The Finder: A Novel
by Colin Harrison
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Book Reviews of The Finder: A Novel
Book Review: Stock markets function on the quaint theory that they are effective
Summary: 4 Stars
Colin Harrison writes intelligent thrillers w/o a serial hero, maybe except New York and the wonders of globalization.
I liked the Havana Room a lot, and the Finder has the additional attraction of a China connection. The plot doesn't need to be summarized again, that has been done by Amazon and other reviewers.
CH has the ability to tell a not so unusual story in a fresh and surprising way. He stays away from the cliches and the stereotypes that make me drop many thrillers on similar subjects lost in boredom.
I deduct a star because I am not 100% convinced that the plot driver here would work in real life: the office cleaning company as industrial spy agent who feeds investors half around the world with the info that they need to manipulate the share prices of small startup companies in Wall Street. Well, I don't know. Also, there are some minor blunders about things Chinese, eg his handling of names.
But he hits the right tone for me and his protagonists make sense. Even the Chinese ones, though Li Jin's brother bothered me a bit. He looked too simplistic at first glance (the supersmart but overexposed criminal stock manipulator from a formerly poor family), but then, if you look at the bios of similar real life men and women, they are like that apparently.
And the underworld is remarkably diversified. We also meet the more conventional business models of the Mafia and the Mexican drugring.
The suspense is fueled by more than one line of uncertainty: what is happening to Jin? who is her hero Ray, really? which of the different ethnic gangs is the most evil? possibly the local rich boy?
Book Review: Whimper of an ending, but still a journey worth taking
Summary: 4 Stars
A young Chinese woman who runs a document-shredding firm. A pharmacy company's vice-president who seems to be in a panic. An old Wall Street tycoon who dislikes being trifled with and has a way of making people regret it. A retired policeman and his scarred (both physically and emotionally) son. A Mafia-connected psychopath. And two dead Mexican girls, killed in a way that's clearly meant to send a message. How all these people connect is the joy of Colin Harrison's newest thriller, which is set against the background of post-9/11 insider trading scandals and the concerns over the teetering economy. As usual for Harrison, he mixes social commentary nicely in with the thriller plotting, tying his characters' motivations inextricably to the place and time from which they come and making his novel all the more contemporary and relevant for it. The plot of The Finder is more simple than you might expect, and Harrison lays all the cards on the table surprisingly early, which renders the book's conclusion not as thrilling as you might hope, feeling more like a foregone conclusion as all of the Chekhov's guns laid throughout the book finally go off. Still, The Finder makes for a solid, intelligent thriller, one that plays nicely off of the tensions of the time. And even with the foreshadowed ending, Harrison constructs his book well-enough to keep it enthralling, even as you're aware that everything is just kind of unwinding according to plan at the end. It may be a whimper and not a bang that ends the book, but the journey there is still worth taking.Book Review: Brutally intelligent....
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is not for the squeamish. There is so much going on that you wonder how Harrison keeps it all together, and keeps it all believable. But he does! It is a fascinating look into the different sub-cultures in New York and how closely they can be related, despite being completely different. It reminds me of a line from a Kirsty MacColl song "from an uptown apartment to a knife on the A train, it's not that far....".
I enjoyed "The Havana Room" but this one just blew me away. Despite being relatively short in length (which is a blessing considering every other book these days seems to be needlessly long) Harrison introduces two very complex characters, Ray and Jin Li. They are both simultaneously criminal yet compassionate. We seem to know what they are thinking, despite their complex pasts, and we root for them. The rest of the seemingly unrelated characters round out the circle beautifully, each one at once powerful yet vulnerable. The book is written with intelligence and realism.
Book Review: Harrison's Best in Awhile
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Finder" isn't quite as good as Harrison's earliest books, but it is better than the "Havana Room" and an engaging read from the beginning. The story focuses on a young Chinese immigrant, who actively participates in a web of intrigues that turn to murder. Instead of being a conventional "woman in jeopardy", she is a woman who is able to draw on strength, as well as resources from a recently fizzled relationship. The story revolves mostly around her, but also includes her thuggish, businessman brother and her former boyfriend, the strong, but wounded Ray, along with Ray's father, some shadowy mob-type characters, and latter day counterparts to the "Wall Street"/"Bonfire of the Vanities" crowd. The story is tied up a little too neatly with a few too many cliches (hence 4 stars, instead of 5). Still, it got me interested in going wherever Harrison goes next.Book Review: Cool but dirty New York Thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
This was my first Harrison thriller but I was positively surprised by how much I liked it. I live in NYC and its always nice to read about about New York even though I live here because it is the best city in the world. Harrison who also lives here knows all the down and dirty things about this city and its mix of amazing characters. The book starts off with a truly shocking murder that at once repulses but also fascinates because we all know that truly sick people live in this world and some of them have thought about actually doing something like this. While the mystery aspect almost takes a backseat to the characterizations of the people, the ending is satisfying and even a little profound. I will read "Bodies Electric" next (which for some reason is not in print right now and I had to buy it used) .