Kindle Book Review: Vanished by Joe Finder

The first Finder book I read was Paranoia because it was available free for the Kindle, and my husband couldn’t stop raving about it after reading it on his Kindle DX. Immediately after reading Paranoia, we sought out all the Finder books we could get, and saw that Vanished was being published soon.

Vanished tells the story of Nick Heller, an intelligence investigator trained by Special Forces. When his sister-in-law is attacked, his brother Roger disappears and his nephew calls him in to help find his Dad. Nick begins to investigate Roger’s disappearance, despite their rocky relationship, because of his love for his nephew Gabe. The further Nick digs, the more confusing – and dangerous – things get, and he starts to learn things about his brother that he never wanted to know.

Vanished is an excellent thriller or mystery novel novel. It has action and fast-paced plot progression, but it also has a very smartly written main character. I felt like Nick Heller had a little bit of “Burn Notice”‘s Michael Westen in him (for those that haven’t seen USA’s “Burn Notice,” Westen is a bit like MacGyver). If Vanished gets made into a movie like Paranoia is going to be, I could definitely see Jeffrey Donovan (the actor who plays Westen) fitting into the role.

Vanished keeps you guessing throughout the whole book. Every time you think you know the answer, some new piece of information is revealed that throws your original answer off-course. The best part about this, is that Nick Heller is taking this ride with you. You know what Nick knows, making his adventures and discoveries the same as the reader’s.

I think I liked Paranoia just a smidge more than I liked Vanished, but I think that’s biased by my first-book-from-this-author attachment. I definitely recommend Vanished to anyone who likes fast-paced mystery novels, or spy-type stories. Nick Heller is an engaging character, and I hope to see more of him.

Vanished will be released August 18, 2009 and is available for pre-order for the Kindle and in hardcover.