Suspicion

By: Joseph Finder

Narrated by: Steven Kearney

One bad choice gets a father caught up in a deadly situation in this electrifying thriller from New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder.

Single father Danny Goodman suddenly finds himself unable to afford the private school his daughter adores. Then Danny meets Thomas Galvin, the father of his daughter's new best friend and one of the wealthiest men in Boston. Out of the blue Galvin offers a loan to help Danny out. Desperate, he takes the money, promising to pay it back.

But the moment the money is wired into his account, the DEA comes knocking. Danny’s impossible choice: an indictment for accepting drug money, or a treacherous assignment to help the government get close to his new best friend.

As Danny begins to lie to everyone in his life, including those he loves most, he must decide once and for all who the real enemy is or risk losing everything—and everyone—that matters to him.

phoning it in

I've liked Finder books in the past, but only finished this one to see if he could rescue it. It's a flimsy pretext with obvious reversals filtered through stock conflicts with the daughter and girlfriend. For the most part the scenes are barely sketched in, more like notes than a novel. In the second half Finder seems to be paying more attention to setting, but spends most of his time on a skiing scenario that reveals he evidently doesn't ski.

This sounds like an early attempt at a potboiler or something written in haste to fulfill a contract. A better narrator wouldn't have been able to salvage much more from the bad writing, but this narrator didn't do it any favors.

Suspicion

Would you listen to Suspicion again? Why?

No I would not listen to it again.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Danny Goodman

What does Steven Kearney bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great voice.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

If there's no one you can trust, suspicion overwhelms you.

Any additional comments?

I thought the story didn't hold together for a while but Joseph Finder masterfully put everything in place.

Edge of your seat

Great character development

Wonderful reference s around Boston.

True and current position s around town

Worth waiting for

Picturing the area easy.

Narrator is exceptional

Awesome Reas.

This is a book that I did not want to end. Totally enjoyed it.

good cross between Paranoia and Gold Coast

A prep school father borrows money for tuition for his child, and gets drawn into a world of crime and blackmail. The author Joseph Finder knows the Boston prep school world well, and captures it, which is one of the big pluses of the book. I cared about Danny, the protagonist, and his family. This thriller was filled with characters that were interesting and believable enough to keep my interest. Finder's "Paranoia" and DeMille's "Gold Coast" are two of my favorite thrillers. The 'regular guy getting drawn in to crime" is from Paranoia, and the 'regular guy befriending a charismatic criminal kingpin" is from Gold Coast. Both are played effectively in this impelling mystery/thriller. Had I not read either of those other two books, I right have rated this a 5 star novel, but I too often had that "been there" feeling while reading. It's been a few years since the author has written a novel. The wait was worth it, as I had gotten tired of the old formula. Suspicion was good enough for me to check out his next novel.