Why I Love The Internet Today - Part II

Received an email today from Joseph Finder, best-selling author of Company Man & Paranoia. Finder has cornered the (relatively unfortunately small) genre of the corporate thriller. In one of my earlier blogs, pretty much defunct, but none-the-less archived, I had kind of railed on Company Man, saying I thought it wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped.

What I should've said was that I read it immediately after Paranoia, and following up that book - imo - would've been a tough gig for anyone.

Anyhow, Finder didn't give me a hard time about my review at all. In fact, as a peace offering, he offered me up a review copy of his forthcoming book, entitled Killer Instinct.

After graciously accepting, I bopped on over to Finder's website to find out what Killer Instinct is all about. From the website:

KILLER INSTINCT is about a thirty-year-old sales executive named Jason Steadman. He's married to a lovely, elegant woman, and they're trying to have a child. Jason works for a Japanese-owned electronics company that makes flat-screen plasma TVs -- a competitor to Sony and Panasonic. He's a funny, popular guy, but he lacks that "killer instinct" necessary to really get ahead.

One day he meets a man named Kurt, who was in Special Forces in Iraq. He and Kurt become friends, and Kurt's fascinated by the whole corporate world, which claims to operate by the rules of warfare -- something Kurt knows a whole lot about.

Jason gets Kurt a job in Corporate Security, and Kurt repays the favor by helping Jason out -- giving him intelligence, behind-the-scenes guidance . . . and more. Good things start to happen for Jason, and bad things happen to his rivals. In short order, Jason rockets to the top. But when he finds out what Kurt has really been doing on his behalf, he tries to put an end to it. And that's when Jason learns that his new best friend has become the most dangerous enemy imaginable. . . .

To which I say, "Holy crap." There's no way in the world I won't like this book. I mean I guess, technically, it could be a clunker, but I'm not betting on it.

So what have we learned?

1. The Internet is a great way to get your opinions not just known, but responded to.
2. Joseph Finder gets it. He gets marketing. He gets customer service.
3. Shortly, you'll find a mini-review of Killer Instinct on this website. If it stinks, mind you, I'll tell you: I can be had, but I can't be bought. That being said, I'm excited to see this book, and you should keep your eyes open for it.

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