Vanished, by Joseph Finder (Headline)
Nick Heller, former United States Special Forces turned investigator, returns in a new thriller in which he investigates the disappearance, possible kidnapping or even murder of his brother Roger, a Washington DC businessman who may have stumbled across something he shouldn’t at work.
Roger and his wife Lauren (who works for the same company) are attacked on their way home from dinner. Lauren is knocked unconscious and Roger disappears. Their distraught son, Gabe, calls in uncle Nick to find his dad. As Nick investigates his brother’s disappearance — for evidence soon turns out that Roger is probably alive and either kidnapped or in hiding from those who came after him — he soon finds himself tangling with a ruthless group of mercenaries with ties to the US government, and possibly to the corporate investigations company for which Nick works.
Naturally there are twists and turns in the plot. Nothing is as it seems, which is what one expects in a techno-thriller. Even Nick and Roger’s father, a crooked businessman serving 30 years in a state penitentiary for corruption, embezzlement and fraud, seem to be involved, as — it seems — is Nick’s own boss.
Unlike many tales of its type, which can be quite predictable once one gets about 100 pages in, Finder manages to keep one guessing, almost to the end.
What is also impressive is the way in which the author weaves into the story just the right amount of state-of-the-art technical details about electronic surveillance in the corporate and banking world. The result is an enjoyable criminal caper among mercenaries with guns and credit cards …
It’s always interesting to see how “bad guys” in thrillers reflect the times. After all the malfeasance, corruption and plain stupidity one has seen in global business — and the new spotlight Iraq and attempted coups in places like Equatorial Guinea has placed on mercenaries — it is not too surprising to see them featured here as the “new villains”. It is also refreshing not to find a thriller featuring stock Islamic terrorists from Central Casting!