Killer Instinct

A couple of days ago I finished reading Killer Instinct, the 400th book I've read in my life. I'm sure there are some that I have missed. And believe me, they drive me crazy, but I feel driven to read as many books as possible. To do that, I've cataloged the books I've read at Goodreads.

Now I was ready to move on to corporate thrillers.

So, Killer Instinct. How do I feel about it?

Satisfied.

I've never really read Joe Finder until a couple of months ago. Usually I read Brad Meltzer for my conspiracy thriller fix. Joe Finder, however, has been needling me for a while. One of his books, Company Man, has been sitting on my book shelf for a while. Its my wife's copy. She told me one of her aunts suggested him. She stopped halfway through. "What's the matter?" I asked. "You didn't like it?"

"No," she said, "nothing like that. It was just so...suspenseful. I couldn't handle the stress."

Not such a bad blurb, huh Joe Finder?

And with that tidbit, I decided to dive right in. Not into Company Man, mind you, but a Nick Heller book called Vanished. It was really good. A great kickoff to an intriguing series. The author says that he's written the books, 2 so far, in a way where you could start anywhere in the series and not be lost.

Now, with Killer Instinct we have a unique good guy named Jason Stedman. He's an every man who hasn't been given his due. His wife is pressuring him to step up in the company, but that's hard to do when his boss loathes him. The story starts when Jason has some car trouble and is towed by an ex-military man, Kurt Semco, who bonds with Jason on the ride home. This Kurt guy has had it rough. He hasn't had a good job since a dishonorable discharge landed on his record. Jason decides to put in a good word to his company's security director and just like that, Kurt is working again. However, things go sour when Jason realizes that Kurt didn't tell him the whole story. It seems that Kurt is too good of a friend, sabotaging Jason's colleagues to boost his friend up in the company.

It's filled with a lot of surprise moments but also has some I could spot right away. Surprisingly, this didn't take away from the flow of the story. As with any villain in a story, I'm always hooked to see what happens at the end. The ending was a shock but I got over it.

So far, that's two great books from Joseph Finder. Have to hand it to him, he knows and loves what he's doing and it shows in his writing.

Maybe I'll give that Company Man a try now...