Joseph Finder

Juliana Brody is a Massachusetts Superior Court judge whose husband, Duncan, is a tenured professor. As a child, Juliana grew up too soon, since her mother drank excessively and her father was emotionally distant. Ever the dutiful older sister, she took it upon herself to keep a watchful eye on her brother, Calvin, whose transformation into an enraged and self-destructive young adult horrified her. A serious transgression comes back to haunt Judge Brody while she is presiding over a civil suit involving Rachel Meyers, formerly the general counsel for Wheelz, a Boston-based ride-hailing company. Rachel, the plaintiff, refuses to settle, since she wants the public to know that her sleazy boss, CEO Devin Allerdyce, made "demeaning comments" and "unwanted sexual advances" to her on numerous occasions. When she refused to give in to his demands, Allerdyce fired her.

In Joseph Finder's "Judgment," Juliana becomes the target of a potentially ruinous blackmail scheme. If she rules in favor of the defendant, then an unnamed adversary is threatening to publicize a compromising video that could undo everything that she has worked so hard to achieve. Although most people would cave under such enormous pressure, Juliana fights back. She seeks assistance from, among others, her close friend and mentor, Martha Connolly, who urges Juliana to hire a skilled and tenacious private investigator, Phil Hersh. Furthermore, Brody risks her life and the well-being of her family when she uncovers a pattern of financial malfeasance, widespread corruption, and violence, all orchestrated by a shadowy mastermind.

"Judgment" is a "ripped-from-the-headlines" tale of unbridled greed, lust, and interference by a foreign government in America's political, judicial, and economic institutions. On the home front, Juliana desperately tries to save her faltering marriage and worries about her rebellious sixteen-year-old son, Jake. In addition, she wrestles with her conscience when she is tempted to break the law that she has sworn to uphold. Still, Judge Brody recklessly forges ahead, like a female David trying to defeat a fearsome Goliath. "Judgment" is an occasionally diverting and fast-paced thriller that features a strong heroine who is smart, courageous, and resolute. However, the final chapters are so far-fetched—Juliana devises an outlandish scheme that no one in her right mind would attempt to carry out—that the novel ultimately veers off into the realm of fantasy.… (more)

Mike Tanner is not thriving, personally or professionally. His wife, Sarah, has moved out and may soon file for divorce. Mike's niche coffee business, "Tanner Roast," is losing major accounts to a cutthroat competitor. As if these problems were not enough to give him indigestion, Mike grabs the wrong laptop while moving through airport security. "The Switch," by Joseph Finder, is a thriller about an Everyman caught up in a situation that could cost him his life.

When reading books of this type, its helps to suspend one's disbelief. What are the odds that a powerful legislator would be stupid enough to keep highly classified information on her personal laptop and leave a Post-It note containing her password stuck to the computer? We're talking career suicide here. The author, of course, is channeling a former Democratic nominee for president who landed in hot water for using a private email server to conduct official business. Will Abbott, Robbins' chief of staff, is blindly loyal to his boss and hopes to occupy the White House if and when Robbins is elected president. In his desperation to retrieve the laptop, Abbott sets in motion illegal and dangerous schemes to achieve his goal.

Joseph Finder avoids some of the more common pitfalls that frequently trip up action-adventure writers. The author imbues his hero, Mike, with street smarts, but does not insult us by transforming him into a superhero. Clearly in over his head, Mike scrambles to stay ahead of his pursuers. He does not have an arsenal of weapons or an army of bodyguards to protect him, so he stays alive by using his powers of reasoning, negotiation, and when all else fails, hiding. Abbott, a new dad who adores his wife and child, is no Neanderthal. He is an intelligent individual who, in an effort to correct a disastrous mistake, makes a bad situation worse. In this entertaining and briskly-paced novel, Joseph Finder tackles such themes as the intrusive specter of electronic surveillance on private citizens. "The Switch" should appeal to fans of "ripped-from-the headlines" political thrillers.… (more)

In Joseph Finder's "House on Fire," private investigator Nick Heller is a former member of the United States Army's Special Forces. When Nick's buddy, Sean Lenehan, returned from multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, his job as a demolition expert left him with excruciating headaches. His doctor prescribed Oxydone, an inhalable opioid, and Sean quickly became hooked. Nick is grief-stricken when Sean's wife, Patty, calls to inform him that, after supposedly kicking the habit, Sean died of an overdose. Nick will never forget that when he was gravely wounded in combat and near death, Sean dragged him to safety and applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Since then, Nick had remained close to Sean, Patty, and their children.

Ironically, Heller's new client is documentary filmmaker and activist Susan (Sukie) Kimball. Her billionaire father, Dr. Conrad Kimball, owns a huge pharmaceutical company, and has made a fortune marketing Oxydone, the substance that killed Sean. Dr. Kimball's detractors accuse him of encouraging and even bribing doctors to overprescribe this devastating opioid. Sukie hires Nick to find a long-buried study that proves how quickly patients become dependent on Oxydone. Her mission is to give plaintiffs legal ammunition that that could potentially bankrupt Kimball Pharma, and even land her dad in prison for covering up the truth about a dangerous product.

"House on Fire" is a fast-paced thriller with an exciting plot, crisp dialogue, hissable villains, thought-provoking and timely themes, and suspenseful action sequences. After launching his inquiry, Nick is shocked when someone he cares about is murdered. Fortunately, he has secret weapons of his own, including a highly-skilled employee, Dorothy Duval, who once worked for the NSA and is whiz at uncovering forensic data. In addition, Heller calls on buddies who have specialized gadgets that could help him obtain the information he needs. Nick falls back on his SEAL training to defend himself, and uses high-tech equipment to break into locked rooms and set up electronic surveillance. This is an entertaining tale of greed and family dysfunction in which a courageous and resourceful man risks his life to bring down corrupt and ruthless adversaries.
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An airport is a place where irregularities are bound to happen - most of them turn out to be inconveniences.
It is a place where we get easily distracted. After all you got to hold on to your passport, boarding pass and you better do so for dear life.
When Michael Tanner, a young upstart entrepreneur, gets singled out to have his shoulder bag searched by airport security, such distraction is provided.
When, after the routine search, he returns to pick up his personal items from behind the x-ray machine, unknowingly Michael Tanner makes the eponymous "Switch".
It may not tax your etymological understanding nor will you have to be versed in a world of allusions, literary or otherwise.
What Joseph Finder's "The Switch" provides is down-to-earth, unpretentious if predictable entertainment. In sum, worth a read.… (more)