Harrison Sinclair, director of the CIA, has been killed in a car accident. His son-in-law, Ben Ellison -- an attorney and ex-agent -- instantly hears rumors of sinister forces within the Agency. The hunt for the truth will rush Ben headlong into a web of conspiracy beyond his control, where he is compelled by an artful, inescapable maneuver back into the employ of the CIA, and lured into a top-secret espionage project in telepathy that will endow him with "extraordinary powers" . . . . "Spectacular . . . The action is unrelenting . . . Electrifying." Boston Sunday Herald
Although the plot creaks a bit, Finder's ( The Moscow Club ) pacing, wit and style make this thriller a standout. In a long manuscript delivered to a reporter, Boston patent lawyer and former CIA operative Ben Ellison tells of an adventure that started with the accidental death of his father-in-law, CIA director Harrison Sinclair. After his first wife was killed by the KGB, Ben had shunned his previous employer but when a retired CIA deputy chief approaches Ben with proof that Sinclair was murdered and circumstantial evidence that he had been involved in a huge gold scam with the KGB's last boss, Ben agrees to a plan to clear Sinclair's name. Ben, who already has an eidetic memory, discovers during a high-tech lie detector test that he can also read minds. He hides his new-found power but when his second wife Molly (nee Sinclair) is kidnapped and he himself is almost killed in a Back Bay shootout, Ben sets off lickety-split for Italy, Switzerland, France and Canada. The reunited Ben and Molly outfox unknown foes, uncover numerous secrets that lead to the Very Big secret and a satisfying twist of an ending. The phlegmatic (yet occasionally crazy) Ben is a fine narrative voice, a bit like a Louis Auchincloss character telling an Eric Ambler story. Perhaps because of the CIA's old-boy tradition, Molly doesn't quite ring true but few readers will mind in this whiz of a yarn. 100,000 first printing; 100,000 ad/promo. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
YA-A sci-fi espionage caper filled with explosive action. A former CIA agent, who became a patent attorney following his wife's brutal murder, is sucked into the spy business again after an especially powerful MRI turns him into a mind reader. After many fake deaths, double and triple agents, and lots of economic and political sabotage, the story ends with small news clips that hint at the well-being of all major characters (the ones who appeared to have been blown away earlier). In an intriguing end note, Finder relates an interesting historical tidbit about "a fortune in Soviet gold [that] remains missing to this day" that the story is based upon. He also mentions that psychic research has long fascinated the CIA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and Soviet intelligence, leaving readers with ponderable issues to muse over. Bunni Union, Geauga West Library, Chesterland, OH Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Joseph Finder's plan was to become a spy. Or maybe a professor of Russian history. Instead he became a bestselling thriller writer, and winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel for KILLER INSTINCT (2006) and winner of the Barry and Gumshoe Awards for Best Thriller for COMPANY MAN (2005).
Born in Chicago, Joe spent his early childhood living around the world, including Afghanistan and the Philippines. In fact, Joe's first language -- even before English -- was Farsi, which he spoke as a child in Kabul. After a stint in Bellingham, WA, his family finally settled outside of Albany, NY.
After taking a high school seminar on the literature and history of Russia, Joe was hooked. He went on to major in Russian studies at Yale, where he also sang with the school's legendary a cappella group, the Whiffenpoofs (and likes to boast that he sang next to Ella Fitzgerald, an honorary Whiffenpoof). Joe graduated summa cum laude from Yale College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, then completed a master's degree at the Harvard Russian Research Center, and later taught on the Harvard faculty. He was recruited to the Central Intelligence Agency but eventually decided he preferred writing fiction.
His first book, published in 1983 when Joe was only 24, was RED CARPET: THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE KREMLIN AND AMERICA'S MOST POWERFUL BUSINESSMEN, the first book to reveal that the controversial multi-millionaire Dr. Armand Hammer, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum, had worked for Soviet intelligence in the 1920s and 1930s. (This book is no longer in print.)
But RED CARPET was only part of the story that Joe wanted to tell. So he wrote his first novel - the only way he could legally tell the whole Armand Hammer saga. Published in 1991, THE MOSCOW CLUB described events whose factual truth would only be revealed many years later. THE MOSCOW CLUB was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the ten best spy thrillers of all time and was published in thirty foreign countries.
What followed were three more critically-acclaimed thrillers - EXTRAORDINARY POWERS, THE ZERO HOUR (sold to Twentieth-Century Fox for a record sum) and HIGH CRIMES, which became a 2002 Fox film starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Joe was invited on the movie set and even cast for a nonspeaking role as a JAG prosecutor.
Published in 2004, PARANOIA represented a major turning point in Joe's career, landing on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists, among others. It was his first book to use the ruthless drive, corruption and conspiracy of the corporate world as riveting plotline. Called "fun...movie-ready...[with] twists aplenty..." by Entertainment Weekly, PARANOIA has been acquired by Gaumont, one of the world's largest film production and distribution companies. The movie deal was announced in April 2009, with Barry Levy ("Vantage Point") set to script the adaptation.
Joe's next three novels - COMPANY MAN, KILLER INSTINCT and POWER PLAY - were all bestsellers in which things were decidedly not business as usual. He was quickly hailed as "the CEO of suspense."
In VANISHED, published August 2009 by St. Martin's Press and an immediate bestseller, Joe introduced his new continuing character, "private spy" Nick Heller. Trained in the Special Forces, Nick is a high-powered intelligence investigator - exposing secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He's a guy you don't want to mess with. He's also the man you call when you need a problem fixed. The second novel in the series, BURIED SECRETS, was published June 2011.
In addition to his fiction, Joe does occasional work for Hollywood, is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and Council on Foreign Relations, and has written on espionage and international affairs for a number of publications, including TheDailyBeast.com, Forbes, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Republic. He roots for the Boston Red Sox and lives in Boston with his wife, daughter, and a needy golden retriever, Mia, a dropout from seeing-eye-dog school.
Extraordinary Powers is an amazing book that tells a plausible story with likable main characters. And it makes your palms sweat, the clarity with which he describes frantic chases, gun fights and emotions.
The greatest triumph of the novel is its unpredictability. Admittedly, the beginning gave me what I had anticipated but from then onwards, every thing that goes is never what you expect. Just when you settle down for a respite from the intense action, Finder slaps you in the face and keeps you turning pages at ten pages a minute with another chase, more mind-reading and more uncovering of the conspiracy. A very well-crafted work.
That is where the story succeeds, in capturing your attention and keeping you reading on. The novel is utterly well crafted, the conspiracy completely probable and the action searingly hot. Most notable is the ending which is satisfying and better then at least half of the other books availible. Just when you least expect it, the dazzling suspense starts boiling again.
Like every other book, this one has its flaws, namely the fact that the dialogue is unconvincing. Every one talks in exactly the same way! Finder also tends to occassionaly drift away and end up overwhelming the reader with TOO much detail.
All this aside, Extraordinary Powers is one HELL OF A READ.
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This was the first Joseph Finder novel I had ever read, and within four months I had read every other novel he had written, including his latest, High Crimes. He's a terrific writer. This particular work is what might conceivably happen if Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth and Nelson DeMille wrote a book together: it has a Ludlum-like wild plot hook (a CIA operative-turned -lawyer who develops the ability to read minds), extensive Forsythesque research (on parapsychology, patent law, computer games, the gold market, firearms and how to sneak them into Senate hearing rooms), and a credible, witty protagonist, Ben Ellison, who narrates the novel in the first person, like DeMille's heroes in The Gold Coast and The General's Daughter. Finder's genius is to avoid going over the top; he keeps all the action, conspiracy, espionage, mind-reading and, yes, sex within the limits of reality, and yet just fantastic enough to keep you turning pages. Better still, you can always follow the plot, without being able to predict its twists or having to scratch your head in confusion. A fine book that I regularly recommend to friends and neighbors. 20th Century Fox is supposed to release a film of Finder's techno-terrorism thriller The Zero Hour next year, but I'd much rather see Extraordinary Powers at the local multiplex. It'll work great on screen.
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I am not going to bore you with the details of this book. All I will say is… this book keeps you guessing all the way until the last page. Some of you know of Finder’s works and know how good he is, but for those of you who do not… then there is no time to waste. Mr. Finder’s work, and he only has written 4 books, are becoming hard to find. This book was first published a while ago and reissued. My good reader you must not hesitate, and you must rely on my good faith as a reviewer that this guy is good… real good. I have ordered his first thriller, The Moscow Club, from old book dealers on the web. There are even rumors that Mr. Finder has a new thriller upcoming, but I have no knowledge of this. There are many people waiting for a Finder thriller, including me.
I recommend all of Mr. Finder’s work; ZERO HOUR, HIGH CRIMES. Also, when you see his books, buy it. You will be surprised at how good Joseph Finder’s books are. Please be assured that these books will be some of your best reading at anytime. Check my other reviews [...]
You will not be disappointed
Tripp
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