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The Finder
From the Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning novelist of 419 comes a spellbinding literary adventure novel about precious objects lost and found.
The world is filled with wonders, lost objects—all real—all still out there, waiting to be found:
· the missing Fabergé eggs of the Romanov dynasty, worth millions
· the last reel of Alfred Hitchcock’s first film
· Buddy Holly’s iconic glasses
· Muhammad Ali’s Olympic gold medal
How can such cherished objects simply vanish? Where are they hiding? And who on earth might be compelled to uncover them?
Will Ferguson takes readers on a heroic, imaginative journey across continents, from the seas of southern Japan, to the arid Australian Outback, to the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, after the earthquake. Prepare to meet Gaddy Rhodes, a brittle Interpol agent obsessed with tracking “The Finder”—a shadowy figure she believes is collecting lost objects; Thomas Rafferty, a burnt-out travel writer whose path crosses that of The Finder, to devastating effect; and Tamsin Greene, a swaggering war photographer who is hiding secrets of her own.
The Finder is a beguiling and wildly original tale about the people, places, and things that are lost and found in our world. Both an epic literary adventure and an escape into a darkly thrilling world of deceit and its rewards, this novel asks: How far would you be willing to go to recover the things you’ve left behind?
The world is filled with wonders, lost objects—all real—all still out there, waiting to be found:
· the missing Fabergé eggs of the Romanov dynasty, worth millions
· the last reel of Alfred Hitchcock’s first film
· Buddy Holly’s iconic glasses
· Muhammad Ali’s Olympic gold medal
How can such cherished objects simply vanish? Where are they hiding? And who on earth might be compelled to uncover them?
Will Ferguson takes readers on a heroic, imaginative journey across continents, from the seas of southern Japan, to the arid Australian Outback, to the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, after the earthquake. Prepare to meet Gaddy Rhodes, a brittle Interpol agent obsessed with tracking “The Finder”—a shadowy figure she believes is collecting lost objects; Thomas Rafferty, a burnt-out travel writer whose path crosses that of The Finder, to devastating effect; and Tamsin Greene, a swaggering war photographer who is hiding secrets of her own.
The Finder is a beguiling and wildly original tale about the people, places, and things that are lost and found in our world. Both an epic literary adventure and an escape into a darkly thrilling world of deceit and its rewards, this novel asks: How far would you be willing to go to recover the things you’ve left behind?
390 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2020
44 people are currently reading
1161 people want to read
About the author
Will Ferguson
44 books549 followersWill Ferguson is an award-winning travel writer and novelist. His last work of fiction, 419, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. He has won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour a record-tying three times and has been nominated for both the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. His new novel, The Shoe on the Roof, will be released October 17, 2017. Visit him at WillFerguson.ca
Ferguson studied film production and screenwriting at York University in Toronto, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1990. He joined the Japan Exchange Teachers Programme (JET) soon after and spent five years in Asia. He married his wife Terumi in Kumamoto, Japan, in 1995. They now live in Calgary with their two sons. After coming back from Japan he experienced a reverse culture shock, which became the basis for his first book Why I Hate Canadians. With his brother, Ian Ferguson, he wrote the bestselling sequel How to be a Canadian. Ferguson details his experiences hitchhiking across Japan in Hokkaido Highway Blues (later retitled Hitching Rides with Buddha), his travels across Canada in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, and a journey through central Africa in Road Trip Rwanda. His debut novel, Happiness, was sold into 23 languages around the world. He has written for The New York Times, Esquire UK, and Canadian Geographic magazine.
Ferguson studied film production and screenwriting at York University in Toronto, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1990. He joined the Japan Exchange Teachers Programme (JET) soon after and spent five years in Asia. He married his wife Terumi in Kumamoto, Japan, in 1995. They now live in Calgary with their two sons. After coming back from Japan he experienced a reverse culture shock, which became the basis for his first book Why I Hate Canadians. With his brother, Ian Ferguson, he wrote the bestselling sequel How to be a Canadian. Ferguson details his experiences hitchhiking across Japan in Hokkaido Highway Blues (later retitled Hitching Rides with Buddha), his travels across Canada in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, and a journey through central Africa in Road Trip Rwanda. His debut novel, Happiness, was sold into 23 languages around the world. He has written for The New York Times, Esquire UK, and Canadian Geographic magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
June 13, 2020
I wish to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for Will Ferguson’s latest book, The Finder. He has been the author of two of my favourite books in recent years; 419 (winner of a Giller literary prize) and Road Trip Rwanda, a travelogue and description of that country 20 years often the horrific genocide. He is also a three-time winner oh the Stephen Leacock Prize for humour.
The book didn’t really come together for me. I found it disjointed and felt disconnected at times. I thought it was overloaded with too much content and a variety of themes. The characters were compelling with well-developed personalities but didn’t interact as much as I would have liked. They were so intriguing that each one of them could feature in a book of their own. Their dialogues were sharp, witty, and thought-provoking. There was a gripping adventure story in there, a mystery, and suspense near the end. This was also a travelogue, with a vivid sense of the places visited.
The story is set in some mostly uninhabited outer Japanese Islands, Christchurch, NZ, at the time of the earthquake, and the remote Australian Outback. Other countries where the characters travelled are mentioned to further explain their backgrounds and life history.
The story revolves around a variety of characters. Tom Rafferty, a freelance writer for travel journals, always restlessly moving from one faraway country to another, managing to be often in the wrong place at the wrong time. He routinely sends off bland, mundane tourist articles, rather than important world events surrounding him. He misses his lost love, Rebecca. A courageous war photojournalist, Tamsin, and Tom keep crossing paths. She has found she prefers to be in war zones. There is Catherine, a lonely young girl who lives with her addled father on an isolated NZ sheep farm. A stiff, cold Interpol worker, Gaddy Rhodes is obsessed with a theory that valuable lost objects are being found, only to appear again and be sold for record-breaking prices. She vows to hunt down the Finder. I was the most interested in someone called 'the small man’ who has a forgettable face. I assume he is the villain but was well described and fascinating. When these people meet, the conversations we're clever and absorbing.
A theme is lost objects and the lengths people will go to retrieve then. Mentioned are some Romanov Faberge eggs, a stolen Stradivarius violin, Buddy Holly’s glasses, a sacred Tusi drum, Mohammed Ali’s gold medal, and the last reel for Hitchcock's first movie. These iconic objects increase in value after being lost. There are also lost objects that have mainly sentimental value for their owners: a pewter pendant, a St. Anthony medallion, a wedding ring, and a letter written in a drunken state to a lost love.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
The book didn’t really come together for me. I found it disjointed and felt disconnected at times. I thought it was overloaded with too much content and a variety of themes. The characters were compelling with well-developed personalities but didn’t interact as much as I would have liked. They were so intriguing that each one of them could feature in a book of their own. Their dialogues were sharp, witty, and thought-provoking. There was a gripping adventure story in there, a mystery, and suspense near the end. This was also a travelogue, with a vivid sense of the places visited.
The story is set in some mostly uninhabited outer Japanese Islands, Christchurch, NZ, at the time of the earthquake, and the remote Australian Outback. Other countries where the characters travelled are mentioned to further explain their backgrounds and life history.
The story revolves around a variety of characters. Tom Rafferty, a freelance writer for travel journals, always restlessly moving from one faraway country to another, managing to be often in the wrong place at the wrong time. He routinely sends off bland, mundane tourist articles, rather than important world events surrounding him. He misses his lost love, Rebecca. A courageous war photojournalist, Tamsin, and Tom keep crossing paths. She has found she prefers to be in war zones. There is Catherine, a lonely young girl who lives with her addled father on an isolated NZ sheep farm. A stiff, cold Interpol worker, Gaddy Rhodes is obsessed with a theory that valuable lost objects are being found, only to appear again and be sold for record-breaking prices. She vows to hunt down the Finder. I was the most interested in someone called 'the small man’ who has a forgettable face. I assume he is the villain but was well described and fascinating. When these people meet, the conversations we're clever and absorbing.
A theme is lost objects and the lengths people will go to retrieve then. Mentioned are some Romanov Faberge eggs, a stolen Stradivarius violin, Buddy Holly’s glasses, a sacred Tusi drum, Mohammed Ali’s gold medal, and the last reel for Hitchcock's first movie. These iconic objects increase in value after being lost. There are also lost objects that have mainly sentimental value for their owners: a pewter pendant, a St. Anthony medallion, a wedding ring, and a letter written in a drunken state to a lost love.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
November 18, 2020
What the world needs is bolder sheep
This was not quite what I was expecting. I guess I imagined more of a hunt, worldwide travel, and exploration for the items. While those things happened almost all of them where portrayed as stories told from the past. We don’t go on a true journey with any of the leading characters. Although many of them are in diverse locations; we spend the longest in Christchurch in the before and after the devastating earthquake. We see our characters as they are in a current moment, near the end, if you will, of what seems to be an elaborate and perhaps random treasure hunt.
Literary Style
For anyone familiar with Wil Ferguson’s past works (including 419 which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize from Canada) they won’t be surprised to learn that it’s very literary. I had to look up a handful of words, reread some passages, and certainly couldn’t read this while a bit tired. This is a book that requires some effort to read and get the true experience from. Depending on if you enjoy this style or not will likely dictate your love for The Finder.
Author’s Note
I kind of wish I had read the Authors Note at the back of the book. I always waffle on this, especially with stories I know have true elements. Do I want to experience the story with no prejudice or do I want to know what to watch out for?
In this case I’ll give you a hint towards reading the authors note. If you want to know about the list objects themselves, look for hidden Alfred Hitchcock references, or look up history on places or the items as you read then definitely flip to the back and read Ferguson’s notes.
On Lost Objects
The idea of a treasure hunt absolutely intrigues me. Maybe I watched Indiana Jones too many times as a kid; but my first career choice at the age of ten was to be a journalist in the midst of the action. At the time Desert Storm was everywhere and I imagined myself as a daring woman climbing through dust and rubble to get the real stories. Boy was I wrong.
Today I’m a anxiety medicated computer programmer who loves to be in new places but hates the process of actually getting to them. So maybe that’s why I really wanted more of a worldwide hunt; because my brain loves to feel like I’m travelling from the comfort of my home.
So if you’re hoping to have big reveals or Da Vinci Code like cryptics to solve for the lost items you will be sorely mistaken. That said, all of the items lost (except for one obvious one that is significant to our lead character) are real. And so you can discover more about them on the internet and in the wonderful list of recommended books Ferguson gives in his author’s note.
Overall
The Finder is the kind of book I’ll talk about to people and recommend (with a caveat about its literary style), likely muse about rereading it for years, but never actually get to it. But I’m happy to put my trade copy on my shelf. Not only because Ferguson is a fellow Canadian and Calgarian (where I’m born and raised, having never left up to today) so I want to support local, but also because it’s truly a worthwhile read even though I hesitate and chose not to give it 5 stars.
If you enjoyed Ferguson’s 419 you will be sure to enjoy this. If you like Margaret Atwood (not just Handmaiden’s Tale), Miriam Toews, or Michael Ondaatje then I am very confident you will enjoy this beautifully written story with a cast of varied characters whom (of course) all connect together in the end.
This was not quite what I was expecting. I guess I imagined more of a hunt, worldwide travel, and exploration for the items. While those things happened almost all of them where portrayed as stories told from the past. We don’t go on a true journey with any of the leading characters. Although many of them are in diverse locations; we spend the longest in Christchurch in the before and after the devastating earthquake. We see our characters as they are in a current moment, near the end, if you will, of what seems to be an elaborate and perhaps random treasure hunt.
Literary Style
For anyone familiar with Wil Ferguson’s past works (including 419 which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize from Canada) they won’t be surprised to learn that it’s very literary. I had to look up a handful of words, reread some passages, and certainly couldn’t read this while a bit tired. This is a book that requires some effort to read and get the true experience from. Depending on if you enjoy this style or not will likely dictate your love for The Finder.
Author’s Note
I kind of wish I had read the Authors Note at the back of the book. I always waffle on this, especially with stories I know have true elements. Do I want to experience the story with no prejudice or do I want to know what to watch out for?
In this case I’ll give you a hint towards reading the authors note. If you want to know about the list objects themselves, look for hidden Alfred Hitchcock references, or look up history on places or the items as you read then definitely flip to the back and read Ferguson’s notes.
On Lost Objects
The idea of a treasure hunt absolutely intrigues me. Maybe I watched Indiana Jones too many times as a kid; but my first career choice at the age of ten was to be a journalist in the midst of the action. At the time Desert Storm was everywhere and I imagined myself as a daring woman climbing through dust and rubble to get the real stories. Boy was I wrong.
Today I’m a anxiety medicated computer programmer who loves to be in new places but hates the process of actually getting to them. So maybe that’s why I really wanted more of a worldwide hunt; because my brain loves to feel like I’m travelling from the comfort of my home.
So if you’re hoping to have big reveals or Da Vinci Code like cryptics to solve for the lost items you will be sorely mistaken. That said, all of the items lost (except for one obvious one that is significant to our lead character) are real. And so you can discover more about them on the internet and in the wonderful list of recommended books Ferguson gives in his author’s note.
Overall
The Finder is the kind of book I’ll talk about to people and recommend (with a caveat about its literary style), likely muse about rereading it for years, but never actually get to it. But I’m happy to put my trade copy on my shelf. Not only because Ferguson is a fellow Canadian and Calgarian (where I’m born and raised, having never left up to today) so I want to support local, but also because it’s truly a worthwhile read even though I hesitate and chose not to give it 5 stars.
If you enjoyed Ferguson’s 419 you will be sure to enjoy this. If you like Margaret Atwood (not just Handmaiden’s Tale), Miriam Toews, or Michael Ondaatje then I am very confident you will enjoy this beautifully written story with a cast of varied characters whom (of course) all connect together in the end.
July 3, 2020
The finder rolled his head to one side, considered this young woman who, by any rights, would eventually have to be killed. It was the only way to ensure silence. Something unfamiliar was tapping on the window. Tenderness? Mercy? Or was it just Irish sentimentality? Whatever it was, it flickered and died, a ghost of a breath on the glass.
The Finder is filled with many interesting vignettes, amusing dialogue, and a range of exotic locales – all brought to breathing life. And the overall plot – that there's a shadowy figure out there collecting forgotten items (Buddy Holly’s horn-rimmed glasses, Muhammad Ali’s Olympic gold medal, Alfred Hitchcock's first film) and presumably retrieving these items on demand and leaving mayhem in his wake – makes for a mystery full of uncertainty and tension. But despite all these good parts, the whole just didn't add up for me – and especially since none of the many story threads ended credibly for me. I will say that the mystery kept me totally engaged (mostly because I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be going on behind the scenes), and I did enjoy the small, evocative bits, but when I finished The Finder, all I could say was, “That's it?” (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
And with that, the investigation was no longer his. Police Inspector Shimada, senior officer, Hateruma Island Substation, wheeled his bicycle onto the tarmac, climbed astride with a wobbled lack of grace, and pedaled back to his village to await further instructions, back to a life of lost and found, of sugarcane wives and messy kitchens, of bamboo and bitter melons, where widows smile through their pain and the tables are never turned.
Although this is widely known about author Will Ferguson, he reminds us in an afterword that he is a travel writer, as well as a novelist, and he has personally visited and written about each of the locations he sets The Finder in: from the opening in Hateruma (the last habitable island in the Japanese archipelago), to Australia and New Zealand, Northern Ireland and Rwanda, Ferguson's journalistic eye brings each setting to vivid life (each a Land of Contrasts!) To link a narrative between all of these places, Ferguson tells a story that mostly pivots between The Finder, an Interpol agent who is obsessed with tracking him down, and an aging travel writer who always seems to be in the wrong place at the right time. The various bits were of uneven interest to me (I loved the opening in Japan and was disappointed when that part ended), and again, it didn't gel together for me in the end.
Make no mistake, there is a body count associated with these objects. A record dealer in Memphis tried to get cute with an early recording of Hound Dog. He ended up floating face down in a hotel pool. A stamp collector in Madrid was turned inside out over a forged One-Cent Magenta. An antiquities dealer we spoke with in Vatican City later had his tongue cut out. This isn't a treasure hunt. This is a dark river. Massive criminal interests are involved, millions of undeclared dollars are moving across international borders with impunity. It's not fun and games, it's not hide-and-seek, it's not cat-and-mouse. This is hyena loose among the wildebeest.
This really should have been more exciting than it was – the danger was explained but just not palpable – yet Ferguson put in so many well-written lines and conversations and vivid settings that I'm not overall disappointed. (And it is a bonus that Ferguson adds a reading list in his afterword for those interested in the real-life inspirations for some of his characters.)
June 30, 2020
In The Finder, Ferguson brings us the story of a mysterious outlaw who travels the world looking for items that time has forgotten. Hot on his heels is Gaddy Rhodes, a determined Interpol agent looking to bring him down. Elsewhere, the novel connects with a travel writer and a photojournalist stationed in Christchurch, New Zealand during the 2011 destructive earthquake.
I had a hard time with this one. I really loved the idea of a person who seeks out and retrieves items like Buddy Holly’s glasses to turn around and sell to the highest bidder, but I thought that the story itself was like a pot that boiled over in that there was just too much going on. I appreciate Ferguson’s drive to create this massive cat-and-mouse saga that spans decades and continents, but it just didn’t do it for me. The only character I really found myself identifying with and rooting for was Gaddy and when Ferguson would shift from her to the events in New Zealand, I had a hard time staying focused. I would have rather just had a story about her and her alone.
I will say that Ferguson has a gift for writing compelling dialogue. Even though I didn’t much care for his storyline, I thought Thomas Rafferty was an interesting character and would have liked a story on him alone. Basically, it seems like The Finder is two stories that would have been better served as one or the other. I understand their connection and why it had to be written this way, but I would have preferred more of a focus if I’m being honest.
I had a hard time with this one. I really loved the idea of a person who seeks out and retrieves items like Buddy Holly’s glasses to turn around and sell to the highest bidder, but I thought that the story itself was like a pot that boiled over in that there was just too much going on. I appreciate Ferguson’s drive to create this massive cat-and-mouse saga that spans decades and continents, but it just didn’t do it for me. The only character I really found myself identifying with and rooting for was Gaddy and when Ferguson would shift from her to the events in New Zealand, I had a hard time staying focused. I would have rather just had a story about her and her alone.
I will say that Ferguson has a gift for writing compelling dialogue. Even though I didn’t much care for his storyline, I thought Thomas Rafferty was an interesting character and would have liked a story on him alone. Basically, it seems like The Finder is two stories that would have been better served as one or the other. I understand their connection and why it had to be written this way, but I would have preferred more of a focus if I’m being honest.
July 9, 2020
Thank you to the publisher for advance copy of this book via netgalley!
This book brings you on a world tour of beautiful described places. It also teaches you about some of the historical features of these places and about its mysterious sought after treasures. The storyline is an it hard to follow at first, but then with the flow of the book you get intertwined with the characters. Man...what I wouldn’t do to have the little old man caught!!
This book brings you on a world tour of beautiful described places. It also teaches you about some of the historical features of these places and about its mysterious sought after treasures. The storyline is an it hard to follow at first, but then with the flow of the book you get intertwined with the characters. Man...what I wouldn’t do to have the little old man caught!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2020
I noticed that this book doesn’t have the highest ratings, but the premise sounded so much fun, I couldn’t resist.
I wasn’t disappointed. I don’t get why this book isn’t liked more. It’s fun. I was never bored and it was the right amount of smart, quirky, and fun
I wasn’t disappointed. I don’t get why this book isn’t liked more. It’s fun. I was never bored and it was the right amount of smart, quirky, and fun
September 10, 2020
Hey book lovers! I'm here with a book review for The Finder by Will Ferguson (author of 419 and The Shoe on the Roof). I received a complimentary arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
About The Book 📚
Title: The Finder
Author: Will Ferguson
Publication Date: September 1, 2020
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Suggested Reader Age: Adult
Genre: General Fiction, Mystery, Cultural (Japan, Australia, New Zealand)
Synopsis
"From the Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning novelist of 419 comes a spellbinding literary adventure novel about precious objects lost and found.
The world is filled with wonders, lost objects—all real—all still out there, waiting to be found:
· the missing Fabergé eggs of the Romanov dynasty, worth millions
· the last reel of Alfred Hitchcock’s first film
· Buddy Holly’s iconic glasses
· Muhammad Ali’s Olympic gold medal
How can such cherished objects simply vanish? Where are they hiding? And who on earth might be compelled to uncover them?
Will Ferguson takes readers on a heroic, imaginative journey across continents, from the seas of southern Japan, to the arid Australian Outback, to the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, after the earthquake. Prepare to meet Gaddy Rhodes, a brittle Interpol agent obsessed with tracking “The Finder”—a shadowy figure she believes is collecting lost objects; Thomas Rafferty, a burnt-out travel writer whose path crosses that of The Finder, to devastating effect; and Tamsin Greene, a swaggering war photographer who is hiding secrets of her own.
The Finder is a beguiling and wildly original tale about the people, places, and things that are lost and found in our world. Both an epic literary adventure and an escape into a darkly thrilling world of deceit and its rewards, this novel asks: How far would you be willing to go to recover the things you’ve left behind?"
About The Author
Will Ferguson won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for 419. "He has won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour a record-tying three times and has been nominated for both the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize."
"Ferguson studied film production and screenwriting at York University in Toronto, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1990. He joined the Japan Exchange Teachers Programme (JET) soon after and spent five years in Asia. He married his wife Terumi in Kumamoto, Japan, in 1995. They now live in Calgary with their two sons. After coming back from Japan he experienced a reverse culture shock, which became the basis for his first book Why I Hate Canadians. With his brother, Ian Ferguson, he wrote the bestselling sequel How to be a Canadian. Ferguson details his experiences hitchhiking across Japan in Hokkaido Highway Blues (later retitled Hitching Rides with Buddha), his travels across Canada in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, and a journey through central Africa in Road Trip Rwanda. His debut novel, Happiness, was sold into 23 languages around the world. He has written for The New York Times, Esquire UK, and Canadian Geographic magazine."
https://www.willferguson.ca/
My Review
› I use the CAWPILE method to rate books.
0-3 Really bad
4-6 Mediocre
7-9 Really good
10 Outstanding
› Characters: 9
One of my favourite characters in The Finder is Catherine, a girl living on the edge of the world. Her father is brilliant but doesn't know how to raise her. She's wanting more from life and is sick of being bullied at school. After an earthquake, an injured man shows up and she nurses him back to health.
Tamsin, "the cool machine". Fearless photographer. Two men regret coming across her path in the Australian outback. There's nothing better than a bad-ass, female character.
While working for the Interpol, Gaddy Rhodes has been tracking and trying to find lost objects for ten years. She believes the person who found the Fabergé egg used that money to fund later criminal activities. After presenting all of her ideas she was removed from active duty and transferred to a desk job.
"While other cubicle denizens had photographs of children and spouses, or crayon art and World's Greatest Dad mugs, Gaddy's desk sported a large bottle of awamori with a habu coiled inside, jaw distended, fangs bared. Dragon liquor. Leaning against this formaldehyde curiosity was a folder stuffed with loose papers, marked FINDER."
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/24748694...
The Finder, the person who's been finding lost items all over the world, is a snake. Slithering around, unseen, unnoticed, taking things that doesn't belong to them.
› Atmosphere: 9
I love the descriptions. Ferguson takes us all over the world and I could picture every setting in my mind.
› Writing Style: 9
Ferguson's writing style is impeccable. Here's one part that I really liked:
"Evil travels in a straight line, you see, hates to tack right or left, hates to change course, and Hateruma's ishi-gan-to stones deflected the razor-like routes that evil followed. The island's spirit lines formed a network, blocked here, averted there, redirected this way, then that, eventually leading to the cliffs at island's edge and then into the sea, in much the same way a wild boar might be corralled. A malicious presence would thus be directed away from the village, avoiding homes and businesses..."
› Plot: 8
In the acknowledgements, Ferguson talks about which parts of The Finder are based on true events. His career has taken him to some pretty amazing places. The plot is slow and often confusing. At first, I was irritated and thought I would rate this book pretty low, but now I can see that Ferguson was perhaps purposely creating a feeling of being lost - we are after all reading about characters who are lost, looking for something - either looking for an object, looking for fame, for love, for friendship, for MORE.
› Intrigue: 7
I definitely wanted to keep reading, although I wouldn't call this a "page-turner". The cultural references were fantastic - if you wish you liked Historical Fiction more and you love mysteries/adventures, then this might be the perfect mixture of learning about our world, history, cultures within an adventurous mystery novel.
"We live on a globe, Catherine. Draw any two lines and they will eventually intersect."
› Logic: 9
I didn't notice anything illogical, however, I didn't understand The Finder's motivation - I'm sure it was explained, I just can't seem to remember their WHY.
› Enjoyment: Overall experience is an 8
Average 8.4
1.1-2.2 = ★
2.3-4.5 = ★★
4.6-6.9 = ★★★
7-8.9 = ★★★★
9-10 = ★★★★★
My Rating ★★★★
› Final Thoughts
• I had a hard time getting into The Finder, but once I was IN - I was IN. You will feel lost, maybe even confused at times, however, keep reading because it really does come together. If you like stories based on real events - then I'll think you'll like The Finder.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.
*Quotes taken from an ARC copy and subject to change*
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June 1, 2023
Rec. by: MCL; previous work
Rec. for: Seekers after the lost and forgotten
When I ran across The Finder on display at my local branch library, I wasn't even sure this was the same Will Ferguson who'd written Happiness™, a darkly funny novel that I'd read and enjoyed back in 2004. That previous work isn't mentioned anywhere on or inside The Finder, not that I could find. But yeah, it's the same guy.
He's gotten better, though—as one would hope and expect. I really liked Happiness™, but The Finder is even more complex and interesting, with plenty of moving parts, clues to look for and puzzles to solve.
Our protagonist is Interpol agent Gaddy Rhodes (her given name, we find out on p.55, is Gladys, but "honestly, who names their daughter Gladys these days?"). Gaddy works for Interpol's ICA—the International Crimes Agency. She's very good at finding criminals, but she's still not the Finder of the title.
The Finder is a unique sort of international criminal. He (Gaddy knows the Finder is male; she has a description, though it's a vague one) concentrates on finding things that have been lost (or misplaced, or stored and then forgotten) and then taking them. The glasses Buddy Holly was wearing when his plane crashed. Muhammad Ali's lost Olympic medal, awarded in 1960 when he was still Cassius Clay. One of the dozen or so Fabergé eggs whose whereabouts are unknown. The Finder is really good at unearthing such treasures.
But then, Gaddy's good at finding things (and people) too.
*
The Finder has a generally bleak view of love and marriage (more about that below), but Gaddy's exchange with her therapist is an exception:
There are a lot of quotable moments in The Finder, actually—both low humor and high drama:
That bleak view of love I mentioned shows up numerous times. This is one of the pithiest:
*
In The Finder, people spend their whole lives—and sometimes the lives of others—looking for things. Sometimes they even find them.
I suspect that you may find something worthwhile here as well.
Rec. for: Seekers after the lost and forgotten
When I ran across The Finder on display at my local branch library, I wasn't even sure this was the same Will Ferguson who'd written Happiness™, a darkly funny novel that I'd read and enjoyed back in 2004. That previous work isn't mentioned anywhere on or inside The Finder, not that I could find. But yeah, it's the same guy.
He's gotten better, though—as one would hope and expect. I really liked Happiness™, but The Finder is even more complex and interesting, with plenty of moving parts, clues to look for and puzzles to solve.
Our protagonist is Interpol agent Gaddy Rhodes (her given name, we find out on p.55, is Gladys, but "honestly, who names their daughter Gladys these days?"). Gaddy works for Interpol's ICA—the International Crimes Agency. She's very good at finding criminals, but she's still not the Finder of the title.
The Finder is a unique sort of international criminal. He (Gaddy knows the Finder is male; she has a description, though it's a vague one) concentrates on finding things that have been lost (or misplaced, or stored and then forgotten) and then taking them. The glasses Buddy Holly was wearing when his plane crashed. Muhammad Ali's lost Olympic medal, awarded in 1960 when he was still Cassius Clay. One of the dozen or so Fabergé eggs whose whereabouts are unknown. The Finder is really good at unearthing such treasures.
But then, Gaddy's good at finding things (and people) too.
*
The Finder has a generally bleak view of love and marriage (more about that below), but Gaddy's exchange with her therapist is an exception:
Even now, she tells her therapist, Syd Something-or-Other, even now, after all these years, I still believe.
In God?
In love. It was embarrassing to admit; it felt as though she were confessing to something foolish and disreputable, like being a charter member of the Flat Earth Society or a practitioner of naturopathic medicine. And perhaps she was right to be embarrassed. Gaddy would have explained more, would have told Syd about the initials on the ring and the message under the bed, but her time was up and she never went back.
—p.153
There are a lot of quotable moments in The Finder, actually—both low humor and high drama:
Rafferty stumbled into her arms, groping for something: salvation perhaps; breasts, more likely.Thomas Rafferty, whom we meet later in the book, is a travel writer. Rafferty's involvement with Agent Rhodes' investigation becomes significant after he gets caught in Christchurch, New Zealand, during the earthquake there in 2011.
—p.173
"Well," he said, "I haven't given up yet, kiddo. I'm still workin' toward my lifelong dream."
"Which is?"
"To be a child prodigy."
—pp.177-178
Everyone is always thinking of moving to New Zealand. It's one of the most hypothetical nations on earth, second only to Ireland.
—p.182
{...}no one gave a damn about the author in the room. Why should they? Anything interesting about a writer is left on the page, and who has time to read these days, anyway?
—p.281
That bleak view of love I mentioned shows up numerous times. This is one of the pithiest:
One always falls in love over trivial matters. It's why love so rarely lasts.
—p.289
*
In The Finder, people spend their whole lives—and sometimes the lives of others—looking for things. Sometimes they even find them.
I suspect that you may find something worthwhile here as well.
September 3, 2020
The premise behind this book is so fascinating--someone collecting lost objects such as Buddy Holly's glasses, Faberge eggs, and other items. Gaddy is trying to find the person behind this and the items, and along with other characters we weave back and forth all over the world.
I loved the travel aspects of the book and the core mystery, those parts kept me reading when I felt like giving up. But overall, while those features were ultimately satisfying, I didn't like the rest as well and felt like the rest was convoluted and some of the side storylines weren't at all necessary for the plot. This almost could have been separate books there was so much going on.
Bottom line: too much wandering in the narrative and not enough focus. If you like literary novels with a hint of mystery, this might appeal if you can stick with it.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
I loved the travel aspects of the book and the core mystery, those parts kept me reading when I felt like giving up. But overall, while those features were ultimately satisfying, I didn't like the rest as well and felt like the rest was convoluted and some of the side storylines weren't at all necessary for the plot. This almost could have been separate books there was so much going on.
Bottom line: too much wandering in the narrative and not enough focus. If you like literary novels with a hint of mystery, this might appeal if you can stick with it.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
June 30, 2020
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
In a way, The Finder combines Will Ferguson’s two main writing genres—novels and travelogues. It ranges from Belfast to Japan to New York to New Zealand and Australia, following a few main characters and many others along the way.
As the title suggests, the main character is the one referred to as The Finder—a character who searches the world for lost treasures. be they famous and valuable, or simply valuable to an individual but who is he really? He seems to have an ability to blend into the background while still showing up at all the times of disaster, natural or man made because this is a time of distraction, allowing him to pick up the items he is looking for.
Agent Rhodes of Interpol certainly has her ideas on the Finder’s identity. She has chased him for years and when she encounters an apparent suicide with his face obliterated and a suicide note in the firm of a diary (that includes shots at her) on Hateruma Island in Japan, she is convinced it is mocking her. But when she brings out the extent of her theories, she is quietly reassigned to desk duty in New York. But even there she continues her search for him while lamenting her own lost thing—a wedding ring that was lost on her honeymoon—was that an omen that foretold how that marriage would end?
Interspersed with the main characters are a group of travel writers and journalists who arrive in Christchurch New Zealand just in time for the major earthquake. Included in this group is Tom Rafferty, who is also searching for something of value to him. Rafferty is a veteran among the travel writers whose tag line seems to be A Land of Contrasts.
The Finder is also in certain ways a study in contrasts. The main character grew up poor, but he is able to jet in and out of places quickly and almost unseen. He has no problem disposing of people who get in his way and yet he can show kindness to certain individuals who attract his attention. There are many side stories but essentially there is a strong narrative running through and things tie up in a satisfying conclusion.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. Thank you.
In a way, The Finder combines Will Ferguson’s two main writing genres—novels and travelogues. It ranges from Belfast to Japan to New York to New Zealand and Australia, following a few main characters and many others along the way.
As the title suggests, the main character is the one referred to as The Finder—a character who searches the world for lost treasures. be they famous and valuable, or simply valuable to an individual but who is he really? He seems to have an ability to blend into the background while still showing up at all the times of disaster, natural or man made because this is a time of distraction, allowing him to pick up the items he is looking for.
Agent Rhodes of Interpol certainly has her ideas on the Finder’s identity. She has chased him for years and when she encounters an apparent suicide with his face obliterated and a suicide note in the firm of a diary (that includes shots at her) on Hateruma Island in Japan, she is convinced it is mocking her. But when she brings out the extent of her theories, she is quietly reassigned to desk duty in New York. But even there she continues her search for him while lamenting her own lost thing—a wedding ring that was lost on her honeymoon—was that an omen that foretold how that marriage would end?
Interspersed with the main characters are a group of travel writers and journalists who arrive in Christchurch New Zealand just in time for the major earthquake. Included in this group is Tom Rafferty, who is also searching for something of value to him. Rafferty is a veteran among the travel writers whose tag line seems to be A Land of Contrasts.
The Finder is also in certain ways a study in contrasts. The main character grew up poor, but he is able to jet in and out of places quickly and almost unseen. He has no problem disposing of people who get in his way and yet he can show kindness to certain individuals who attract his attention. There are many side stories but essentially there is a strong narrative running through and things tie up in a satisfying conclusion.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. Thank you.
June 23, 2020
The Finder is the perfect read when you are on a staycation. Readers will escape into the travel adventures and mysteries of lost objects from New Zealand to Japan. The delicate threads of the hunt for them made this like I was reading a non-fiction book! I have lost precious things before. I am not sure I would go as far as Agent Rhodes.
I don’t think I have read anything like The Finder! One thing I love about Will’s books is that you are always guaranteed a great adventure!
I don’t think I have read anything like The Finder! One thing I love about Will’s books is that you are always guaranteed a great adventure!
November 28, 2020
Just about everything you want in a good book. The End.
July 24, 2020
I got a free advance copy of this book from Net Galley ... and my tough lesson for the day is that "not everything that is free is good... including books". I have read this author, and while I didn't rave about those books, they didn't profoundly disappoint me like this one. An interesting premise falls apart because of a meandering and aimless plot that jumps all over the place, and either makes no sense or is too "high-brow" for my reading tastes. I didn't gravitate to any of the characters; forgetting what they did from one section to another and, at time even forgetting who they were and why they were even in the story. Maybe there is a higher literary purpose or "plane" for this book.... if there is, it's way too over my head. A very solid "skip this one, even it it's free", recommendation here.
December 19, 2020
I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to love this. The blurb sounded so interesting. I love the idea of finding lost pieces of history, and I enjoy a story with separate parts that all come together in the end. Sounds ideal, right?
And I guess for some it was, but for me, it just didn't work. There was something in the writing, a try-hard-ness, like it wanted to be read by a certain set, you know the one, the painfully cool and clever? It was quirky. It was gritty. It was cute. It was too much for me. It felt like every line had to stand out, kind of like in a newspaper article, how a section of text gets pulled out and bolded for effect? It was like the author wanted every line to be a possible pull quote. Which was both entertaining and tiresome in equal measure. There were some genuinely fantastic lines, and some that made me snort-laugh, but taken all together, it was a bit too intense.
Also, pretty much every character was unlikable. Catherine the shepherdess and, maybe, poor, long-suffering Det. Shimada being the notable exceptions. It made it hard to get invested, honestly, when you're ambivalent about whether anyone lives or dies or gets brought to justice.
The other thing. Those intersecting storyline do come together, but in a very anticlimactic way.
Ok, but having said all that, it was still an entertaining read. It did hook me. I did want to know what was happening and why and how it would all end. Unfortunately, I never did find out why, and the what and how weren't all that satisfying, either. Credit, though, for creativity, and for some clever wordsmithing. I'll never look at a cat's tail the same way again.
I wanted to love this. The blurb sounded so interesting. I love the idea of finding lost pieces of history, and I enjoy a story with separate parts that all come together in the end. Sounds ideal, right?
And I guess for some it was, but for me, it just didn't work. There was something in the writing, a try-hard-ness, like it wanted to be read by a certain set, you know the one, the painfully cool and clever? It was quirky. It was gritty. It was cute. It was too much for me. It felt like every line had to stand out, kind of like in a newspaper article, how a section of text gets pulled out and bolded for effect? It was like the author wanted every line to be a possible pull quote. Which was both entertaining and tiresome in equal measure. There were some genuinely fantastic lines, and some that made me snort-laugh, but taken all together, it was a bit too intense.
Also, pretty much every character was unlikable. Catherine the shepherdess and, maybe, poor, long-suffering Det. Shimada being the notable exceptions. It made it hard to get invested, honestly, when you're ambivalent about whether anyone lives or dies or gets brought to justice.
The other thing. Those intersecting storyline do come together, but in a very anticlimactic way.
Ok, but having said all that, it was still an entertaining read. It did hook me. I did want to know what was happening and why and how it would all end. Unfortunately, I never did find out why, and the what and how weren't all that satisfying, either. Credit, though, for creativity, and for some clever wordsmithing. I'll never look at a cat's tail the same way again.
August 31, 2020
Ok. So you're in a gift shop and see a beautiful souvenir. But you have really no idea what the item is or what it does.
This is how I felt about The Finder.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for my advance copy for review.
This is the fourth book I've read of Canadian author Will Ferguson, the previous being 419, Hitching Rides With Buddha and How To Be A Canadian. It's evident he is a gifted, intelligent writer.
Maybe I wasn't smart enough for this book? I just couldn't wrap my head around what it was about.
The book started off as the description promised, then launched off in all directions. There are a lot of characters and even more locations.
It's a lofty, ambitious novel but I couldn't find the plot's focus. The rare occasions actually dealing with the stated plot were quite interesting - the search for famous missing objects from various times in history - but got lost in other details.
For release on Sept. 1, 2020.
This is how I felt about The Finder.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for my advance copy for review.
This is the fourth book I've read of Canadian author Will Ferguson, the previous being 419, Hitching Rides With Buddha and How To Be A Canadian. It's evident he is a gifted, intelligent writer.
Maybe I wasn't smart enough for this book? I just couldn't wrap my head around what it was about.
The book started off as the description promised, then launched off in all directions. There are a lot of characters and even more locations.
It's a lofty, ambitious novel but I couldn't find the plot's focus. The rare occasions actually dealing with the stated plot were quite interesting - the search for famous missing objects from various times in history - but got lost in other details.
For release on Sept. 1, 2020.
June 29, 2020
Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The first part of the novel was so captivating! It had all the right elements of great suspense. Will Ferguson, who is a former travel writer, brilliantly captured the essence of the culture and people that is uniquely Okinawa. I was especially drawn to the story of Detective Shimada. Unfortunately, the story then took a drastic turn to focus on the personal stories of the main characters Thomas Rafferty, Gaddy Rhoedes, Catherine, and Tamsin Greene. The author went on in length to describe these characters, the scenery and cultural background of where they were. and their experiences and struggles. So much so that it felt totally disconnected with the first part of the story. I did not particularly enjoy any of the stories of the main characters and found myself skimming through the pages. Even when all the stories came together at the end, it felt forced and bland.
Overall it is an interesting read, but don't be fooled by the suspenseful setup of the first part of the novel ;)
The first part of the novel was so captivating! It had all the right elements of great suspense. Will Ferguson, who is a former travel writer, brilliantly captured the essence of the culture and people that is uniquely Okinawa. I was especially drawn to the story of Detective Shimada. Unfortunately, the story then took a drastic turn to focus on the personal stories of the main characters Thomas Rafferty, Gaddy Rhoedes, Catherine, and Tamsin Greene. The author went on in length to describe these characters, the scenery and cultural background of where they were. and their experiences and struggles. So much so that it felt totally disconnected with the first part of the story. I did not particularly enjoy any of the stories of the main characters and found myself skimming through the pages. Even when all the stories came together at the end, it felt forced and bland.
Overall it is an interesting read, but don't be fooled by the suspenseful setup of the first part of the novel ;)
September 9, 2020
The Finder is an extremely well written literary mystery about people and objects that are lost and found and Ferguson weaves these into an adventure across several continents. While this is a book I would recommend to people and I think there are a number of great things about it, it was just not for me. I kept waiting for the characters and the places to really sink their teeth into me and unfortunately it just never happened. Maybe I just wasn't in the right head space but I ended up not finishing this due to a loss of interest. Oh well, I will still try other Will Ferguson books in the future since I have read, and really enjoyed, his previous novel Happiness.
ARC Provided by NetGalley
ARC Provided by NetGalley
October 6, 2020
This is my first book by Will Ferguson and I would definitely try another one. His writing is wonderful and there were so many lines that made me pause. Such good writing! However, I did not love this book. It weaves its way around the world, with the central linchpin of a mysterious man who finds objects and will stop at nothing to do his work. We begin in Japan and then move between various characters, including an Interpol agent, a travel writer, and a travel photographer. There is a lot to love (little Catherine in Erowhon; Tamsin Greene, the travel photographer; Police Inspector Shimada and his interest in the young widow on Hateruma). But there are a lot of characters to keep track of and it is tough to know where the story is going, so the story never really came together for me.
Thanks to the author, NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to the author, NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
February 22, 2024
No character in a Will Ferguson book is too minor for a fully fleshed out story unto themselves. Each character believes that they are the main character. With this the story line is easily glazed into a delicate desert.
August 15, 2020
A well-done historical fiction of a remote island in Japan that suffered from the attack on Pearl Harbor....or so I thought. Then it changed to New Zealand and Australia. We all want to find that ‘lost’ thing, and realize some have great value, only because they are lost. The book felt choppy...or maybe I am distracted as I read it, but it doesn’t flow. One thing for sure, I was hooked and wanted to read on... but in the end, I’m feeling somewhat lost in the whole experience. That said, Ferguson is a great wordsmith. As this is an ARC, I can’t take quotes...but there are some great visualizations. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
August 17, 2020
Will Ferguson's words are delectable.
Read the full review from The Page Walker.
Read the full review from The Page Walker.
August 10, 2020
A terrific story, whirlwind travel all over the globe and mysterious, secretive characters all combine to make this witty book a pleasure to read. Untangling the knotty relationships and how they eventually weave together again was fun and a little challenging. The locations were beautifully described (as expected from Will Ferguson, who has also been a travel writer) and the characters are multi-faceted and interesting.
August 2, 2020
The Finder is both an adventure and mystery. Weaving together the tales of three characters--Detective Rhodes, journalist Thomas Rafferty, and war photographer Tamsin Greene--The Finder tells the story of lost objects and lost souls, and the importance of being found. Intriguing places. Intriguing objects. Stories within stories within stories.
Written with a breadth and depth of knowledge of person, place and thing, Ferguson's writing places the reader in time and place. One can taste the dust and grit of an earthquake's wake, feel the wind off the cliffs and smell the wool of a wet sheep, the ache in the legs after an arduous bike ride, and bake in the heat of a hotel room in need of air conditioning.
The Finder will leave the reader both satisfied and asking, 'what might I have left uncovered on these pages?...'
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced reader copy!
Written with a breadth and depth of knowledge of person, place and thing, Ferguson's writing places the reader in time and place. One can taste the dust and grit of an earthquake's wake, feel the wind off the cliffs and smell the wool of a wet sheep, the ache in the legs after an arduous bike ride, and bake in the heat of a hotel room in need of air conditioning.
The Finder will leave the reader both satisfied and asking, 'what might I have left uncovered on these pages?...'
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced reader copy!
July 27, 2020
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this book. Interesting characters. Mystery, travelogue and social commentary. Worthwhile and recommended.
July 4, 2020
I received this book from Net Galley and Simon and Shuster in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for that.
I have read most of Will Ferguson's books and enjoyed them all. The Finder was no exception. I don't find that Will Ferguson writes novels as much as he crafts them. The writing is very precise and the dialogue is electric. I had to stop several times in order to absorb the humor.... so funny. I highlighted many of these passages to go back and enjoy.
The novel is written around a rather nasty fellow who goes around the world looking for items that are long forgotten or not missed by many people. The interface with others is subtle at times and very aggressive in other places. Tom Rafftery, a Hemingway type character, is the most entertaining part of the book. His comments and behavior are irreverent and very humerus.
My one criticism of this book is that I found it confusing at times. There were several parallel story lines going on and it seemed to stumble a bit to me. Other then this, I loved the book.
I have read most of Will Ferguson's books and enjoyed them all. The Finder was no exception. I don't find that Will Ferguson writes novels as much as he crafts them. The writing is very precise and the dialogue is electric. I had to stop several times in order to absorb the humor.... so funny. I highlighted many of these passages to go back and enjoy.
The novel is written around a rather nasty fellow who goes around the world looking for items that are long forgotten or not missed by many people. The interface with others is subtle at times and very aggressive in other places. Tom Rafftery, a Hemingway type character, is the most entertaining part of the book. His comments and behavior are irreverent and very humerus.
My one criticism of this book is that I found it confusing at times. There were several parallel story lines going on and it seemed to stumble a bit to me. Other then this, I loved the book.
March 7, 2023
A whirlwind mystery and travelogue of sorts, full of exotic locations and characters that weave the various stories and locales together. Each setting and cast of characters, some tragic, unforgettably portrayed and told in a uniquely poetic language.
The small man, mysterious, dangerous, and his existence uncertain, The Finder, a weaver of historical information and finder of lost items.
I enjoyed the author's use of language and the flow of the story. A few times I notated a sentence, thinking, I need to remember that.
Early in the story on the island on the edge of Japan, I was enraptured by the character, a local police officer. I was disappointed when the story moved so quickly to other locales with other characters. I hung in there and really enjoyed the story.
Pleasantly surprised by each book I have read so far: 419, The Shoe on the Roof. When Michael Crichton put our a new book, I would wonder, why do I care about this story. Will Ferguson, I look forward to your books in the same way!
The small man, mysterious, dangerous, and his existence uncertain, The Finder, a weaver of historical information and finder of lost items.
I enjoyed the author's use of language and the flow of the story. A few times I notated a sentence, thinking, I need to remember that.
Early in the story on the island on the edge of Japan, I was enraptured by the character, a local police officer. I was disappointed when the story moved so quickly to other locales with other characters. I hung in there and really enjoyed the story.
Pleasantly surprised by each book I have read so far: 419, The Shoe on the Roof. When Michael Crichton put our a new book, I would wonder, why do I care about this story. Will Ferguson, I look forward to your books in the same way!
June 9, 2022
Since I am a fan of Will Ferguson's, I picked this up having no idea what it was about.
I really like Ferguson's writing, especially dialogue. He is able to infuse humour in a turn of phrase or subtle interaction between characters. This isn't a laugh-out-loud book by any means, but it did have me smiling from time to time.
This is a sprawling book - covering lots of geographical areas and involving lots of people. The finder is an elusive character who does just as the name suggests - he finds artifacts and sells them to whoever buys them or who has contracted him to find them. He has a forgettable face and is being pursued by an Interpol agent, even when that agent is demoted to an office position. The finder gets in and out of places mysteriously easily.
This then is a cat-and-mouse story, intersecting with a number of people along the way.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I really like Ferguson's writing, especially dialogue. He is able to infuse humour in a turn of phrase or subtle interaction between characters. This isn't a laugh-out-loud book by any means, but it did have me smiling from time to time.
This is a sprawling book - covering lots of geographical areas and involving lots of people. The finder is an elusive character who does just as the name suggests - he finds artifacts and sells them to whoever buys them or who has contracted him to find them. He has a forgettable face and is being pursued by an Interpol agent, even when that agent is demoted to an office position. The finder gets in and out of places mysteriously easily.
This then is a cat-and-mouse story, intersecting with a number of people along the way.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
March 13, 2021
Found a big difference between cover description and actual story. Be prepared.
Discovering “The Finder” by Will Ferguson, was for me a bit of an accident and not quite the thrilling treasure hunt I was hoping for. I personally would give it a 6 out of 10. Investing 390 pages worth of attention, I was hoping for more of what the cover promised: I got enough for the time I put in but not enough of treasure hunting for lost objects with odd characters, but instead, more varied beads of scenes strung not quite tight enough together to become a thriller or truly colourful enough for full-on satire.
A quote tagged to the book citing “…wit abounds in this exuberant, entertaining, and unconventional novel” feels overstated. The writing is unconventional (grammar geeks shield your eyes) and the wit brings a few chuckles (most for fans of sarcastic hipster-esque irony), but I came away less with a feeling of exuberance than of being slightly worn out by manic stream-of-consciousness descriptions in place of story action. It is never really out of our real-world and gets bogged down in too much of the reality, maybe forgetting there is a fiction that also needed to be fleshed out. Some may also need a motion-sickness-aid due to flashing forwards or backwards or focusing too close on the detail writing when the train of thought suddenly shifts sideways from one track to another.
Purists who demand “SHOW. DON’T TELL.” need not even apply. The strong (unattributed) narrator voice throughout feels like a travelogue announcer describing, in great and glorious detail, the sites and the sights and then eventually breaking into big foreshadowing hints…or just pre-summing up the end(?) of a narrative thread…instead of letting the novel’s truly interesting characters play them out.
As a work of fiction, all the effort in describing the scenic itinerary may be wasted (since you do not know what you might trust to be real). The manic dissolving of the story in and out of scenes where the writing breaks down into fragments or single punctuated words can feel a little unfinished.
My biggest personal reward came AFTER finishing the book and solving a different mystery by reading the “Notes from the Author”, “Acknowledgements” and also the author’s official website bio.
I had a sense of “The Finder” as being written more as a screenplay by a travel writer than as a plotted or character driven thriller novel about a travel writer. It could even be just a series of test pieces to see which of his characters could support an actual feature film role. My finding out that the author is a seasoned travel writer himself, with a degree in film production and screenwriting, was more of an “Ah-ha!” moment than the climaxing action found near the end of this book.
Scenes are written like scripts but without all the technical script headings, broken into bits of phrases, even down to just individual keywords for motivation, direction or colour. The author has a very strong, distinctive voice but is maybe showing too much of the man-behind-the-curtain.
“It had indeed been advertised as Artist & Author, painter and wordsmith, but no one gave a damn about the writer in the room. Why should they? Anything interesting about a writer is left on the page, and who has time to read these days, anyway?” p.281, fictional travel writer Tom Rafferty thinking at a promo event…a backstory scene for a character central to a novel that could be backstory to film characters…scripted by a real travel writer with a film studies background. If the non-fictional travel writer could have backed off some we could have spent more time (pages) with the fictional characters…or less time getting to the point.
I went looking for a book about ‘The Finder’ as a character from the Fox TV crime drama “Bones”. That version of The Finder was also a short lived spin-off TV series but with characters interesting enough that I was looking for their book backstory. Will Ferguson’s “The Finder” is NOT related to the Fox TV Finder I was seeking (actually needed “The Locator” books by Richard Greener) but the premise and character descriptions are close enough to be cousins.
As an accidental reader I still offer 6 out of 10, holding back the other 4 points due to feeling a little unsatisfied and overworked for the amount of story I found. This book needs to be found again and made into a big screen movie to realize its full worth. Jeremy Renner would make a great Tom Rafferty. Will Ferguson could play himself and continue to narrate. Cheers!
Discovering “The Finder” by Will Ferguson, was for me a bit of an accident and not quite the thrilling treasure hunt I was hoping for. I personally would give it a 6 out of 10. Investing 390 pages worth of attention, I was hoping for more of what the cover promised: I got enough for the time I put in but not enough of treasure hunting for lost objects with odd characters, but instead, more varied beads of scenes strung not quite tight enough together to become a thriller or truly colourful enough for full-on satire.
A quote tagged to the book citing “…wit abounds in this exuberant, entertaining, and unconventional novel” feels overstated. The writing is unconventional (grammar geeks shield your eyes) and the wit brings a few chuckles (most for fans of sarcastic hipster-esque irony), but I came away less with a feeling of exuberance than of being slightly worn out by manic stream-of-consciousness descriptions in place of story action. It is never really out of our real-world and gets bogged down in too much of the reality, maybe forgetting there is a fiction that also needed to be fleshed out. Some may also need a motion-sickness-aid due to flashing forwards or backwards or focusing too close on the detail writing when the train of thought suddenly shifts sideways from one track to another.
Purists who demand “SHOW. DON’T TELL.” need not even apply. The strong (unattributed) narrator voice throughout feels like a travelogue announcer describing, in great and glorious detail, the sites and the sights and then eventually breaking into big foreshadowing hints…or just pre-summing up the end(?) of a narrative thread…instead of letting the novel’s truly interesting characters play them out.
As a work of fiction, all the effort in describing the scenic itinerary may be wasted (since you do not know what you might trust to be real). The manic dissolving of the story in and out of scenes where the writing breaks down into fragments or single punctuated words can feel a little unfinished.
My biggest personal reward came AFTER finishing the book and solving a different mystery by reading the “Notes from the Author”, “Acknowledgements” and also the author’s official website bio.
I had a sense of “The Finder” as being written more as a screenplay by a travel writer than as a plotted or character driven thriller novel about a travel writer. It could even be just a series of test pieces to see which of his characters could support an actual feature film role. My finding out that the author is a seasoned travel writer himself, with a degree in film production and screenwriting, was more of an “Ah-ha!” moment than the climaxing action found near the end of this book.
Scenes are written like scripts but without all the technical script headings, broken into bits of phrases, even down to just individual keywords for motivation, direction or colour. The author has a very strong, distinctive voice but is maybe showing too much of the man-behind-the-curtain.
“It had indeed been advertised as Artist & Author, painter and wordsmith, but no one gave a damn about the writer in the room. Why should they? Anything interesting about a writer is left on the page, and who has time to read these days, anyway?” p.281, fictional travel writer Tom Rafferty thinking at a promo event…a backstory scene for a character central to a novel that could be backstory to film characters…scripted by a real travel writer with a film studies background. If the non-fictional travel writer could have backed off some we could have spent more time (pages) with the fictional characters…or less time getting to the point.
I went looking for a book about ‘The Finder’ as a character from the Fox TV crime drama “Bones”. That version of The Finder was also a short lived spin-off TV series but with characters interesting enough that I was looking for their book backstory. Will Ferguson’s “The Finder” is NOT related to the Fox TV Finder I was seeking (actually needed “The Locator” books by Richard Greener) but the premise and character descriptions are close enough to be cousins.
As an accidental reader I still offer 6 out of 10, holding back the other 4 points due to feeling a little unsatisfied and overworked for the amount of story I found. This book needs to be found again and made into a big screen movie to realize its full worth. Jeremy Renner would make a great Tom Rafferty. Will Ferguson could play himself and continue to narrate. Cheers!
January 4, 2022
For readers who loved the brilliant storytelling (and were not overly flummoxed by linked narratives within the over-arching framework of a novel as a structural element) of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, Anthony Doerr's Cloud Cuckoo Land and Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half, this intriguing, frightening, deadpan funny and wonderfully written novel will be another rare treat awaiting.
Will Ferguson's main character is Thomas Rafferty, a travel journalist who is, as another character aptly discerned, 'broken'. Broken in body with a debilitating back condition, broken in spirit with cynicism, the horrors of Rwanda in the 1990's and self-medicating alcohol wiping out his early promise as a great writer, up there with the greats like Gellhorn, Theroux and Chatwin. Broken too, is his mind, or at least his current literary output, reduced to hack cliches for trade magazines which of course, Ferguson turns into a running gag. "Land of Contrasts" is his famous phrase and it is appended to every title or inserted slyly into every article he's written in the past dozen years. Fellow scribes keep track of them, to be dusted off and flourished in barroom repartee around the world. Rafferty is chasing his ex-wife, an ethnologist collecting stories from indigenous people worldwide, for a letter he wrote her, which she refuses to return. (Ferguson has written many travel articles and books about travel during the past twenty-five years and he is quite gleeful about warning readers to beware of book launches and other literary horrors while in his fictitious mode.)
Another stellar character is Tamsin Greene, disaster photographer to some, chaser of Light to herself, and all-round tough cookie. She is also one of Rafferty's few friends worth the title and an occasional lover, as befits two lonely souls who share this demanding life on the road and in the air, sent off to cover and document stories, like the earthquake in New Zealand in 2011 or to invent them.
Every character is memorable, from the obsessive American Interpol agent on the trail of an art and antiquities thief (quite the psychopath, this character, one of Ferguson's most chilling creations ever), to the dutiful, decent Japanese policeman, in fact, the only policeman, on the most southerly inhabited island of Japan, or a sad, bullied school girl in New Zealand who has a heavy burden to bear at home as well, yet she remains kind and good-hearted. We are taken from a sparsely populated, except for the poisonous habu snakes, island in southern Japan to bucolic art deco Napier to the rubble of Christchurch of New Zealand to Rwanda's horrific ethnic slaughter of the early 1990's, to Alice Springs in Australia. Along the way we learn about why some spirits are broken and why some others stay resilient. We also -fine arts history nerds rejoice- learn a lot about what creates value in artifacts and the dark world of secretive collectors, about how the simple act of being lost can create a ludicrous amount of financial value if the item is retrieved and billionaire collectors want whatever it is. (They want to buy the story behind it most of all making truth of the truism: The world is not full of atoms. It is full of stories.)
It may bolster some readers to read the Acknowledgements at the back of the book first as that will reveal clues based on painstaking research amid the Lost & Found department of this old/ new world. As for me, having read all of Ferguson's books, fiction and non-fiction, humour and travel, I am always grateful for any genre, any new book because I know it will be full of surprises, wisdom and laugh out loud humour. I'm never disappointed!
Will Ferguson's main character is Thomas Rafferty, a travel journalist who is, as another character aptly discerned, 'broken'. Broken in body with a debilitating back condition, broken in spirit with cynicism, the horrors of Rwanda in the 1990's and self-medicating alcohol wiping out his early promise as a great writer, up there with the greats like Gellhorn, Theroux and Chatwin. Broken too, is his mind, or at least his current literary output, reduced to hack cliches for trade magazines which of course, Ferguson turns into a running gag. "Land of Contrasts" is his famous phrase and it is appended to every title or inserted slyly into every article he's written in the past dozen years. Fellow scribes keep track of them, to be dusted off and flourished in barroom repartee around the world. Rafferty is chasing his ex-wife, an ethnologist collecting stories from indigenous people worldwide, for a letter he wrote her, which she refuses to return. (Ferguson has written many travel articles and books about travel during the past twenty-five years and he is quite gleeful about warning readers to beware of book launches and other literary horrors while in his fictitious mode.)
Another stellar character is Tamsin Greene, disaster photographer to some, chaser of Light to herself, and all-round tough cookie. She is also one of Rafferty's few friends worth the title and an occasional lover, as befits two lonely souls who share this demanding life on the road and in the air, sent off to cover and document stories, like the earthquake in New Zealand in 2011 or to invent them.
Every character is memorable, from the obsessive American Interpol agent on the trail of an art and antiquities thief (quite the psychopath, this character, one of Ferguson's most chilling creations ever), to the dutiful, decent Japanese policeman, in fact, the only policeman, on the most southerly inhabited island of Japan, or a sad, bullied school girl in New Zealand who has a heavy burden to bear at home as well, yet she remains kind and good-hearted. We are taken from a sparsely populated, except for the poisonous habu snakes, island in southern Japan to bucolic art deco Napier to the rubble of Christchurch of New Zealand to Rwanda's horrific ethnic slaughter of the early 1990's, to Alice Springs in Australia. Along the way we learn about why some spirits are broken and why some others stay resilient. We also -fine arts history nerds rejoice- learn a lot about what creates value in artifacts and the dark world of secretive collectors, about how the simple act of being lost can create a ludicrous amount of financial value if the item is retrieved and billionaire collectors want whatever it is. (They want to buy the story behind it most of all making truth of the truism: The world is not full of atoms. It is full of stories.)
It may bolster some readers to read the Acknowledgements at the back of the book first as that will reveal clues based on painstaking research amid the Lost & Found department of this old/ new world. As for me, having read all of Ferguson's books, fiction and non-fiction, humour and travel, I am always grateful for any genre, any new book because I know it will be full of surprises, wisdom and laugh out loud humour. I'm never disappointed!
September 4, 2020
The Finder-A Novel of Contrasts!
Little is known about The Finder in Will Ferguson’s latest novel of the same title. He lets himself pass as Billy Moore at one point, an ordinary Irish name for a smallish man of indistinguishable features whose appears in the universal attire of a suit. Despite his mundane appearance, he has made a remarkable living at recovering things that are, as his Belfast mum insisted, “not lost, only misplaced.”
A self-made and intriguing career, one in which he is told by his shadowy boss (or himself, it’s not clear, he’s something of an ureliable narrator) “You will make a lot of money and you will disappear.” However, in the pursuit of the such various objects as dog tags and a one-cent magenta stamp, The Finder was compelled to deal summarily with those who intended to cross him.
His murders put him on the radar of a pitbull in the form of an anemic blonde, Gaddy Rhodes. A senior investigator with Interpol’s International Crimes Agency, the ICA, she tracks him down to Okinawa Island in Japan. Within miles and minutes of capturing him, he eludes her, leaving behind his body and suicide note. Her superiors believe that it is a suicide; she doesn’t. Her banshee protestations land her a desk job.
But even as she subsides under a mound of paper in London, Ferguson populated the story with other peculiarly disparate characters, all misplaced in one way or another, all who get caught in the threadings of The Finder who is presently on the hunt for a Hitchcock reel. (By the way, readers, turn to the Acknowledgements first. Ferguson has turned his novel into a landscape for lost Hitchcock titles which he only divulges after the story is done. Grrr.) There’s Thomas Rafferty, a travel writer determined to maintain his mediocrity, plagued by memories of a failed marriage and the horrors of Rwanda, the latter of which he shares with photojournalist, Tasmin Greene, who has forgotten who she is until she meets herself again out past Uluru in Australia. Catherine Anne Butler has the privilege of meeting The Finder during his period of weakness following the earthquake at Christchurch in New Zealand. Earthquakes kill and unearth, simultaneously. She is the dutiful daughter of her Fayther who is determined to breed a line of bolder sheep in the hills above Christchurch, New Zealand on a farm called Erewhon (Nowhere spelled incorrectly backwards). The comedic pretext sets the stage for the most tender relationship in the novel in which both reveal their vulnerabilities. The Finder’s ultimate gift to Catherine is an act of thievery, and to Thomas Rafferty, an act of deception. Even to Gabby Rhodes, he delivers a gift she’d thought lost forever through illegal means. And therein lies his cunning and Ferguson’s. Could we forgive a murderer if in taking the lives of others, he also gave us back our own misplaced lives?
Ferguson boings the reader through disparate locales in Rwanda, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, all of which he claims to have visited during his stint as a travel writer. It shows. There’s a quality of detail—the dust of the outback, the blood of Rwanda, the orderliness of Hateruma Island—that makes Ferguson’s latest a novel not to be missed.
Little is known about The Finder in Will Ferguson’s latest novel of the same title. He lets himself pass as Billy Moore at one point, an ordinary Irish name for a smallish man of indistinguishable features whose appears in the universal attire of a suit. Despite his mundane appearance, he has made a remarkable living at recovering things that are, as his Belfast mum insisted, “not lost, only misplaced.”
A self-made and intriguing career, one in which he is told by his shadowy boss (or himself, it’s not clear, he’s something of an ureliable narrator) “You will make a lot of money and you will disappear.” However, in the pursuit of the such various objects as dog tags and a one-cent magenta stamp, The Finder was compelled to deal summarily with those who intended to cross him.
His murders put him on the radar of a pitbull in the form of an anemic blonde, Gaddy Rhodes. A senior investigator with Interpol’s International Crimes Agency, the ICA, she tracks him down to Okinawa Island in Japan. Within miles and minutes of capturing him, he eludes her, leaving behind his body and suicide note. Her superiors believe that it is a suicide; she doesn’t. Her banshee protestations land her a desk job.
But even as she subsides under a mound of paper in London, Ferguson populated the story with other peculiarly disparate characters, all misplaced in one way or another, all who get caught in the threadings of The Finder who is presently on the hunt for a Hitchcock reel. (By the way, readers, turn to the Acknowledgements first. Ferguson has turned his novel into a landscape for lost Hitchcock titles which he only divulges after the story is done. Grrr.) There’s Thomas Rafferty, a travel writer determined to maintain his mediocrity, plagued by memories of a failed marriage and the horrors of Rwanda, the latter of which he shares with photojournalist, Tasmin Greene, who has forgotten who she is until she meets herself again out past Uluru in Australia. Catherine Anne Butler has the privilege of meeting The Finder during his period of weakness following the earthquake at Christchurch in New Zealand. Earthquakes kill and unearth, simultaneously. She is the dutiful daughter of her Fayther who is determined to breed a line of bolder sheep in the hills above Christchurch, New Zealand on a farm called Erewhon (Nowhere spelled incorrectly backwards). The comedic pretext sets the stage for the most tender relationship in the novel in which both reveal their vulnerabilities. The Finder’s ultimate gift to Catherine is an act of thievery, and to Thomas Rafferty, an act of deception. Even to Gabby Rhodes, he delivers a gift she’d thought lost forever through illegal means. And therein lies his cunning and Ferguson’s. Could we forgive a murderer if in taking the lives of others, he also gave us back our own misplaced lives?
Ferguson boings the reader through disparate locales in Rwanda, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, all of which he claims to have visited during his stint as a travel writer. It shows. There’s a quality of detail—the dust of the outback, the blood of Rwanda, the orderliness of Hateruma Island—that makes Ferguson’s latest a novel not to be missed.
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