Vanished: A Nick Heller Novel

This book was good, kept me changing my guess as to who did what and who the "bad guy" was.

This was a great suspenseful story.

I don't think there's any mystery/thriller author out there whose new books I look forward to more than Joseph Finder's. His newest one, Vanished, was particularly the case because this is the beginning of a "series" for Finder. I don't know about you but, as a reader, I love getting involved in a series of books featuring one main character. I have some favorite series that I follow and it seems that the most important thing for the author to do is to develop a character that the reader not only understands but is rooting for every step of the way. Finder scores high points with his introduction of Nick Heller an ex-Special Forces veteran now working for an upscale corporate investigative firm. I will admit here that I often wished that if Finder ever started a series, he would do it based on the main character from Power Play, Jack Landry........he was my favorite Finder character ever. I'm one of the lucky fans who gets copies of Finder's books prior to their publication as I'm such a longtime fan. I've read everything he's written. But he also knows that this will not sway my reviews in any way.....I tell it like it is. With that being said, I loved the beginning of this book with Heller being sent on a mission by his employer, Stoddard Associates, to find a cargo plane holding billions of dollars that has gone missing. Within minutes of his arrival at the airport, Heller has it figured out. But at the same time this is going on, a much more important mystery is unfolding. Heller receives a phone call from his nephew telling him that his Dad, Heller's brother, is missing and his mother, Heller's sister-in-law is in the hospital in a coma. Heller drops everything to come to his brother's aid....even though they have been estranged for years. What follows is the type of story Finder has mastered. On the surface, it appears that his brother has been kidnapped but Heller seems to know better. Working closely with his sister-in-law and nephew, Heller dechiphers every single clue until he's able to unravel the mystery. Throughout his entire discovery mission, he doesn't know who to believe. It becomes more entangled when Nick realizes that his brother discovered some discrepancies in his job involving mergers and acquisitions.I have to say I was a bit lost in this unraveling and the ending was a bit convoluted for me. Whenever I have to go back and reread the end of a story because I didn't understand it, I then know it's a little contrived for me. I'm excited just knowing that Finder is probably penning his next Nick Heller story. I'm looking forward to some further development of this character and continuing with my corporate education by Professor Joseph Finder. I think the author has a hit on his hands with this series and I look forward to Nick Heller becoming as popular a fictional character as Connelly's Harry Bosch or Childs' Jack Reacher.

"Lauren Heller's husband disappeared at a few minutes after ten thirty on a rainy evening." With that simple beginning, Joe Finder's ninth novel involving corporate misadventures and clever scheming proves to be a worthy continuation of the line of thrillers that he has authored. Nick Heller is the new protagonist in this novel and one wishes and hopes that this will not be the last we see of him, although after what Finder puts him through in this story, he could surely stand a rest. Deftly written with plot changes, twists and turns, now you see it, now you don't manuvering, this is a book that will not sit on the table beside your favorite chair for very long. We have been having a number of rainy days here in the Northeast this summer, and this book was a perfect companion for some of them.

This novel reminds me a little of Gayle Lynds', "The Last Spymaster." You can never be sure if people are who they say they are, or who is doing what to whom. The hero, Nick Heller, uses smoke and mirrors when it suits his purposes. As in other novels by the author, the setting is in the corporate world, but a corporate world different than what you might imagine. Mergers and acquisitions can bring together strange bedfellows. It is a novel of corporate intrigue. Nick Heller gets involved when his older brother, Roger, disappears. Their careers had gone in different directions. Roger had joined the corporate world, and Nick had joined the Special Forces before becoming privately employed in a well paid position as an investigator with a high priced firm carrying out special investigations for well heeled clients. Now their worlds seem to be coming apart. There are surprises along the way, and some spear carriers get beaten or killed. Some evil people can masquerade in roles that suit their purposes. You will also learn a lot about high tech surveilance - about the only thing that cannot be penetrated is the inside of someone's mind, and a little torture may open that door. My only complaint is that some loose ends are not really tied up as well as I might have liked, but over all it is a well written novel that keeps the reader involved.

The thriller genre is hip-deep in strong, resourceful men with murky pasts and hearts of gold. Some of these men are "keepers," breaking your heart from time to time but really always there for you. I won't infuriate anyone by naming a few and leaving out your favorites, but I think my first was John D. MacDonald's "beach bum" Travis McGee (if you don't count Frank and Joe Hardy, who technically didn't have the murky past). Best-selling author Joseph Finder has until now populated his books with regular people from the corporate world, but Vanished (Nick Heller) is the debut of a new guy in town. According to his Twitter page (I'm not making this up), Nick Heller describes himself as "Intelligence investigator, security consultant, fixer, ex-military. Knows where the bodies are buried." Something tells me that the Nick Heller franchise is going to be a big deal in the genre. Don't miss this chance to get in at the beginning! In this debut thriller, Heller's brother Roger vanishes late at night in Washington, DC, and his wife Lauren is assaulted. Heller gets pulled in by his step-nephew, Gabe, a graphic-novelist with a murky past ... well, no, but he's a terrific mix of teen angst and a heart of gold. The roots of the case lie in big-corporation misdeeds and become entangled with Heller's top-drawer investigative firm. I don't have to tell you that everyone owes Heller a favor and he can command any investigative resource with a speed-dial phone call. The man is fearless! His willingness to walk into the jaws of the enemy will amaze and impress you. But don't for a minute think that Nick Heller is a two-dimensional superhero. "Vanished" weaves just enough personal history into the story to make him surprisingly plausible; there is a father in prison for corporate fraud, early years of wealth that left Nick impervious to its appeal but his brother Roger insatiable for more. Finder's style and pace are flawless; if you've read his earlier books (Power Play, Killer Instinct, and Company Man among them) you already know how well he writes, and how plausibly he portrays a dark side to corporate power. The only thing we could have wished for was a continuing character, and now we have him in Nick Heller. I can't wait to see what Finder gives us next in this series! There is already audio and I hear that we may get a look at young Gabe's graphic novels, which feature (surprise!) a hero modeled on Uncle Nick. Can a movie be far behind? Get your hands on this smart, readable five-star thriller and get ready to turn the pages until you reach the satisfying conclusion. Linda Bulger, 2009

What the hell has Roger Heller gotten himself into? Vanished, the latest thriller from Joe Finder opens with an attack on Lauren and Roger Heller as they are leaving a Georgetown restaurant. Lauren wakes up more than 24 hours later, badly concussed. Of Roger, there is no sign. In the interim, their 14-year-old son, Gabe, has called in his uncle, Nick, for help. It is Nick Heller, brother of Roger, who Finder is setting up to be the hero of a new series of novels. He's made a good choice. Born to a life of extreme wealth--all of which was lost in a scandal--Nick gave up the pursuit of cash and joined the armed forces. Now he works as a private investigator for a high-end DC firm. He's tough, charismatic, and extremely competent. Nick Heller strikes me as a character that could go over equally well with both men and women. Nick and Roger haven't been close in years, but Nick can't leave his only brother's disappearance entirely in the hands of the DC police. He begins his own investigation, while at the same time continuing to look into loose threads from his last work case. The deeper he digs into each, the more convoluted these two cases become. And the more enemies he seems to acquire. Occasionally I thought I knew where Finder was going with his story, and occasionally I was right. More often I was wrong. A couple times I was completely stunned by a plot development. Joe Finder is definitely more clever than I am. Nick Heller is also more clever than I am, and the man really knows how to throw a punch. Fight scenes in the book were unusually interesting and well-written. Additionally, take it from a native Washingtonian that the DC setting was used with specificity and authenticity. (And observations like, "Washington, D.C., is to lying what Hershey, Pennsylvania, is to chocolate" made me smile.) Plenty of details that ring true do a lot to sell the whole story. These days, I've got a litmus test for thrillers: Can I read it in a single day? Because it has relatively little to do with how many pages or how fast I read. It's all about a novel holding my interest for hours on end. Vanished passed with flying colors. It's not Finder's strongest work, but it's a good start to a new series.