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St Martin’s Press, August 2007
Reviewed by Barbara Fielding
POWER PLAY is Joseph Finder’s new corporate thriller. Jake Landry is a
junior level executive for Hammond Aerospace. He’s been invited to the
company’s executive retreat at a small secluded fishing lodge. It’s an
annual trip where the top level leaders of the company go offsite to bond
and do some team building exercises without their cell phone or
blackberries. Landry is a last minute fill-in for his boss who is on a
special assignment. The weekend throws him into the mix with true
corporate sharks, all circling the new CEO, Cheryl Tobin.
Landry is swiftly initiated into the treacherous undercurrents brewing
among them on the luxurious corporate flight to the exclusive King Chinook
Lodge in British Columbia. His former girl friend Ali Hillman is Tobin’s
new administrative assistant. He’s still half in love with Ali and
suspects she’s the reason he’s been invited on the trip. When Tobin the
CEO asks him to be her secret eyes and ears, reporting back to her on the
executives, his suspicions are confirmed.
During their first dinner at the lodge all the guests and hotel staff are
taken hostage. At first the hostage takers appear to be a band of rogue
hunters, but Landry and the others soon realize they know way too much
about the Hammond Aerospace executives for this to be a random kidnapping.
Landry might have been a last minute replacement but he could be the only
one capable of getting these pampered executives out of this ordeal alive.
POWER PLAY is a fast paced thrill ride with one stunning development after
another. Joseph Finder has created a rich character in Jake Landry and he
reveals why he’s wired the way he is from the first pages. Landry can be a
difficult fit; his sharp wit often rubs others the wrong way. His flawed
personality makes him all the more human, especially in a room full of
arrogant and violent men.
I love a story where a great character, a smart plot, and a life or death
situation develop to stir things up and POWER PLAY has it all. Finder
takes the design and manufacturing of aviation and makes it interesting
and believable for readers, blending it into the plot with a smoothness
that will quickly give you a grasp of the industry. This isn’t the first
time Finder has used the corporate world as a backdrop for drama --
COMPANY MAN (2005) and KILLER INSTINCT (2006) are also corporate based
thrillers. Joseph Finder is an outstanding writer and anything by him will
be on my list of not-to-be-missed books.
August 2007
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