Power Play by Joseph Finder

Jake Landry works as the chief assistant to the Executive Vice President of Hammond Air. Jake's job is to maintain order and facilitate communications between all the groups working to produce Hammond's latest plane, the H-880. His knowledge of planes and his problem-solving abilities make him a valuable employee, but he's still very low in the corporate pecking order. That suits Jake fine and he's happy to keep his head down and just do his job.

That all changes when Jake's boss has to make an emergency sales pitch to a key client and is unable to attend a critical executive off-site. Someone has to be available to answer questions about the H-880 and much to his chagrin Jake is that someone.

The prospect of spending four days doing team-building exercises with self-satisfied executives fills Jake with dread, but dealing with a group of men who each want to be the Alpha dog is soon the least of his problems. A group of armed men break into their isolated retreat and take them all hostage, demanding a half billion dollars in ransom. Jake knows that if the gunman get their money they'll have no further use for the hostages, so he draws on skills he learned before joining the corporate world to save himself and his coworkers.


I think is book would be classified as a corporate thriller. Books like this tend to follow a certain pattern. An "every man" gets caught up in a dangerous situation and has to use hidden talents to save the day. For me the success of this type of book depends on the overall quality of the writing, the likability of the hero and whether or not the details of the story are interesting and authentic. On that basis I thought Power Play was a solid effort.

Finder's writing is crisp and the plot moves along at a good pace. I liked Jake and was interested in his story. There was enough information about airplane construction to lend authenticity and interest, but not so much that the story bogged down. And the characterization of corporate executives was certainly spot on. I admit that, as a former corporate employee, I was entertained by the idea of an off-site turning into an actual life or death situation.

Grade: B