Vanished

What the hell has Roger Heller gotten himself into? Vanished, the latest thriller from Joe Finder opens with an attack on Lauren and Roger Heller as they are leaving a Georgetown restaurant. Lauren wakes up more than 24 hours later, badly concussed. Of Roger, there is no sign. In the interim, their 14-year-old son, Gabe, has called in his uncle, Nick, for help. It is Nick Heller, brother of Roger, who Finder is setting up to be the hero of a new series of novels.

He’s made a good choice. Born to a life of extreme wealth—all of which was lost in a scandal—Nick gave up the pursuit of cash and joined the armed forces. Now he works as a private investigator for a high-end DC firm. He’s tough, charismatic, and extremely competent. show more Nick Heller strikes me as a character that could go over equally well with both men and women.

Nick and Roger haven’t been close in years, but Nick can’t leave his only brother’s disappearance entirely in the hands of the DC police. He begins his own investigation, while at the same time continuing to look into loose threads from his last work case. The deeper he digs into each, the more convoluted these two cases become. And the more enemies he seems to acquire.

Occasionally I thought I knew where Finder was going with his story, and occasionally I was right. More often I was wrong. A couple times I was completely stunned by a plot development. Joe Finder is definitely more clever than I am. Nick Heller is also more clever than I am, and the man really knows how to throw a punch. Fight scenes in the book were unusually interesting and well-written. Additionally, take it from a native Washingtonian that the DC setting was used with specificity and authenticity. (And observations like, “Washington, D.C., is to lying what Hershey, Pennsylvania, is to chocolate” made me smile.) Plenty of details that ring true do a lot to sell the whole story.

These days, I’ve got a litmus test for thrillers: Can I read it in a single day? Because it has relatively little to do with how many pages or how fast I read. It’s all about a novel holding my interest for hours on end. Vanished passed with flying colors. It’s not Finder’s strongest work, but it’s a good start to a new series. show less

OK page turner, but not good enough writing to read any more of this author. Clever, but kind of bloodless. Evident;y some people compare the Nick Heller character to Jack Reacher- not even close.

Nick Heller's brother Roger has gone missing and he's promised Roger's stepson that he'll find him. That's quite the setup and for the first half of the book, the mystery just gets deeper and deeper. Who can Nick trust? The second half of the book has the answer: almost nobody. Along the way, the pace never lets up and the danger grows.

While the story is not without flaws, the writing is clean and intense. The plot, characters, and settings gripping. The sleuthing and fighting were well done. This is a book you will dive into and not give up on until you finish it. Except then you get the feeling that it could have been more.

I felt a little cheated on some of the secondary characters. There were quite a few and they were given show more interesting introductions. But then they were mostly pawns to be brought onto the board when needed and discarded afterward. I especially wasn't quite convinced that Nick could get one of his coworkers to help him with a burglary operation, not just once, but twice. Maybe I missed something.

Thrillers are obviously difficult to write. Joe Finder is doing an admirable job. I liked this a lot more than [b:Power Play|137002|Power Play|Joseph Finder|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1187753306s/137002.jpg|1739442]. But the last third of the book was a let down. There were the character problems cited above. Things seemed to jump around a bit too much. And some resolutions were a bit obvious and easy (but there were also some good surprises). I will have another look when the next Nick Heller adventure gets told. show less

The book grabs my attention from the start. Very exciting with Nick Heller's brother, Roger, being nabbed after having dinner with his wife from a street in DC . It kept me guessing who was behind it all and if things were what they appeared to be. A good character introduction along with his family circle.

This was a fast-paced thriller which introduces the Nic Heller series. In this book Nic Heller has to struggle not only with his employer but also with his family. His brother is making racketeering with the help of his wife and their father who was imprisoned also for the same thing. Nic Heller isn't corruptible and luckily he has friends who are helping him. It's a breathtaking plot and let me guess until the very last page.

When Roger and Lauren Heller are attacked on the way back to their car from the restaurant where they had just finished eating dinner, Lauren is knocked unconscious. By the time she awakens 24 hours later, Roger has disappeared. Worried about his dad, young Gabe calls in his Uncle Nick, Roger's brother, who also happens to be a private detective. Not long after Nick Heller is on the case, a mysterious and somewhat cryptic e-mail appears in Lauren's inbox, suggesting that Roger is dead. Will Nick find his brother? Is Roger really dead or just hiding out? And just how and why is Victor Heller (Nick and Roger's father) involved in all of this?

Joseph Finder has created an interesting new hero for this new series of books, of which Vanished show more is only the intriguing start. Vanished is quickly paced, a thriller full of action and suspense from the beginning to the very end, yet has enough description to bring the characters to a fully fleshed state. This page-turner grabbed me by the collar and didn't let go until I finished reading every last page; it left me wanting more.

I was ready to give Vanished my highest rating when, with about 150 pages left to read, I suddenly "saw" the ending. This predictability isn't something I like to see in a really good book (surprise endings are the best) but I have to admit the plot twist was something worth reading. Although I already knew what would happen, I just wasn't sure of all the details... and at that point, I was already so deeply hooked, I couldn't put the book down; I had to finish.

Vanished isn't for everyone, as the violence does get rather graphic in a couple places. Still,I recommend this book for those adult readers who like thrillers and/or action packed novels and can handle the violence.

This review has been simultaneously published on Amazon.com, Dragonviews, and LibraryThing. show less

Book Description
After being attacked in Georgetown, Lauren Heller lies in a coma, and Roger, Nick Heller's brother, has vanished without a trace. Nick and Roger have been on the outs since the arrest, trial, and conviction of their father, the notorious "fugitive financier, " Victor Heller. Where Nick went into corporate investigation, Roger followed their father's footsteps into the corporate financial world. Now, as Nick searches for his brother, he's on a collision course with one of the most powerful corporations in the world--and they will stop at nothing to protect their secrets.

This was a fast-paced thriller involving the corporate world. There’s a fair amount of technology that’s used but it wasn’t too much and some of it show more was rather clever. The Nick character was likeable and funny and had interesting relationships with his father and his brother. The story was mostly plausible but occasionally Nick was lucky that things worked out. Also, at times, a bit confusing with the many different characters and places. Overall, I enjoyed this and will read more by this author. show less