Joseph Finder - Company Man (2005)
Joseph Finder owes me a good night’s sleep. I read through most of his latest thriller in just two days, but was unable to quite get to the end before it was time for bed. I should have just powered through and finished it, since I was up half the night anyway thinking about the story and anticipating the last eighty pages.
When I did reach the end the next morning, I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in awe, thinking of the incredible journey I’d just been on. Like a great roller coaster ride, it was riveting and fun and I couldn’t wait for it to end – if for no other reason than so I could think about doing it again sometime soon.
Sometimes publishers like to promote books with taglines like “Don’t start this book if you have to go to work the next morning!” In the case of Company Man, that might actually be a sound piece of advice. This is a book that I found almost impossible to put down, and every time I did, I couldn’t wait to get back to reading it. It’s that good.
Nick Conover is the CEO of the Stratton Corporation, a large manufacturing company that produces high-end office furniture. Not a very glamorous job, perhaps, but Nick is pleased and more than a little surprised to have risen so far. He’s a good guy, a family man who lost his wife recently and is trying his best to raise two kids on his own.
Granted, things could still be a lot better. Nick lives in Fenwick, Michigan, a true company town that is dominated by Stratton, and the economic picture hasn’t been rosy in recent years. The company’s new owners – a large financial conglomerate based in Boston – have instituted some severe belt-tightening, resulting in the lay-off of 5000 employees.
These cutbacks have made Nick an unpopular man in Fenwick. The local newspaper now refers to him as “The Slasher,” and he receives hate mail and death threats. He’s even been the target of a stalker who breaks into this home and writes threatening graffiti on the walls. The worse part is that nobody cares; there are few sympathetic ears in Fenwick when it comes to Nick’s problems. The police department can’t even be bothered to investigate.
When the threat against Nick and his family escalates – someone eviscerates the family dog, leaving his body floating in the pool – he takes matters into his own hands, installing a new high-tech security system. He also takes possession of an unlicensed handgun.
Experienced readers will see this as a sign of trouble just waiting to happen, and happen it does. When the stalker accosts him at the rear of his house late one night, Nick is frightened and fears for his life. When the intruder won’t stop, won’t acknowledge Nick’s repeated threats, nor the brandished pistol, Nick has no choice. He fires. In an instant everything changes, and life for Nick will never be the same again.
Not only is Nick smack in the middle of a murder investigation, he’s also enmeshed in an ever more heated battle, one involving financial dirty deeds and the struggle for control of his company. If you think that detectives are tenacious, wait until you see the disloyal accountants and conniving financial advisors that Nick has to deal with.
David Morrell, the creator of John Rambo and author of over a dozen bestselling novels, says that the best thrillers are often unsettling. They challenge our beliefs and assumptions about the world, and cause us to question things that we previously might not even have considered.
Company Man definitely fits that description. As we read about this basically good man trying to hold his family together and somehow plug the hole in the dyke that is rapidly crumbling around him, we feel unsettled. The story is almost painful at times as we suffer along with Nick Conover, asking ourselves just how far we would go to protect everything we hold dear.
One of the problems with too many thrillers written today is that they don’t thrill. They might build a little tension or suspense, but they never actually get to the point of quickening the pulse or making the heart race. Absent that “edge-of-your-seat” factor, most books of this sort fall flat. Their plots and characters might be adequate, but they just don’t have sufficient energy and momentum to keep them going.
Not so with Company Man, though. It’s everything a thriller should be: suspenseful, tense, exciting, enthralling, unsettling, entertaining, and, above all, thrilling. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself reading it as fast as your eye can move down the lines and your fingers can turn the pages.
In the acknowledgments section in the back of Company Man, the author takes the time to mention that he drew upon his own child for inspiration in writing the character of Nick’s ten year-old daughter, Julia. It shows, too. Many authors don’t write child characters very well – they tend to be either too precocious or too dim – but Julia was wonderful. The relationship between she and Nick, even more than his interaction with his teenaged son, is ultimately what redeems him.
It is in that aspect of Company Man that the true heart of the story is revealed. Yes, the plot is thrilling and suspenseful and the story or corporate intrigue is fascinating. But ultimately this is a story about a man and his overpowering love for his family. Nick Conover may have lost his wife, but he will do whatever it takes not to lose his kids as well. I can’t think of anything more thrilling than that.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Book Reviews | Permalink
