Is this the book the movies was based upon? ( )

This early Finder is not a corporate thriller (for which he is better known), but rather a legal one and not very original (perfect husband with mysterious past is outed and now forced to come clean and answer for his alleged crimes). I found myself skimming whole pages of courtroom drama and scenes featuring a whiny brat. Somehow I don’t think I missed anything. A lot of the dialogue at the end, where a certain corrupt General was on the witness stand, were almost word for word lifted from A Few Good Men (You NEED me on that wall!). I could only picture Nicholson in my head while reading this part. Ditto for And Justice For All (You’re out of order!). It was laughable.

It was patently obvious that hubby wasn’t as innocent as he made out to be and that it would be a painful revelation for Claire once she found out. Probably a violent one, too. Some of the ‘clues’ dropped by an unknown informer were completely ignored and had they not been, the novel would have been a lot shorter. Some of the characters were created solely to manipulate the readers’ emotions and did little to further the plot (they could have been anyone) – Claire’s kid for one and the judge at the Court Martial for another. Claire’s sister Jackie was the only one who seemed to have any sense apart for her unnatural attachment to the aforementioned whiny brat. Loose ends abound as well (maybe they were tied down in the parts I skipped, but I doubt it). I didn’t really like any of the characters (except maybe for Ray, in a big detective/protector kind of way that I was supposed to) and only kept with it because it was fairly compelling in the sense that I wanted to see if it ended as hip deep in cliché as it began. It did.

Subsequent to this novel, Finder seems to have found his métier – the corporate thriller and while samey, those books are at least a bit more original than this one. He does have a talent for writing devious shenanigans though and witless protagonists who have to try to deal with them. Part of why I read Finder is to laugh at those hapless dopes as they battle the miscreant and find a way to win in the end, despite the overwhelming odds. It’s fun to watch them become suddenly crafty, physically able or (more likely) get rescued. ( )

Not very good. ( )