Power Play (Hardcover)

by Joseph Finder (Author)
Key Phrases: chicken rivets, duress code, inboard flap, Hank Bodine, Kevin Bross, Cheryl Tobin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
If Jake Landry, a tough guy with an understanding of airplane engineering and an innate grasp of corporate politics, is too good to be true, he's still fun to watch in this sleek thriller from bestseller Finder (Killer Instinct). A junior executive at California's Hammond Aerospace, Landry possesses a remarkably flexible intelligence, which lands him on a high-end corporate weekend at a lodge called Rivers Inlet, where the new CEO, Cheryl Tobin, discreetly asks Landry to help her identify corrupt executives. Almost immediately, the lodge is assailed by five men who at first appear to be hunters turned vicious at the sight of the weekend participants' enormous wealth. As they interrogate the executives, however, it becomes clear that they know quite a bit about Hammond and its workings. Landry's job, then, is to figure out their purpose as well as rescue the entire crew. Tight, fluid writing more than compensates for the occasional plot implausibility. 200,000 first printing; author tour. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Fans agree that Joseph Finder (Company Man, 2005; Killer Instinct, ***1/2 Sept/Oct 2006) has perfected the corporate thriller, favoring the rocket engine of plot over the quiet architecture of character. His eighth novel, Power Play, races along by omitting the texture and depth that might slow the pace; only the protagonist, Jake Landry, is fleshed out. Critics acknowledge this flaw but forgive the author as they're dragged along by the fast-paced action. The New York Times suggests that Finder's novels "could appeal to a broader audience than the one for which they aim." Members of that broader audience might notice the flat characters and occasional clichŽs, but the suspense and tension will keep them turning the pages.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (August 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312347480
• ISBN-13: 978-0312347482
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #314,195 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Die Hard at a Corporate Off-site, September 3, 2007

By	Kevin Joseph (McLean, VA United States) - See all my reviews

With Power Play, Joseph Finder continues the line of corporate thrillers he kicked off with the magnificent Paranoia. This thriller, though, features as much violent action as it does corporate intrigue, leaving me with the feeling that Finder was writing a thinly-veiled script for a movie blockbuster. Indeed, the similarities to Die Hard are impossible to ignore.

Jake Landry, like the Bruce Willis Die Hard hero, is supposed to represent the blue collar everyman caught in the middle of a corporate hostage crisis. Unlike the top brass who attend Hammond Aerospace's fancy off-site at a secluded lodge, Jake's a mid-level manager who's invited for reasons other than his corporate pedigree. When the management team is taken hostage and ordered to embezzle $500 million from the corporate treasury in exchange for their lives, Jake finds himself the only guy in the company who is truly worthy of alpha male posturing.

The plot barrels ahead with Jake and his ex-girlfriend Ali (who happens to have been invited to the off-site as the new CEO's special assistant) engaged in a desperate attempt to outmanuever their brutal captors. Interspered with the action are brief flashbacks to Jake's formative years, in which we learn the origins of his skill with weapons and willingness to tangle with dangerous men. The author also exploits the tension between the new female CEO and the all-male cast of senior executives.

The last third of this book is as suspenseful as anything I've read recently, although the plot teeters in a number of places on the edge of impracticability (how combat-hardened can Jake really be, anyway) and many of the characters are thinly-developed corporate stereotypes. Nonetheless I continue to admire Finder's penchant for interesting plot premises and ability to find action and adventure amidst Sarbanes-Oxley and corporate boardrooms.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Action-packed adventure! Kept me reading all night long ..., September 16, 2007

By	Betty L. Dravis "[e-mail], autho... (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As many people say, best-selling author Joseph Finder does for CEOs what John Grisham does for attorneys--makes them exciting, entertaining, and larger than life!

Finder's famous for focusing on various industries in his popular novels; in Power Play it's the aviation industry. The action in this novel takes place at an elite hunting lodge off the coast of British Columbia. When the management team of California's Hammond Aerospace meets there, an unlikely character--a junior executive named Jake Landry--is asked to fill in for his boss.

Jake may not be as sophisticated, wealthy, and privileged as the higher-ranking businessmen, but he's clever and proves much smarter where it really matters. His "smart-mouth attitude" doesn't help endear him to the others or alleviate the tension developing between the "egotistical" men and the new female CEO, Cheryl Tobin, who has been hired to "clean up" the company.

Toss in some armed hunters who take over the compound--pretending to be thieves but whom Jake suspects have much more devious ambitions--and you have an action-packed drama with more twists and turns than an Indy race track.

And why are the thieves armed with military weapons? What is their real goal? Will the businessmen help Jake overcome them or are they too cowardly? Is the CEO who was in line for Cheryl's job behind it all? Well, you'll just have to wait and see. I promise you a thrilling, white-knuckle read from start to finish.

Finder keeps us guessing about Jake's background, hinting at some juvenile offense, and he's excellent at characterization. All his characters have unique identities and come alive for me. He weaves an irresistible premise with enough high tech jargon in the plot to keep it believable.

This is my fourth book by this author and I couldn't put it down. Finder once said that the best piece of writing advice he ever received was: start the story at the last possible moment--in the middle of the action. Perhaps that's why he's so good at "hooking" his readers on the first page.

I recommend tossing this book into your Amazon cart; it's well worth the money. I thank his promotional team for sending me an ARC of this fantastic novel.

Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, 2007
1106 Grand Boulevard and The Toonies Invade Silicon Valley and Millennium Babe: The Prophecy

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Modern-day Travis McGee, September 3, 2007

By	Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I don't usually read thrillers, but the set-up for POWER PLAY was so intriguing I couldn't resist. A group of aerospace executives meet in a Canadian hunting lodge for a bonding session and are held hostage by what appears to be some redneck hunters who stumbled across the opportunity to make some money.

The main character is Jake Landry, self-styled "low man on the totem pole," who is invited at the last minute because he has expertise in Hammond Aerospace's new Sky Cruiser. Apparently he has been recommended by his ex-girlfriend Ali, who is now an executive assistant to the new Hammond CEO, Cheryl Tobin.

The author, Joseph Finder, has really done his homework. He gives us a good look at corporate politics as well as the inside of the corporate jet that takes us to the Canadian retreat. The other executives, especially Hank Bodine who was passed over for the top job, resent having to take orders from a woman. Cheryl is also investigating a corporate scandal. One of the top executives has been bribing Air Force officials in charge of government orders.

The plot moves along briskly with Jake Landry taking on a Travis McGee type role. He's smarter than the kingpins who look down on him, and he's dependable in a pinch. When it looks like the captors plan on leaving no witnesses behind, he secrets a steak knife in his shoe! We also get frequent looks at Landry's hard scrabble background, during which time he spent time in a juvenile offender facility. Finder keeps us wondering just exactly what he did to warrant incarceration.

If you're an inveterate mystery reader as I am, you should be able to figure out who's behind the ransom attempt. The solution was sort of anti-climactic. Except for the knife in the shoe device, POWER PLAY is also unique in that the twists and turns are mostly believable, something I haven't seen in a whole lot of modern thrillers. Also, if you're a beginning writer, you might want to check out Finder's acknowledgments. They're instructive in that they show how much research is involved in writing a book, any book.