Company Man Mass Market Paperback – March 7, 2006

The Company Man was another thriller by Joseph Finder, my new guilty pleasure author. His novels are pure entertainment! The premise of this was that Nick was a CEO of a large company with prominent past, who was hated by the thousands of people in his small town after the company laid them off. Nick was being threatened at his home, but the police weren't much help since they too disliked Nick. When Nick finally took matters into his own hands, he ended up in a situation that threatened to destroy his entire life. While Nick tried to keep secrets from the police and cover up a crime, he simultaneously discovered that several high level employees were attempting to sabotage the company.That story line was a little lengthy for the quick conclusion it received. Because I liked Nick from the beginning, I wanted him to get away with, well, just about anything. I think that is a skill of a good author: the ability to create a character that the reader roots for regardless of whether the character's actions are in line with society's morals and our legal system. That twist made the book fun to read.Still other subplots went on and on even though I felt they were unnecessary to the overall plot. Audrey, the detective who was out to get Nick, led this horrible life, but the plot just went nowhere. I felt like her story took too much time and should have been cut significantly. Overall, the pacing was fantastic! This was a thriller in every sense of the word. There was lots of suspense, red herrings, and mysterious actions to keep me wondering what was going to happen. There were some huge twists in the end that made this read well worth it!These books are easy reads and highly enjoyable! Such a great weekend read!Please read more of my reviews on my blog: [...]or follow me on twitter at @dana_heyde (less)

Meet Nick Conover, CEO of a major office furniture company along the lines of Steelcase. The story picks up with the company in the middle of a nasty downturn that has seen half its employees laid off. Nick's personal life is also on a downward trend as his wife passed away a year ago. Not only is Nick having real trouble dealing with the loss, but his teenage son has also gone into a tailspin as a result. Add a stalker who breaks into the Conover house and pulls some moves reminiscent of "Fatal Attraction" and you have quite a pressure cooker for our main character.Joseph Finder is carving a niche for himself as the guy who writes thrillers based in the world of corporate business. Granted, he hasn't been as successful as John Grisham, who did more or less the same thing in the world of attorneys, but he is successful nonetheless. Company should do little to dent his growing reputation. The plot is solid and the characters are reasonably well fleshed out. The pacing is steady in the first half while all the pieces are put into place and then it kicks into high gear for the second half right through to the climax.While I enjoyed this book, I won't pretend that there is no way it could be better. The characters are well portrayed but none of them are original and some are outright clichés. The first 150 pages or so are solid but could probably do a better job of grabbing the reader. It doesn't become a "page-turner" until the second half. All that said, I truly enjoyed the book and did not find its relative weaknesses detracted from my enjoyment of the novel very much at all.I recommend Company Man to anyone interested in a good thriller. Another novel by Finder that is well worth checking out is  Paranoia , possibly Finder's finest corporate novel to date.

Nick Conover grew up in Fenwick. He went to college on a hockey scholarship and, after graduation, returned home to work for Stratton Corporation, the mainstay of the town's economy. He worked his way up the corporate ladder and became CEO after the death of the previous CEO who owned the company. Tax problems in the family caused the owners to sell Stratton to Fairfield Corporation, a large holding company in Boston led by Willard Osgood. Stratton Corporation is now being directed by corporate suits in Boston led by Todd Muldaur.A downturn in the economy and an overcapacity in the office furniture business, compounded by outsourcing by some companies to China to obtain cheaper labor, has caused Stratton to lay off half its workforce. That affects every family in Fenwick and Nick becomes known as Nick the Slasher, the most hated man in town. Nick's troubles were compounded by the death of his wife in a traffic accident, and he now is dealing with a rebellious 16-year old son who seems to be doing drugs.Nick shoots a man who he believes is stalking his family, and his boyhood friend Eddie Rinaldi, now chief of Stratton's security, helps him cover up the killing. The police are now involved, and are closing in on Nick and Eddie.At this point Nick finds that Stratton's Chief Financial Officer has been working behind his back, making decisions that Nick was unaware of. Rumors are floating about the corporate world that Stratton is on the block, to be sold to Chinese interests. Nick has been working to save the corporation and the town, and drastic action is needed. Eddie has his own means of obtaining information, including finding passwords for encrypted messages. This becomes a power struggle within the corporation.The story leads to a blazing finale in more ways than one. Nick must save the corporation and, at the same time, save his family. There are questions of who are friends and who are enemies. And there is the question of which people will end up as the goats.

Nice book

Probably wouldn't recommend this book but then not everyone would solve it so easily. Took a while to read it was a book I could put down

Company Man was the second book I read of Joseph Finder this year with the first one being "Power Play". I had assumed "Company Man" was more about office politics, collusion or corruption or even about account rigging etc., but it was more of a human drama, the central character of which is a CEO of a major corporation. Especially a female character, the victim's daughter is very unique and at first I felt she was out of place because she was not even a career girl. As a reader who was expecting the drama to take place primarily "in the office" environment I was slightly disappointed to start with, but as the plot picked up, I was more and more drawn to the emotional story which I believe female readers can also relate to and appreciate. Throughout the book, I found tears welling up in my eyes a few times, moved by family love which I believe Joseph Finder wanted to dipict.

Killer Instinct, Paranoiaの順で読んできた。途中でParanoiaが最高傑作と評されているのを知り、ちょっと不安になりつつ三冊目に手をつけた（Paranoiaへの不満はreviewに書いたとおり）。いい方に裏切られ、三作のなかではこれが一番面白かった。　意外な展開はほぼ期待通りだったが、心理描写が綿密で登場人物に臨場感がある。亡くした奥さんのimageが漠としている以外、現実に出てくる人たちは的確に描写されていて躍動感があった。

No review.