I love Joseph Finder’s corporate and legal conspiracy thrillers.
Some of you have asked me which authors I enjoy reading, which ones I look up to artistically.
Well, Joseph Finder is definitely on my A-list. His books have been a major influence behind several of my corporate conspiracy thrillers, including The Eavesdropper.
Finder doesn’t have quite the name recognition of a Clive Cussler or a David Baldacci, let alone James Patterson.
Finder’s books are categorized as thrillers, for bookstore shelving purposes, but what they really are is suspense.
That means fewer car chases and shootouts than you’ll find in something written by Patterson or Cussler. His books are highly entertaining, but they aren’t pure escapism. They are very lifelike. Patterson has said that he doesn’t do realism. Joseph Finder does do realism, and he does it quite well.
The typical Joseph Finder novel involves a lawyer or a corporate professional in an unusual situation, with lots of conflict and menace, but–I repeat–not the over-the-top action you’ll find in most thrillers.
Judgement is about a married female judge who is presiding over a sensitive, high-stakes case. One night while she’s out of town on business, she sleeps with a handsome stranger on a whim.
But that stranger is not who he appears to be. (Handsome and beautiful strangers in novels almost never are.)
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Another thing about Finder’s books: They often involve intersections of crime, sex, and business.
Good stuff, all the way. I’m reading Judgement on my exercise bike each morning. Great entertainment for those 5:00 a.m. rides in the basement!
