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Paranoia

From Publishers Weekly
Is it too early to declare Finder’s fifth novel (after High Crimes) the most entertaining thriller of 2004? Probably, but it will be a surprise if another suspenser proves as much sheer fun as Finder’s robust tale of corporate espionage. Narrator Adam Cassidy’s trip to hell begins when he charges to the company an unauthorized, very expensive party for a retiring blue-collar laborer at their place of work, Wyatt Telecom.

 
Paranoia

 Caught, low-level staffer Adam is given an offer he can’t refuse by monstrously slick and wealthy CEO Nick Wyatt: penetrate rival high-tech giant Trion Systems and get the goods on Trion’s killer new products, or face a battery of felony charges. Adam accepts the deal, and days later he’s at Trion, along with false credentials that persuade Trion that he was a key player at Wyatt Telecom, rather than a cube-squatting shlub. Finder presents Adam’s thrust into Trion as the scary, grand adventure of a stranger in a strange land, as Adam must contend with a new corporate culture and a host of envious enemies, particularly once he’s tapped to be Trion founder Jock Goddard’s personal assistant. As Adam comes to admire, even to love, Jock, the demands by Wyatt for ever better intel grate all the more. But if Adam refuses, prison awaits, and anyway he loves his big new salary and perks, not to mention his new, lovely Trion bedmate. Adam’s love/hate relationship with his bitter, dying dad and his fragmenting friendship with a pal he’s left behind add texture to the relentless suspense, punctuated by tense cloak-and-dagger scenes as Adam steals secrets from his new bosses. A first-rate surprise ending packs a wallop. This novel is the real deal: a thriller that actually will keep readers up way past their bedtimes.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Paranoia

From The New Yorker
In another age, a genre thriller fairly required the brandishing of a weapon and blood smeared on the floor. Finder’s latest is the archetype of the thriller in its contemporary form: e-mail is the means of communication and threat, industrial espionage among nasdaq competitors the field of violence. The novel’s great strength is its fetishistic attention to the idioms and buzzwords of the tech business and the up-to-the-second catalogue of perfidy’s rewards: the particular Bordeaux or the particular Porsche that tickles the impulses of the New Greedy. For a while, Finder’s plot seems less vivid than the status details he gives such attention to, but late in the book we discover how completely we have been fooled, and with real escapist pleasure.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

Author Joseph Finder has written about espionage and international affairs for the New York Times and other newspapers, and is also a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. So it would stand to reason that he had seen it all in the realm of espionage. Yet, in the acknowledgements at the end of the book, he states that his research on his other novels “has taken me around the world and into places like KGB headquarters in Moscow, but nothing prepared me for how strange and fascinating I’d find the world of the American high-tech corporation.” In Paranoia, he combines high-tech business with corporate security and espionage to create an exciting thriller that the reader will not soon forget.
Paranoia

Adam Cassidy is the quintessential slacker who is tired of his job at Wyatt Telecom. He diverts corporate funds to throw a large retirement party for a loading dock employee, and he fully expects to be fired for it. But instead he is threatened with criminal charges if he does not agree to steal highly confidential product plans from Trion, a rival of Wyatt. With the help of the Wyatt’s CEO, security chief, and executive coach, he is groomed for an executive job at Trion. He is taught to breach the tightest corporate security and turn over his findings. Thus begins his life as a corporate spy, where the game he is playing becomes more and more treacherous, his loyalties to his friends and employers are stretched to the limit, and he is caught in a web of deceit from which there seems to be no exit.
Paranoia

The characters are well drawn and believable. Finder expertly depicts Adam’s struggle with his conscience, his problems with his ailing father and best friend, his worries about being unmasked as a spy, and his fondness for his Trion CEO. This makes him a very sympathetic protagonist. The two corporate presidents are strongly contrasted: the Wyatt CEO is ruthless, aloof, and vain; the Trion CEO is paternal, benevolent, and demands honesty. Also included in the interesting cast of characters are a quirky staff engineer, some power-hungry middle managers, a jealous and competitive coworker, and a shady security chief with a penchant for violence.

The suspense kept me on the edge of my seat, and the final plot twist was a powerhouse. Not only is this a fast-paced thriller, but it provides fascinating facts about espionage and corporate security. Each section defines an espionage term, which is then exemplified in the story line. I was shocked to learn about how lax corporate security can be, permitting access to password-protected PCs and locked offices and file cabinets. Even badge readers and biometric scanners can be circumvented. This is definitely worth reading, but be sure to schedule it for when you have some spare time, because once you start it you will have trouble putting it down.