Paranoia, by Joseph Finder

Joseph Finder. Paranoia. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004. 424 pages. ISBN 0312319142.

In Joseph Finder's Paranoia, Adam Cassidy gets himself in a jam by authorizing a catered party for a friend's retirement. Using authorization codes that he wasn't authorized to use, he ends up costing the firm where he works $78,000. When he's called before his bosses the next morning, he expects to be fired, and he isn't unhappy with the prospects of being jobless. He's so unenthusiastic about working for a living that he makes an effort every day to do as little as possible.

Instead of being fired, though, he's first threatened with prosecution and imprisonment. After he's thoroughly frightened, he's offered a deal. He will apply for a job at his firm's biggest competitor, and then use his position to work as an industrial spy. Adam applies himself to a crash course in spy craft, gets the job, and begins to seek information that will help his original employer. Before long, however, he begins to be torn by his competing loyalties. He forms relationships at his new job with another employee, as well as with the owner, who becomes a father figure. He decides to break his connection with his former employers, but try to maintain his new status.

As much as I wanted to like this book, I was put off from the start. All thrillers rely on the reader to suspend disbelief, but this book's plot was so outrageous that I found it impossible to enjoy. Adam's quick rise in the new firm, his mastery of all the technology needed to conduct corporate espionage, and his manipulation of everyone around him were ridiculous.

I've enjoyed other books by Joseph Finder, but I can't recommend this one.