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    Review of PARANOIA by Joseph Finder (see his website)

    St. Martin's Press, January 2004

    Junior product manager Adam Cassidy decides to raid the corporate bigwig accounts to throw a retirement party for a loading dock worker and finds himself in big trouble. The only way he can protect himself from serious jail time is by going undercover to his company's biggest competitor and discovering the secret project that just might revolutionize the high-tech industry. First, though, he is given a complete makeover--from haircut, to car, to handshake, to history. Instead of a minor product manager in a failing enterprise router division, he was the man responsible for the hugely successful Palm-killer.

    In his new company, Adam is helped by constant intelligence from his old boss and 'handler,' but still finds himself burning the candle on both ends. Not only is he required to be a hero in his 'cover' job, he has to infiltrate the top-secret project Aurora facility, discover what they're working on, and allow his old company to beat them to the punch. From being a minimum-effort kind of guy, Adam becomes driven. Before long, though, he is driven by more than simply fear. His father's continual claims that Adam is a loser clash with his new bosses virtual adoption and mentoring. Adam feels worse and worse about what he is doing--but he feels no better about spending twenty-five years in prison.

    Author Joseph Finder does a wonderful job with the details of corporate life in a high-tech enterprise as well as with the spycraft and corporate espionage aspects of his story. The petty and ruthless politics, slimey and self-important executives, extravagence in the midst of cutbacks, and hypocritical war-talking all ring true. Adam is a well-developed and sympathetic character thrown into waters over his head.

    See more BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by Joseph Finder.

    PARANOIA is a real page-turner. Finder hooked me in the first chapter and kept me reading late into the night. The exciting action scene and the twist at the end provide a bang-up resolution to a powerfully written and exciting novel.

    Four Stars

    Reviewed 12/05/03

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