Joseph Finder (born October 6, 1958) is an American

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

writer. His books include ''

Paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy c ...

'', '' Company Man'', '' The Fixer'', ''

Killer Instinct ''Killer Instinct'' is a series of fighting video games originally created by Rare and published by Midway, Nintendo, and Microsoft Studios. The original ''Killer Instinct'' was released for arcades in 1994; the game was then released for ...

'', ''Power Play'', and the Nick Heller series of thrillers. His novel ''High Crimes'' was made into the film of the same name starring

Ashley Judd Ashley Judd (born Ashley Tyler Ciminella; April 19, 1968) is an American actress. She grew up in a family of performing artists: she is the daughter of the late country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of country music singer Wynonna ...

and

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...

. His novel ''Paranoia'' was adapted into a 2013 film starring

Liam Hemsworth Liam Hemsworth (born 13 January 1990) is an Australian actor. He played the roles of Josh Taylor in the soap opera ''Neighbours'' and Marcus in the children's television series ''The Elephant Princess''. In American films, Hemsworth starred as ...

Gary Oldman Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three British Academy F ...

, and

Harrison Ford Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...

Early life

Joseph Finder was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1958 and spent much of his early childhood in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

before his family returned to the United States and lived in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (loc ...

and outside

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...

. Finder majored in

Russian studies Russian studies is an interdisciplinary field crossing politics, history, culture, economics, and languages of Russia and its neighborhood, often grouped under Soviet and Communist studies. Russian studies should not be confused with the study of ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

, where he graduated ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

. He was also a bass singer in the Yale Whiffenpoofs (1980). He received a master's degree from the

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Russian Research Center and later taught on the Harvard faculty. He states that "He was recruited to the Central Intelligence Agency but eventually decided he preferred writing fiction."

Career

Finder published ''Red Carpet: The Connection Between the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...

and America's Most Powerful Businessmen'' (1983), about Dr.

Armand Hammer Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American business manager and owner, most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran from 1957 until his death. Called "Lenin's chosen capitalist" by the press, ...

's ties to Soviet

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can ...

. Finder's first novel, ''The Moscow Club'' (1991), imagined a KGB coup against Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Com ...

. His second novel, ''Extraordinary Powers'' (1994) was about the discovery of a Soviet mole in the highest ranks of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. ''Paranoia'' (2004) was a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' bestseller in both hardcover and paperback, as was ''Company Man'' (2005). Finder won the 2007

International Thriller Writers Award The International Thriller Writers Awards are awarded by International Thriller Writers International Thriller Writers (ITW), was founded October 9, 2004, at Bouchercon XXXV, the "World Mystery and Suspense Conference", in Toronto, Ontario, Canad ...

for best novel for ''

'', ( St. Martin's Press), published in May 2006. ''Power Play'', published in 2007, was nominated for a

Gumshoe Award The Gumshoe Awards are an American award for popular crime fiction literary works. The Gumshoe Awards are awarded annually by the American Internet magazine ''Mystery Ink'' (not to be confused with Mystery Inc.) to recognize the best achievements ...

. ''Vanished'', the first novel to feature Finder's series character Nick Heller, was nominated for the 2010

International Thriller Writers International Thriller Writers (ITW), was founded October 9, 2004, at Bouchercon XXXV, the "World Mystery and Suspense Conference", in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Six months later, some 150 authors with more than one billion books sold worldwide ...

Award for best novel. ''Buried Secrets'', the second Nick Heller novel, won the 2011 ''Strand Magazine'' Critics Award for Best Novel, sharing the award with ''The Cut'' by

George Pelecanos George P. Pelecanos (born February 18, 1957) is an American author. Many of his 20 books are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television wri ...

. ''Suspicion'' (2014) was the first book to be published under Finder's new contract with Dutton, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; ''The Fixer'', another standalone, followed in 2015. ''Guilty Minds'', the third novel to feature Finder's series character, Nick Heller, was published in summer 2016. Another standalone novel, ''Judgment'', was published in 2019. Dutton published the fourth Nick Heller novel, ''House on Fire'', in 2020. Finder is a founding member of the

Association and served as

Financial Advisor A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory ...

International PEN PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internatio ...

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. He is also a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. He writes on espionage and international affairs for publications including ''The New York Times'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

''.

Books

Nick Heller series

# ''Vanished'', , 2009, paperback 2010 # ''Buried Secrets'', , Summer 2011 # ''"Plan B"'', 2011 # ''"Good and Valuable Consideration"'', in

Faceoff A face-off is the method used to begin and restart play after goals in some sports using sticks, primarily ice hockey, bandy, floorball, broomball, rinkball, and lacrosse. During a face-off, two teams line up in opposition to each other, and ...

, (with

Jack Reacher Jack Reacher is the protagonist of a series of crime thriller novels by British author Lee Child. In the stories, Jack Reacher was a major in the US Army's military police. Having left the Army at age 36, Reacher roams the United States, tak ...

) September 2014 (co-written with

Lee Child James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his ''Jack Reacher'' novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American ...

) # ''Guilty Minds'', , July 2016 # ''House on Fire'', , January 2020

Other novels

*''The Moscow Club'', paperback 1991 (out of print) *''Extraordinary Powers'', paperback 1994 (out of print) *''The Zero Hour'', paperback 1996 (out of print) *''High Crimes'', paperback 1998 *''

'', paperback 2004 *''Company Man'' (retitled ''No Hiding Place'' in UK), paperback 2005 *''

'', (hardcover) 2006 *''Power Play'', (hardcover) 2007 *''Suspicion'', (hardcover) May 27, 2014 *''The Fixer'', (hardcover) June 9, 2015 *''The Switch'', (hardcover) June 13, 2017 *''Judgment'', (hardcover) January 29, 2019

Nonfiction

*''Red Carpet: The Connection Between the Kremlin and America's Most Powerful Businessmen''. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston (1983).

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finder, Joseph 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American thriller writers Writers from Chicago Yale University alumni Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty Living people 1958 births 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Illinois Novelists from Massachusetts Barry Award winners