By: Joseph Finder
Nick Heller #3
ISBN: 9780525954620
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: 7/19/2016
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder delivers an exhilarating thriller featuring fan favorite Nick Heller. Nick Heller is a private spy—a private intelligence operative, based in Boston, hired by lawyers and politicians and even foreign governments. A veteran of the war in Iraq, he served in the Special Forces and later worked in covert ops for the Department of Defense. In Guilty Minds he's called in to help out in a delicate, potentially explosive situation. The chief justice of the Supreme Court is about to be defamed by a powerful gossip website called SlanderSheet, which specializes in dirt on celebs. In mere days they will publish an exposé documenting that the chief justice had liaisons with an escort, paid for by a wealthy casino mogul—who recently had a case before the court. Nick has forty-eight hours to prove the story is baseless. But when the call girl is found murdered, the case takes an unexpected and dangerous turn. . .
Nick Heller is a Special Forces intelligence investigator,a "private spy" who specializes in digging up secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. In this thriller series from New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder, Nick finds himself risking his life as he makes shocking discoveries and comes up against dangerous conspiracies.
Between the Lines: Joseph Finder
Building the Perfect Hero
The Big Thrill By James W. Ziskin June 30, 2016
My Review
A special thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Stunning Cover! Following (2015) standalone (now in paperback), 5 Stars The Fixer, New York Times bestseller, Joseph Finder returns with first-rate action, spy thriller of the year, GUILTY MINDS. Razor Sharp, top-of-the-line thriller author, the proficient storyteller, returns with our favorite mysterious spy, (#3 Nick Heller) the best of the series! High-powered Nick Heller, Boston-based private intelligence operative meets his latest challenge: Slander Sheet, a prostitute, Washington, Chief Justice, scandal, a dangerous conspiracy, corruption, power, extortion, murder. A deadline: 48 hours. Tick-Tock. Nick Heller’s job is nothing more than figuring out who’s lying and why, and to catch them at it. He has a knack for detecting lies. Lies are his business. White lies are the grease that keeps the social engines running. But lies—real lies are the source of all trouble. He specializes in digging up secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. Nick Heller is tough, smart, and cultured.
“Born into great wealth–his father, the odious Victor Heller, was the Dark Prince of Wall Street–and then lived in poverty after his father was imprisoned for securities fraud. He is equally comfortable around rich people as well as blue collar. He knows the world of high finance. He went to Yale and worked for a few summers at McKinsey, the consulting firm, but then he rebelled by doing the unthinkable—dropping out and enlisting in the army, where he did a few tours in the Special Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places, and then went into intelligence work for the Defense Department.”
He does the same sort of stuff he used to do for the government, only for the private sector — individuals, politicians, corporations. “A lie gets halfway around the world before truth has the chance to put its pants on.” Slander Sheet is about the publish an expose about Supreme Court Chief Justice’s Jerry Claflin’s relationship with a call girl. An escort service, Lily Schuyler. They offered the most beautiful, exquisite, and sensual young ladies ever to work in the escort industry. All the girls were ladies and all potential clients were gentlemen. He has never heard of the name (Kayla Pitts) Heidi L’Amour (five diamonds). He was supposedly given three nights with the hooker by a casino mogul in whose favor he had ruled in a recent case. An alibi?
Electroshock therapy at an inpatient mental health clinic. Depression. He was allegedly seeing a call girl during the same time he was being treated at Sibley. A set up? One of the finest hotels in DC, only a few blocks from the White House. Nick Heller has 48 hours to discredit the allegation. Who is the power and money behind Slander Sheet? Things get complicated. Pitts is found dead, an apparent suicide. Who murdered Kayla? Did the defendant intend to commit the crime? Literally, guilty mind.” Who is trying to destroy him? Who benefits? It doesn’t get any better! Finder pulls out all the stops with his latest adventure. One of my favorite action thriller authors, whether a standalone or series, Finder, first-class with his research and the latest trends –from plot, pacing, twists, to unforgettable characters. If you have read Finder’s bio you will learn he always wanted to be a spy. Joseph, you are truly a spy! You were meant to write spy novels. You have to be a spy at heart in order to deliver a convincing dynamic series. One of the most important aspects of spying is collecting relevant information, which is why it is often referred to as intelligence. To write good spy suspense, takes the same skill set, plus more. You get to create your own characters, scandals, settings, and your superb endings. What could be better? PS. A rock star with execution, wit, innovation, and non-stop action; top of this genre. Often I am asked as a female reader, why I love spy thrillers? They are edgy, intriguing, sophisticated, contemporary, mysterious, sexy, intelligent, action-filled and dangerous! A fan of political thrillers, crime, mystery, and modern detective techniques = Guilty Minds! Your “Reverse—Reveal—Surprise” works! Read more Between the Lines: Joseph Finder “Building the Perfect Hero.” Learn more about Nick and his background by reading the previous books in the series. Highly Recommend the series as well as his famous standalones!
Review Links:
PRH Audio Guilty Minds by Joseph Finder, read by Holter Graham
Advance Praise
"Finder shows off his top-notch storytelling skills, moving with ease from high places to low in the nation's capital." —Kirkus Reviews
“Finder really knows his way around a thriller, and his sensibilities about Washington, scandal, and the immediacy—and threat—of digital publishing and electronic surveillance seem chillingly plausible. This is an exciting, insightful thriller with finely sketched characters—in other words, a sure bet in public libraries.” —Booklist (starred review)
"[A] tight plot, sharp dialogue, and a cast of intriguing characters keep the story a cut above the genre pack.” —Publishers Weekly
"Finder (The Fixer) shows off his clever storytelling skills by packing action, politics, and modern detective techniques into a complicated plotline that leads to murder." —Library Journal
“This is a dark tale of intrigue and underhanded politics…If you’re a Finder fan, this book will not disappoint you. If you’re not, you might become one after this read.” —Suspense Magazine
"Finder’s prose is lean, the pacing swift and agile, and the plot well worth gossiping about." —Minneapolis Star Tribune
About the Author
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 Strand Critics Award for Best Novel for BURIED SECRETS (2011), 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.) Read More
THE FIXER
Now Available in Paperback!
By: Joseph Finder
ISBN: 9780451472571
Publisher: Penguin/Dutton
Publication Date: 5/3/2016
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 5 Stars
New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder delivers his next breakneck stand-alone thriller about the secrets families can keep, and the danger of their discovery.
