Paranoia

Rating:
Summary: once again, a veteran writer of mediocrity
Review: i was almost fooled again by those 5 stars ratings and almost took my credit card out to buy this one. but past memories and experience in this specific writer called a halt of my mindless next movement, and i have forced myself to stand in front the shelves to fast read this book about 2 3rd. my god, what a bomber again! i think j. f. should put away his pen or his laptop and hibernate for another 10 years and never expected to be missed. because like some of the other cliched and formatted writers, j. patterson, s. woods, l. block, s. crafton, his books are always so shallow and so predictable albeit sneakily goofying other writers stuff into his own books. those twists are so pretentiously, so obviously, so purposely done for his marketing in mind only. there's no taste whatsoever to be recommended, rated r or rated pg-13, it simply doesn't matter, because they are all coming out of the disney world. so many thrill rides, so much fun, but all in all, those themes are still kids' stuff, and of course also harmlessly good for the parents who have to accompany their kids. anyway, i'd like to recommend those who gave 5 stars to this book to read another great writer, steve alten, i'm definitely sure that they'd appreciate him too. i rest my case.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Paced Corporate Thriller
Review: Paranoia is my first Finder book, and by the likes of it I'll be searching out his other titles.

The story focuses on a clever but bored junior corporate type, Adam Cassidy. Like many, he's got a ho-hum job and is motivated to do just the minimum to skate by. His latent talent is utilized only to pull a minor scam on his high-tech employer (Wyatt) whereby he jiggers corporate budget accounts to buy a Malcolm Forbes style retirement party for one of his loading dock buds.

Cute stunt, but a felony nonetheless. Knowing they could throw his twenty-something carcass in jail for a long time, his employers make him an offer he can't refuse. No prosecution if he agrees to become a corporate mole. He'll fulfill his end of the bargain by becoming employed by Wyatt's rival Trion Systems, the wonderkund company of the high tech world.

Given a fake background attractive enough to entice any headhunter as well as a bag of high tech spy gizmos, Adam is soon snatched up by Trion.

His espionage gets off to a good start, and he is able feed critical information to his handlers at Wyatt. Through a lucky break, he catches the eye of Trion's legendary founder Jock Goddard and gains access to the brain trust of his quarry.

Here the moral dilemma develops (if a book about deceit and lying can have a moral dilemma!). Jock turns out to be the father Adam always wanted and the man he must betray to keep Wyatt from throwing him in jail. What's a scheming junior yuppie to do?

This is an exciting book that is fast paced and very tightly written. Finder is very good at developing characters and at keeping the twists and turns coming and believable.

There are surprises aplenty in this book as the reader is constantly challenged to wonder what in Adam's world is true and what is a careful deception.

This corporate thriller reminded me somewhat of Michael Crichton's book "Disclosure" - intelligent suspense story focused in the high-tech corporate world. Finder is a good and engaging writer who knows how to keep a story moving along.

Rating:
Summary: (4 1/2) Has the Potential to be a Fabulous Film
Review: This is an incredibly fast moving, well researched, well plotted thriller by an author whose potential has already clearly been recognized, as evidenced by the fact that his novel HIGH CRIMES became a successful film starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. The book is a very fast and engaging read, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I will indicate my reasons for not rounding up my rating to five stars later in this review, after first providing a summary of the plot.

Adam Cassidy, a bored twenty-six year old employee of Wyatt Telecom, decides to hack into the company's database in order to get the necessary authorization to throw an executive level retirement party for Jonesie on the loading dock. When discovered and threatened with criminal prosecution and a possible prison term by Arnold Meacham, Corporate Director of Security, Adam's impromptu excuse so impresses both Meacham and CEO Nick Wyatt that they offer him an alternative, become a Wyatt spy by obtaining a position with their chief competitor, Trion Systems. Soon, Adam is driving a Porsche, has a gorgeous girlfriend, a wonderful apartment and is special assistant to Trion CEO Jock Goddard. Adam is surprised by how talented he has become and the insight which he has developed based on the coaching from Wyatt operatives and the inside information which they can feed him.

Eventually, however, Adam comes to respect Goddard and his honesty and business acumen and develops complete disdain for Nick Wyatt and his cutthroat and often unethical competitive tactics. In fact, Adam realizes that Goddard has come to view Adam as a replacement for the son who Goddard tragically lost. But when Adam threatens to stop spying on Trion and providing information to Wyatt, he finds that he is sinking further into the quicksand and is forced to engage in extremely risky actions in order to extricate himself. And the sands are continually shifting beneath his feet, as each layer of reality is gradually peeled away to reveal another problem for Adam to confront. And then, BOOM, without providing a spoiler the ending turns everything on its head once again as almost all the loose ends are wrapped up except for the most important one, the future direction of Adam's life and career.

Joseph Finder is a tremendously talented author who obviously did a lot of research with regard to the current state of technological innovation, corporate governance and the financing and acquisition policies of high tech firms. Furthermore, he throws in some informative tidbits, such as Goddard's choice of the name "the ship of Theseus" for his "perfectly restored 1949 Buick Roadmaster". Then the applicability of that phrase to the car is suddenly transformed into a discussion of the reference and its symbolism with regard to the possibility of achieving corporate success while retaining personal integrity. Thus, I enjoyed not only the action in the story, but much of the philosophy inherent in it as well. And I kept trying to figure out if any of the characters were modeled on some of the larger than life corporate personalities who inhabit Silicon Valley.

So why not five stars? Three reasons, the first two minor but the last meaningful to my enjoyment of the book. First, in some cases, the book reads too much like a movie script; action sequences and risks that seem logical in a movie don't always hold up well to the scrutiny of a careful reader. Second, while the details of the ending were clever and consistent with the story, the conclusion was far from a total surprise by the time the book ended. Third and most importantly, the totally cynical portrait of most businessmen and their method of operation disappointed me somewhat. The White Hats were few and far between in this story; it is about business as all out war with little regard for truth and ethics. So, it is very obvious why Adam needs to be paranoid in the corporate world in which he lives.

In elaboration, compare the reasons for Adam's PARANOIA with the thoughts expressed by one of the most successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs of all time, Andy Grove of INTEL, in his masterful book ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE. That book wonderfully outlines Grove's reasons for continual PARANOIA in the battle for corporate survival and dominance, but they relate to the difficulty of recognizing the necessity of taking the huge business risks required in order to meet competitive threats from new technologies that potentially represent transformational paradigms. Thus, Grove is paranoid that he will delay crucial decisions because of risk aversion or lack of insight and let others gain competitive advantage, not that he has to recruit capable corporate spies in order to outflank his competition. I believe that this is the kind of PARANOIA which actually drives the best corporate managements, rather than the kind described in this book. But Joe Finder can write and PARANOIA is still a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READ!

Disclaimer: While I have not read any of the author's previous books, I have seen the movie HIGH CRIMES and enjoyed it immensely. Thus, I was pleased when I was contacted by the author and furnished an advance review copy of this book based upon my interest in this genre as evidenced by my previous reviews of similar books. I have no relationship and have never met either the author or anyone employed by the publisher, and furnished no guarantee that I would even submit a review. If anything, in order to prove my objectivity I perhaps presented my criticisms in more detail than they deserve. Nevertheless, people in my business have belatedly learned too much disclosure is preferable to not enough, so this disclaimer is offered in that spirit - especially since this book encourages PARANOIA with regard to the real motives of the individuals involved.

Tucker Andersen