Buried Secrets is a gripping thriller novel by Joseph Finder, featuring private corporate investigator Nick Heller. The story begins with Nick returning to his hometown of Boston to set up his own agency. There he is urgently summoned by an old family friend, hedge fund titan Marshall Marcus, whose teenage daughter Alexandra has just been kidnapped. Alexandra’s abduction was a sophisticated, professional job, done with extraordinary precision, leaving no trace evidence. Alexandra, whom Nick has known since she was an infant, is now buried alive, held prisoner in an underground crypt, a camera trained on her, her suffering streaming live over the internet for all to see. She’s been left with a limited supply of food and water and, if her father doesn’t meet the demands of her shadowy kidnappers, she’ll die.

As Nick begins to probe, he discovers that his old friend Marshall Marcus seems to have been running a Ponzi scheme. His fund has collapsed, the FBI has arrested him, and now he’s become the most hated man in America. He has a lot of powerful enemies who may have the motivation to go after his daughter. But to find out who’s holding Alexandra Marcus hostage, Nick has to find out why. And once he does, he uncovers an astonishing conspiracy that reaches up to the highest levels of government.

The book is a page-turner, with a well-crafted plot that keeps the reader engaged throughout. Finder’s writing style is crisp and engaging, and he does an excellent job of building suspense and tension. The characters are well-drawn, and the dialogue is sharp and realistic. Buried Secrets is a must-read for fans of the thriller genre, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. ( )

This thriller is about as fine as they get. It has a gripping plot, interesting and distinct characters, unexpected twists, and realistic action. The clock is ticking from the very first page and doesn't let up until the satisfying end.

The author makes some interesting stylistic choices here. The story is told from both the first person and third person limited points of view. But the reader is never confused about why or where they are. The setting is, for the most part, confined to a few locations in the immediate vicinity of Boston. This is unusual for a thriller these days. Most tend to range a bit wider afield. But perhaps it was done this way to emphasize the confined world of the buried girl. It works.

The prose is smooth and easy on the inner ear. The dialog is easy to follow (except for a couple of spots where the back and forth goes on slightly too long without attributions or tags). Chapters are short to emphasize the action, sometimes only a single page. Character and place descriptions are a bit old-school, taking several sentences to tell us about something that many writers are now dashing off with a couple of adjectives and a hand-wave.

This is a great summer read. How long until the next Nick Heller book? ( )

It's such a shame. This guy is clearly a very very talented writer. But he has such a zeal for torture or horrific situations I never get past the first few chapters. Stopped this one pretty quickly. ( )

“As the saying goes not every conspiracy is a theory.”
― Joseph Finder, Buried Secrets

I am a big Finder fan.And I remember reading the preview for this book and aching to read it. It looked great.

But I did not love it which is odd because I adore all Finder's books. He is king of the fast paced thriller. To date, this is the only one of his books, that I have read, that I did not care for.

The premise, of a girl buried alive while it is streamed online..bothered me but I could have got over that. I felt it seemed to go on forever. The pacing was not, for me, nearly as great as his other books that I have read. There were so many attempts to rescue the girl and I just felt the book was..or seemed..overly long.

I was also bothered by the end for some reason even though it wasn't that bad. But something was missing for me in this book, which I finished quickly. I had hoped it would be a love fest as it usually is for me and Finder books but this one left me flat. I did not take to it.

To be fair, if you are a Finder fan you should probably read it. There is not any one specific thing I can point to as to why it did not resonate with me so maybe others will have a more positive experience. ( )

An exciting book where Nick is hired to find a kidnapped teenage daughter of a family friend. The plot is pretty involved, Nick has to uncover layer upon layer of lies and cover ups. Nick Heller is a great character and mixes wonderful wit with a true taste of adventure. Another good read by this author. ( )