaching the satisfying finale.

For the most part, characters, dialogue and plot are quite convincing and are sure to delight lovers of mystery novels. My only reservation is that I felt that the love story between Ian and Cristina seemed trite and corny, lacking the necessary depth to make it original and compelling.
I look forward to reading this author's future endeavors.

Norm Goldman Editor of Bookpleasures.com

Rating:
Summary: Nice Mix of Culture, History, Mystery, & Intrigue
Review: The book is an interesting mix of culture, history, fine wine, mystery and intrigue. The author has a knack for weaving these together in an interesting way. The background for the book is a technology company that revolutionizes the advertising industry but the real story is about people and power. The author takes the reader to Spain for most of the action which is interesting. There were also some surprises at the end that kept it from being predictable. I found it quite entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Mysterious Business
Review: The Founders features Ian Ross, one of a group of five founders of a company that is about to launch new technology that will make 3-D television accessible and affordable, and make millions for The Founders. It quickly becomes apparent that someone is out to eliminate all the founders for reasons that emerge over time.

As the puzzle unravels, novelist Norman Carmichael's story moves among numerous venues in Europe and the US with effortless familiarity and a nice sense of place. The novel is part thriller, part business plan (How many thrillers have you read with spreadsheets in the text?) and part cautionary tale, with generous measures of geek-talk, terrorist speculation and many good guys and bad guys - which are which is not always obvious.

Ian Ross is a likeable guy, if a bit earnest, and has wide-ranging interests that include fine wine, European basketball and an elegant actress named Christina whom I would have liked to know better. Some characters are more well-developed than others and some minor ones are the most interesting, the European police detectives and a small-time terrorist named Rasheed.

This is a good book to take on a plane trip to Europe, the time will pass pleasantly and you might learn something about any number of subjects. Start it with your aperitif and finish it with time for a nap before breakfast.