Vanished: A Nick Heller Novel

Joseph Finder

Aug 2009 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

Nick Heller is tough, smart, and stubborn. And in his line of work, it's essential. Trained in the Special Forces, Nick is a high-powered intelligence investigator--exposing secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He's a guy you don't want to mess with. He's also the man you call when you need a problem fixed.

Desperate, with nowhere else to run, Nick's nephew, Gabe makes that call one night. After being attacked in Georgetown, his mother, Lauren, lies in a coma, and his step-dad, Roger, Nick'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 strayed from the path, Roger followed their father's footsteps into the corporate 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, in Joseph Finder's thrilling Vanished.

Ratings and reviews

Lauren Heller and her husband, Roger, are out to dinner when she's attacked. When she wakes up in the hospital, she learns that Roger has disappeared. Nick Heller is a former Special Services member and an investigator. As the story opens he's just stopped a cargo full of money from being stolen from a plane in a regional airport near L.A. Although Roger and Nick haven't spoken in years, he agrees to help because he's fond on Lauren and her son, Gabe. Roger's position is chief financial officer of a corporation and he has the guilt of his father's imprisonment for insider trading and securities fraud. Wanting to ease the memory of his father's crime, he's be extra dilligent on the job. Lauren admits that Roger has told her that he had found some corruption but wouldn't say what. As Nick investigates he finds a connection to a company like Blackwater Corporation who provides mercenaries and personal protection in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also frequently bribe officials to get permission for their activity. There is good action as Nick comes against these mercenaries and he reminds me of Jack Reacher. This is a well written financial thriller and I look forward to the next story with Nick Heller.

This was a nice intro for a new character. I enjoyed Nick Heller and his comrades, and the plot moved quickly while holding my attention.

Good read

About the author

Joseph Finder is the author of several New York Times bestselling thrillers, including Buried Secrets, High Crimes, Paranoia and the first Nick Heller novel, Vanished. Killer Instinct won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Thriller, and Company Man won the Barry and Gumshoe Awards for Best Thriller. High Crimes was the basis of the Morgan Freeman/Ashley Judd movie, and Paranoia was the basis for 2013 film with Liam Hemsworth, Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. Born in Chicago, Finder studied Russian at Yale and Harvard. He was recruited by the CIA, but decided he preferred writing fiction. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Association for Former Intelligence Officers, he lives in Boston, Massachusetts.