Customer Reviews

Extraordinary Powers

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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

Extraordinary Powers is the second in Finder's collection of four (to date) outstanding novels which, upon investigation, reveal some of the most enlightening political info and predictions of our time. His first book, Moscow Club, accurately predicted the Soviet coup just before its occurrence. His second, Extraordinary Powers, accurately predicted the exposure of a high ranking CIA mole. His third, Zero Hour, explains the pitiful security of the world's finance system (and thank God it hasnt come true yet!), and his latest High Crimes pre-dates by three years a remarkably similar tale as the one recently uncovered concerning former Senator Bob Kerrey's command in Vietnam. A truly informative and knowledgeable man with a knack for fantastic presentation, Finder's books are some of the finest around. Pick them up, and you won't ever want to put them down.

I've read Paranoia and Company Man before this, and they were good to excellent. This book has an interesting premise, but it tries to be too Ludlum-ish, and ends up being boring for the most part. Yes, there is suspense, but it is quite tough to read the book for the little suspense there is. The only part that is enjoyable is the Science Fiction part.

There are some books that simply grab your attention from start to finish-this is the best of the bunch. I've read reviews on it raving but at the same time nit-picking over some minor flaws. Why can't they simply sit back and enjoy a great read? I lost a lot of sleep all because I couldn't put it down. I've given it to 5 people to read and now they are all Finder fans!

I thought his first book was just great so I had high hopes for this one. I would say that it is a bit of a let down but still a very good work. It delivers just a fun read that keeps a real good pace through out. There are a fair number of course changes and sub plots that keep it interesting. As he did in Moscow Club, he writes very smart characters that keep you involved. I also am very pleased with the political detail he places in the books and the tension that tends to bring. Overall a good effort and a book well worth the price.

I guess the best I can say about this book is that I was luck enough to listen to the abridged version of tape. From what I could tell from the taped version, the full length book must have been tedious at best. As to the sci-fi part of the book, it was so 'hokie' as to be worthless as a 'hook'. That the book 'turned' on this 'hook' does not speak well for Finder, who usually writes much better than this.

Spies, double agents, secret letters, secret files, swiss bank accounts, etc. You've read it all before, and done better. Good for an airplane ride or a boring long drive on the interstate.

Finder has written some absolute masterpieces in his career but his third novel Extraordinary Powers doesn't show the reader any of his powers of telling a great tale. It certainly lacks the fast paced can't put down factor that his later novels such as Paranoia, Company Man and The Zero Hour possess, and which made him the big name he is today. Although with all his early work (his first novel was Red Carpet, second The Moscow Club arguably you could say the same thing about, but with those novels at least he was sort of a visionary before his time (they were written long before the Berlin wall and subsequent Communist rein came down) and of the fiction within proved later to emulate what we found out was going in the actual non fiction world. Granted it could be claimed this novel does a similar sort of thing exposing elements and cultures within the CIA to what we've later found out in a post Sept 11 world, but it is not to the degree done with the communist era books.

The main thing that's wrong with Extraodinary Powers is that it is as boring as watching paint dry. If I hadn't forked out so much money to track this early novel down and been so impressed with Finder's other work I wouldn't have kept going past the first chapter or so. I now have an understanding to the reason why they never bought out the publishing rights and rushed this back into reprint after The Zero Hour made Finder best selling author.

So what is the basic plot - well Benjamin Ellison is a successful lawyer in a prestigious law firm who so the story can work just happens to be an ex CIA trained operative. The director of the CIA dies (who happens to be his wife Molly's dad) in a car accident. Of course his death being an accident isn't believed by the Ellisons. Ben shortly thereafter finds himself back on the payroll of the CIA in a top secret project where he soon learns he can read minds and there's a multi billion dollar fortune in communist Gold up for grabs. Sounds interesting you say, unfortunately, it's not!

I absolutely love Joseph Finder and enjoy all of his books that I've read so far, this being the best of them I think. To have the hero of the book having acquired the ability to read other people's thoughts was a very original concept with some interesting consequences. It was at times funny and was always suspenseful. I was on the edge of my seat reading many of the scenes, loved the main character and his wife, and was never sure how it was going to turn out. These are important concepts because if you don't care about the characters, you can't really enjoy the story. I love when a book is not predictable and this one isn't. The action, the twists and turns, the interaction of the characters and the beautiful writing make this a joy to read.