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Extraordinary Powers
"Spectacular…The action is unrelenting…Electrifying."—Boston Sunday HeraldThe news is The director of the CIA, Harrison Sinclair, has been killed in a car accident. Sinclair may have been a traitor—or the Agency's last honest man. Even his son-in-law, Ben Ellison, an attorney and ex-agent, has heard rumors of sinister forces within the Agency that could have ordered Sinclair's assassination. Soon he is thrust into a web of intrigue and violence beyond his control back into the CIA, and lured into a top-secret espionage project in telepathic ability funded by American intelligence."Gripping drama in which nothing is quite what it seems."—Seattle TimesAs the project's first success, Ben uses his "extraordinary powers" in the perilous search for Vladimir Orlov, the exiled former chairman of the KGB—and the only man who might unlock the secret of Sinclair's death and the whereabouts of a multibillion-dollar fortune in gold spirited out of Russia in the last days of the Soviet Union. The hunt for the truth will bring Ben face to face with his past and culminate in a crowded Washington hearing room where, behind high security barriers, a Senate investigating committee is about to call its secret witness…as an assassin prepares to strike…in Joseph Finder's Extraordinary Powers."An extraordinary, powerful book…ingeniously plotted, fast-paced, and frighteningly credible."—Nelson DeMille
638 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1993
387 people are currently reading
935 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Finder
70 books2,663 followersJoseph Finder is the author of the forthcoming novel JUDGMENT and fourteen other novels, many of them New York Times bestsellers, published in 35 countries around the world. His book HIGH CRIMES was adapted into a movie starring Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd; PARANOIA was made into the Harrison Ford/Gary Oldman film.
He was born in Chicago, lived in the Philippines, Afghanistan, Washington State, and upstate New York. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Strand Critics award, the Barry Award, and the International Thriller Writers’ Thriller Award for best novel. His first novel, THE MOSCOW CLUB, was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the 10 best spy novels of all time.
He lives with his wife in Boston and Cape Cod, where he roots for the Red Sox and mourns his Golden Retriever rescue dog, Mia. He’s currently trying to convince his wife to get another dog.
He was born in Chicago, lived in the Philippines, Afghanistan, Washington State, and upstate New York. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Strand Critics award, the Barry Award, and the International Thriller Writers’ Thriller Award for best novel. His first novel, THE MOSCOW CLUB, was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the 10 best spy novels of all time.
He lives with his wife in Boston and Cape Cod, where he roots for the Red Sox and mourns his Golden Retriever rescue dog, Mia. He’s currently trying to convince his wife to get another dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
February 19, 2014
This book was published in 1993; both technology and world events have changed mightily since then. However, Finder pours it on in an action-filled plot with plenty of insight into both the world of spies and the world of the heart.
Ironically, in a time of concern over NSA and Google Glass privacy, the motivating theme of this 20-year-old book--what if you could read the thoughts of others?--is hands-down relevant in ways the author might not have expected.
Without giving any spoilers, Finder has some strong female characters, something I always appreciate.
Ironically, in a time of concern over NSA and Google Glass privacy, the motivating theme of this 20-year-old book--what if you could read the thoughts of others?--is hands-down relevant in ways the author might not have expected.
Without giving any spoilers, Finder has some strong female characters, something I always appreciate.
August 9, 2019
I wish I could give this book a higher rating because I love the writing of Joseph Finder, but the spy/sci-fi genre is not for me. One good thing I can say about this read, each night I attempted to read it, I experienced the longest and most restful sleep I have had in a long time!
June 7, 2018
Als Agenten-Thriller bleibt Tom Clancys Red Rabbitt einfach ununterbietbar, aber immerhin hat der im Gefolge des 11. September plötzlich zum Sicherheitsberater der US-Regierung beförderte Thriller-Autor ein einigermaßen nachvollziehbares Alibi für diesen vollkommen uninspirierten Lückenfüller in der Vita von Jack Ryan, Joseph Finder kann man bei seinem Opus drei nicht mal Unerfahrenheit zugute halten.
Das CIA-Komplott bietet dumpfe Ludlum-Nachfolge, Freunde entpuppen sich als Verräter, vermeintliche Ehrenmänner als Kriminelle, der Tote von Kapitel eins ist am Ende quicklebendig und wird von der eigenen Tochter vor dem Tod bewahrt. Als Hauptattraktion wird ein Ex-Agent von der CIA zugleich reaktiviert und von einem anderen Teil des Apparats durch die Welt gejagt, Borowski/Bourne nur viel, viel schlechter und einfach nur öde. Nirgendwo schlägt die Miserabilität wenigstens mal in unfreiwillige Komik um, dabei klang die Konstellation einigermaßen viel versprechend, Ex-CIA-Mitarbeiter kann nach einem Experiment die Gedanken seiner Mitmenschen lesen und ganz anders agieren, aber Finder fiel nichts Besseres ein als den alten Ludlum-Teebeutel noch mal aufzubrühen und das erbärmlich schlecht.
Das CIA-Komplott bietet dumpfe Ludlum-Nachfolge, Freunde entpuppen sich als Verräter, vermeintliche Ehrenmänner als Kriminelle, der Tote von Kapitel eins ist am Ende quicklebendig und wird von der eigenen Tochter vor dem Tod bewahrt. Als Hauptattraktion wird ein Ex-Agent von der CIA zugleich reaktiviert und von einem anderen Teil des Apparats durch die Welt gejagt, Borowski/Bourne nur viel, viel schlechter und einfach nur öde. Nirgendwo schlägt die Miserabilität wenigstens mal in unfreiwillige Komik um, dabei klang die Konstellation einigermaßen viel versprechend, Ex-CIA-Mitarbeiter kann nach einem Experiment die Gedanken seiner Mitmenschen lesen und ganz anders agieren, aber Finder fiel nichts Besseres ein als den alten Ludlum-Teebeutel noch mal aufzubrühen und das erbärmlich schlecht.
August 22, 2020
This is my favorite Joseph Finder book so far. It was perhaps the longest one I’ve read (610 pages), but it kept my attention. I liked the chase scene through the Paris Metro tunnels and cringed at the rats. (Early in the book it was revealed that Ben Ellison had a strong aversion to rats, which called to mind that Indiana Jones had an aversion to snakes. The line “It had to be snakes” came to mind and I was waiting for the rats to make an appearance in the book.
October 11, 2020
Not your typical espionage story! Finder manages to add a specific twist to this tale of intrigue, that in lesser hands would have been laughable, but e deftly inserts it as a major plot line and the reader is so captivated that we go along with it! Full of twists and turns and the usual jaw-dropping surprises at the end this is a heart pounding and satisfying read!
October 7, 2020
Joseph Finder approaches an unusual premise and enhances its credibility. This is another satisfying, thought-proving thriller from the master himself!
January 13, 2025
The mixing of real names made the story more
Intriguing. It got off to a slow start, then raced through events so that it was challenging to keep up.
Intriguing. It got off to a slow start, then raced through events so that it was challenging to keep up.
June 7, 2018
This may be a 3 1/2 star novel. However, it is not one of Joseph Finder’s better books. Mind you, I don’t favour post-cold war espionage novels.
October 9, 2023
Positively one of the best books I have ever read! Loved it! Could not put it down! Highly recommend!
December 6, 2018
Found this book in a box in my garage. I have a lot of books in my garage, and I’m not really sure where a lot of them came from. Every now and then I pick one up out of curiosity and decide to try it, even if I’m unfamiliar with the book, or the author. I wasn’t exactly blown away by this one, and am not necessarily in any rush to read more of this author’s work, but I still thought this was a good read overall.
It’s impossible for one to read this book and not be reminded of Robert Ludlum. If anything, this book was a bit of a “Ludlum Lite”. That’s not to say this book is inferior to Ludlum, it just seemed to move at a more manageable pace and allow the characters to breathe. It was also an easier book, I felt, to follow.
Ben Ellison is a successful patent lawyer, who used to be pretty good at his job as an agent in the CIA. His father in law, in fact, is the Director of the CIA. Or was. As the book opens, the director has been killed in an “accident”. Whenever you’re reading a book about the CIA and someone in power dies in an “accident”, you know something is amiss. At the funeral, there’s another high level CIA operative there, and he tries to recruit Ben back to do some high level work for the agency. Ben says “no thanks”, but books have also taught us that once you’re in the CIA, you really never leave. So Ben is put into action against is will, so to speak.
What kind of action? Not really worth describing here in that much detail. Yes, the father-in-law’s mysterious death must be secretly investigated, and there were also a lot of weird dealings with other powerful countries by the director shorty before he died. So Ellison manages to venture to….let’s see if I can remember…..Rome, Paris, London, Washington, and somewhere in Switzerland. He uncovers a lot of mystery at the same time as he’s being pursued by foes - some obvious, some not so obvious. The action is pretty par for the course with nothing too rattling, yet a good story overall.
Strangely, the title of this book is derived from an ‘extraordinary power’ that Ellison inadvertently receives before he begins his adventure. I won’t reveal what that power is, it’s interesting, but I didn’t really thing it was that necessary. I felt the story could have been told pretty well without Ben’s mysterious power. Still, though, it didn’t really ruin anything in the story.
If you like espionage thrillers such as Robert Ludlum penned books, I would recommend this book. It’s a bit dated - having been written in the early nineties shortly after the collapse of the USSR, which is what a lot of the focus is on, but it was still satisfying overall.
It’s impossible for one to read this book and not be reminded of Robert Ludlum. If anything, this book was a bit of a “Ludlum Lite”. That’s not to say this book is inferior to Ludlum, it just seemed to move at a more manageable pace and allow the characters to breathe. It was also an easier book, I felt, to follow.
Ben Ellison is a successful patent lawyer, who used to be pretty good at his job as an agent in the CIA. His father in law, in fact, is the Director of the CIA. Or was. As the book opens, the director has been killed in an “accident”. Whenever you’re reading a book about the CIA and someone in power dies in an “accident”, you know something is amiss. At the funeral, there’s another high level CIA operative there, and he tries to recruit Ben back to do some high level work for the agency. Ben says “no thanks”, but books have also taught us that once you’re in the CIA, you really never leave. So Ben is put into action against is will, so to speak.
What kind of action? Not really worth describing here in that much detail. Yes, the father-in-law’s mysterious death must be secretly investigated, and there were also a lot of weird dealings with other powerful countries by the director shorty before he died. So Ellison manages to venture to….let’s see if I can remember…..Rome, Paris, London, Washington, and somewhere in Switzerland. He uncovers a lot of mystery at the same time as he’s being pursued by foes - some obvious, some not so obvious. The action is pretty par for the course with nothing too rattling, yet a good story overall.
Strangely, the title of this book is derived from an ‘extraordinary power’ that Ellison inadvertently receives before he begins his adventure. I won’t reveal what that power is, it’s interesting, but I didn’t really thing it was that necessary. I felt the story could have been told pretty well without Ben’s mysterious power. Still, though, it didn’t really ruin anything in the story.
If you like espionage thrillers such as Robert Ludlum penned books, I would recommend this book. It’s a bit dated - having been written in the early nineties shortly after the collapse of the USSR, which is what a lot of the focus is on, but it was still satisfying overall.
April 12, 2014
A slighted dated spy novel from the the early 1990s. Ben Ellison quit the CIA when his first wife was killed by the CIA.Years later his second wife Molly is the daughter of the Director of the CIA who has just been assassinated. Ben is approached by a high ranking CIA operative who wants Ben to investigate what happened to his father-in-law Sinclair. Ben, a patent lawyer, is reluctant to get involved. Molly is scared about him rejoining the CIA but after some discussion they agree he will take on this assignment.
Ben, who has an edictic memory is sent for special tests by the CIA before embarking on his mission. One involves a special MRI. After being subjected to this MRI Ben discovers that he can hear people's thoughts. Then Molly is kidnapped and BEN sets out on a journey to try and find the ex-chairman of the KGB who had met with Sinclair days before he was killed. After much delving Ben finally locates Victor Orlov in a run down villa in Italy that is under reconstruction. Ben manages to sneak in and confront Orlov. Orlov is killed by intruders but by hearing his thoughts Ben uncovers a clue to where the missing billions might be.
An ok read but not as good as Finder's other novels that I have read.
Ben and Molly locate the account in Geneva but find that only half the funds are there. On his return to the US Ben realizes that some of the American officials he has been dealing with are traitors and sets out to bring them down before they can take control of the CIA.
Ben, who has an edictic memory is sent for special tests by the CIA before embarking on his mission. One involves a special MRI. After being subjected to this MRI Ben discovers that he can hear people's thoughts. Then Molly is kidnapped and BEN sets out on a journey to try and find the ex-chairman of the KGB who had met with Sinclair days before he was killed. After much delving Ben finally locates Victor Orlov in a run down villa in Italy that is under reconstruction. Ben manages to sneak in and confront Orlov. Orlov is killed by intruders but by hearing his thoughts Ben uncovers a clue to where the missing billions might be.
An ok read but not as good as Finder's other novels that I have read.
Ben and Molly locate the account in Geneva but find that only half the funds are there. On his return to the US Ben realizes that some of the American officials he has been dealing with are traitors and sets out to bring them down before they can take control of the CIA.
April 10, 2012
Interesting one this, a spy thriller with a difference but also slightly dated.
Ex- CIA spook is trying his hand at being a lawyer when his father in law (head of the CIA) is murdered and he is dragged back into the CIA to root out the truth. By way of a complication he is given a treatment that allows him to read people’s minds…
The theme here is the fall of Russia at the end of the cold war and the growth of Germany as a key power in Europe. A group within the CIA have been manipulating the stock markets and world events to their own ends and our hero and his wife end up dashing around the world, avoiding bad guys and not knowing who the good guys are.
The time and situation do date this, but it read very much like a Ludlum conspiracy thriller with a bit of mild sci-fi chucked in. The ESP bit was a bit different but slightly underused as if the author, having introduced it, wasn’t quite sure where to go with it.
Anyone who has read a few like this will not be fooled by the twists and turns and will predict many of them, but it still ends up being a serviceable thriller.
Ex- CIA spook is trying his hand at being a lawyer when his father in law (head of the CIA) is murdered and he is dragged back into the CIA to root out the truth. By way of a complication he is given a treatment that allows him to read people’s minds…
The theme here is the fall of Russia at the end of the cold war and the growth of Germany as a key power in Europe. A group within the CIA have been manipulating the stock markets and world events to their own ends and our hero and his wife end up dashing around the world, avoiding bad guys and not knowing who the good guys are.
The time and situation do date this, but it read very much like a Ludlum conspiracy thriller with a bit of mild sci-fi chucked in. The ESP bit was a bit different but slightly underused as if the author, having introduced it, wasn’t quite sure where to go with it.
Anyone who has read a few like this will not be fooled by the twists and turns and will predict many of them, but it still ends up being a serviceable thriller.
August 4, 2014
I couldn’t take it. Plodding. Boring. I read half and stopped.
It’s hard to explain what was wrong. Part of the problem was too much internal pondering. Ben is thinking what’s going on? Is it this? Is it that? I did enjoy a few scenes where Ben used his mind-reading power. But the rest was too dull to keep me interested.
The author wrote some excellent books later like “Paranoia.” This was his third novel.
The audiobook narrator Christopher Burns was ok, but I didn’t have a good feeling about him. Again, not sure why.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person Ben. Unabridged audiobook length: 17 hrs and 26 mins. Swearing Language: Moderate to strong, but not often used in the first half. Sexual content: two sex scenes in the first half, not much detail. Setting: early 1990s mostly east coast U.S. Book copyright: 1993. Genre: mystery suspense.
OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my ratings of other Joseph Finder books see my 5 star review of Paranoia.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
It’s hard to explain what was wrong. Part of the problem was too much internal pondering. Ben is thinking what’s going on? Is it this? Is it that? I did enjoy a few scenes where Ben used his mind-reading power. But the rest was too dull to keep me interested.
The author wrote some excellent books later like “Paranoia.” This was his third novel.
The audiobook narrator Christopher Burns was ok, but I didn’t have a good feeling about him. Again, not sure why.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 1st person Ben. Unabridged audiobook length: 17 hrs and 26 mins. Swearing Language: Moderate to strong, but not often used in the first half. Sexual content: two sex scenes in the first half, not much detail. Setting: early 1990s mostly east coast U.S. Book copyright: 1993. Genre: mystery suspense.
OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my ratings of other Joseph Finder books see my 5 star review of Paranoia.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
April 21, 2018
I love Joseph Finder but this book was slow, awkward and very dated.
December 9, 2015
"Very Disappointing Story"
In the past, I've enjoyed many of Joseph Finder's exciting and compelling stories. This novel, however, is a very complex, hard to read novel which aggravated me the more I got into the novel. I found it boring, with too many unnecessary descriptions which slow a reader down. Reading this book is like trying to get out of quick sand. I'm so disappointed especially after reading "Plan B" which halted before we even knew what Plan B was! Maybe the next novel by Joe Finder I'll find more exciting. I hope so.
In the past, I've enjoyed many of Joseph Finder's exciting and compelling stories. This novel, however, is a very complex, hard to read novel which aggravated me the more I got into the novel. I found it boring, with too many unnecessary descriptions which slow a reader down. Reading this book is like trying to get out of quick sand. I'm so disappointed especially after reading "Plan B" which halted before we even knew what Plan B was! Maybe the next novel by Joe Finder I'll find more exciting. I hope so.
February 18, 2013
One of Finder's early books. It may be not as polished as his later works, as others have said, but for me it was a throughly enjoyable read. It deals with a breakdown in the undercover agents of the US and Russia following the collapse the Soviet Union. Although the premise is quite implausible, it still grabs your attention and makes it difficult to put down. Nice unexpected twist at the end.
February 9, 2017
Μολις τελειωσα το "Εκτακτες δικαιοδοσιες".Πολυ καλο!Καλογραμμενο κατασκοπικο θριλερ με πολυ καλοδουλεμενη πλοκη και χαρακτηρες.Λιγο μεγαλουτσικο βεβαια αλλα ολες οι παραπανω σελιδες που προσθεσε ο συγγραφεας ειναι περιεκτικες σε πληροφοριες για την CIA και την κατασκοπια αρα τις απολαυσα!!Θα γινοταν καλη ταινια και θα γινει καποτε σιγουρα!!
November 23, 2008
Imaginative idea ruined by a dull and needlessly detailed exploration of everything a character might do in the circumstances. It became intolerably unexciting for a thriller and wore out its welcome.
February 27, 2015
This started off well, but as it progressed it went steadily downhill. The a final ending was no ending - just a stoppage. The whole book made no sense. I have read most of Finders books and like them, but this had to be the worst. Don't waste you time with it.
January 11, 2016
Story started out well and was very intriguing. But as it unfolded the further involvement of the main characters wife, became ridiculous and eliminated any credibility of the plot. If I was not a Joseph Finder fan I would've rated it even lower.
November 18, 2017
I became a fan of Joseph Finder from his later books and have recently gone back to read earlier works. This book is a very well interweaving tale involving the CIA. It was a gripping read from start to finish.
November 3, 2010
Weak attempt at a thriller; not believable or interesting.
August 30, 2013
This is not up to Finder's other offerings. Some of the scenarios are difficult to see how they could be plausible!
April 25, 2016
Boring, gave up. Too many implausible things happening that just seemed nuts.
December 25, 2016
Very slow and overly long with a few glaring holes in the plot.
December 19, 2017
This was written in 1993 and reading it now presents problems as the events of the time are reflected differently in hindsight. Hero was toooo much.
November 2, 2024
I deduct stars whenever a character says, in response to a perfectly-accessible-yet-mildly-technical statement by his medical-doctor wife, “English please.”
I deduct stars when this same wife, immediately upon realizing her husband is telling her that he can read minds – and I mean, immediately, before he’s even completed a sentence – concludes her beloved husband is a nutter and starts making plans to consult a psychiatrist. Not even a nanosecond for humoring him or saying something reasonable like “can we test it?”
I deduct stars when the main character man-splains the whole concept of digital manipulation of photographs. He’s ex-CIA, so he understands such things.
The author is an adherent of Checkov’s rule about guns: if it is present in a scene, you may be certain it will be used. Similarly, his intrepid wife’s averral that she is, actually, quite a good shot with a pistol, foreshadows something that was entirely unsurprising to me.
Same with the rat thing: for no apparent reason our hero shares his rat phobia early on. I braced myself for the inevitable, and sure enough.
I’m staying neutral on the ESP thing – it’s enough for me that the author gave it a rational cause (spook MRI) and mechanism (radio waves). What bothered me most about this whole scenario was the assumption that people are going around verbalizing little speeches to themselves. I understand that is true of some of us – and I really cannot imagine a mental landscape like that. I do subvocalize my passwords as I enter them, but that’s about it. I’m not going around with little one-sided narrations in my head “Trump is such an asshole he’s going to destroy democracy like to show all these dimwit fascist flag wavers that they are in a cult Whoa I gotta go pee pretty soon…” I’m more like an author who doesn’t know what his characters are going to do until he writes them doing it. I doubt this guy would get much from me, unless he was like “tell me your email address.”
I think I’m adding stars for all the nineties tech that pops up. Remember the nineties? Pay-phones were a thing. You made phone calls from them. Long distance phone calls sounded funny and cost a lot. You might even talk to an international phone operator. “They” could trace your call but you had to be on the line for a certain number of seconds. The wonderful technology of the fax machine was how you sent written information from place to place. Selectric typewriters were self-conscious about their existence but were still a thing. You used them to type up stuff about computer game lawsuits. Computer games, you know. You buy them at the software store. Play them on your computer.
I deduct stars when this same wife, immediately upon realizing her husband is telling her that he can read minds – and I mean, immediately, before he’s even completed a sentence – concludes her beloved husband is a nutter and starts making plans to consult a psychiatrist. Not even a nanosecond for humoring him or saying something reasonable like “can we test it?”
I deduct stars when the main character man-splains the whole concept of digital manipulation of photographs. He’s ex-CIA, so he understands such things.
The author is an adherent of Checkov’s rule about guns: if it is present in a scene, you may be certain it will be used. Similarly, his intrepid wife’s averral that she is, actually, quite a good shot with a pistol, foreshadows something that was entirely unsurprising to me.
Same with the rat thing: for no apparent reason our hero shares his rat phobia early on. I braced myself for the inevitable, and sure enough.
I’m staying neutral on the ESP thing – it’s enough for me that the author gave it a rational cause (spook MRI) and mechanism (radio waves). What bothered me most about this whole scenario was the assumption that people are going around verbalizing little speeches to themselves. I understand that is true of some of us – and I really cannot imagine a mental landscape like that. I do subvocalize my passwords as I enter them, but that’s about it. I’m not going around with little one-sided narrations in my head “Trump is such an asshole he’s going to destroy democracy like to show all these dimwit fascist flag wavers that they are in a cult Whoa I gotta go pee pretty soon…” I’m more like an author who doesn’t know what his characters are going to do until he writes them doing it. I doubt this guy would get much from me, unless he was like “tell me your email address.”
I think I’m adding stars for all the nineties tech that pops up. Remember the nineties? Pay-phones were a thing. You made phone calls from them. Long distance phone calls sounded funny and cost a lot. You might even talk to an international phone operator. “They” could trace your call but you had to be on the line for a certain number of seconds. The wonderful technology of the fax machine was how you sent written information from place to place. Selectric typewriters were self-conscious about their existence but were still a thing. You used them to type up stuff about computer game lawsuits. Computer games, you know. You buy them at the software store. Play them on your computer.
September 3, 2025
CIA director dies in an accident. His son-in-law who in his younger years served in the CIA is invited to join the Organization for a very specific project: to find Soviet gold. The younger man agrees and as part of his preparation for the task he acquires extrasensory powers. He travels a lot: to Switzerland, France, Germany, Canada... He meets with the former Soviet KGB chief who was killed during their meeting. He visits a Swiss bank to inspect the gold that was smuggled from the Soviet Union when it collapsed. Part of it is missing. In the background there political events in Germany: Bundestag elections with two frontrunners - Neonazi and liberal politicians. The Neonazi got killed before the elections. The liberal one with his political party wins the elections. During his visit to Germany the younger man becomes a witness to the meeting of the elected liberal party leader, influential German industrialist and an American, CIA employee and, to his enormous surprise, the CIA Director nominee. They conspire to use German industrial economic and financial power, the newly-elected politician and CIA influence to dominate the Europe, the Eastern hemisphere and the World. The conspiration is uncovered and hearings in the House are scheduled with a decisive heavy-weight witness. To everyone's surprise, it appears to be the already dead former CIA Director... The book is about the duty to the country, about importance to always remain honest, about the necessity to control the controllers...
January 27, 2019
I decided to read a book by Joseph Finder based on the recommendation of a good friend who mostly reads the same authors I do (Child, Baldacci, Connelly, etc.). I randomly chose this book based on its immediate availability as an e-book. I was quickly put off when I discovered that the book was 638 pages long as I don't care to read books that are that lengthy. Normally 400 pages or so is my preferred limit. At any rate, I did begin the novel and was fairly engaged with it for maybe 2/3 of the book, but I began to bog down at that point. I had the feeling that the author could have easily trimmed 100 or more pages from this book. I finally reached the point where I had a difficult time accepting that the main character was able to escape as many life-threatening situations as he did. I also tired of his constant mention of the names of cities and hotels and restaurants scattered throughout Europe; it smacked of pretention. I will probably give Finder another try at a later date, but I hope to find it a more enjoyable reading experience.
March 24, 2023
I love Joseph Finder, but in this one he seems to stumble. Often repetitive, the repeated bits are sometimes not even that important. I did enjoy the way Finder handled the ESP angle - he waited so long to introduce it that it really surprised me. My guess is that Finder had many years to write his excellent first novel. Following up a success like that has to be nerve-wracking. He threw everything into the stew here - mind-reading, billions of dollars in missing gold, people getting killed right and left, people rising from the dead. I'm guessing that he was still kind of learning how to be a best-selling author and thought that a lot of flash bang would do the trick. He had not quite gotten the writing chops that create interesting worlds full of unique characters and attention to detail that would eventually make him such a star.
It read like a sophomore offering because it was one. For anyone else, I would have thought it a four star read, but then anyone else would have probably had an editor more willing to cut out the redundant stuff.
It read like a sophomore offering because it was one. For anyone else, I would have thought it a four star read, but then anyone else would have probably had an editor more willing to cut out the redundant stuff.
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