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The Fixer
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The Fixer
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The Fixer
Audiobook9 hours

The Fixer

Written by Joseph Finder

Narrated by Steven Kearney

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder's breakneck stand-alone thriller about the secrets families can keep--and the danger of their discovery.

When former investigative reporter Rick Hoffman loses his job, fiancée, and apartment, his only option is to move back into-and renovate-the home of his miserable youth, now empty and in decay since the stroke that put his father in a nursing home.

As Rick starts to pull apart the old house, he makes an electrifying discovery-millions of dollars hidden in the walls. It's enough money to completely transform Rick's life-and everything he thought he knew about his father.  Yet the more of his father's hidden past that Rick brings to light, the more dangerous his present becomes. Soon, he finds himself on the run from deadly enemies desperate to keep the past buried, and only solving the mystery of his father-a man who has been unable to communicate, comprehend, or care for himself for almost 20 years-will save Rick...if he can survive long enough to do it.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 9, 2015
ISBN9780698402706
Unavailable
The Fixer
Author

Joseph Finder

Joseph Finder is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen previous novels including The Switch, Suspicion and The Fixer. Finder's international bestseller Killer Instinct won the International Thriller Writer's Award for Best Novel. He studied Russian at Yale and Harvard, after which he was recruited by the CIA. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts. www.josephfinder.com

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Reviews for The Fixer

Rating: 3.691304419130435 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

115 ratings23 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Rick Hoffman, ace investigative reporter, loses his job, six-figure income, and, thereby, his gorgeous fiancée due to declining newspaper sales. This was the first Finder book I've read, and I'll probably read more of his books. The story is set in Boston and the writer assumes everyone has been there. When Rick finds $$$$ hidden in the wall of his father's house, adventures ensue. Pretty good book. Fast, fun read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Entertaining if somewhat short on suspense and the end was a little disappointing I thought. Good characters and some decent action scenes kept this fun most of the way through.

    3.5 stars for a fun read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've enjoyed Joseph Finder novels in the past, but I didn't think this one was up to par. The story moved along quickly, was mildly interesting, and was a fast read. I didn't feel overly involved with the characters, however. Disappointing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Recently fired investigative reporter whose paralyzed and mute father is in a nursing home, decides to sell his father's house. He discovers a fake wall in the back of a closet and three million dollars hidden in the crawl space. Thugs, contractors, etc. start tailing him around to discover where he put the money while he starts investigating to find out how his father got this much cash.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Yakov "Ivanovitch" Bok is a poor Jewish handyman in Russia, a fixer. When his wife of five years couldn't produce a child he stopped having sex with her. This prompted her to run off with another man. Left with his father-in-law and no prospects for work, Yakov decides to leave his little shetl for the bigger city of Kiev. He knows that leaving the safety of the Jewish village is a dangerous risk. Kiev is full of anti-semites hungry for the blood of his people. But, he is 30 years old and is losing faith, just short of becoming desperate. A short time after arriving in Kiev he comes across a drunk man lying face down in the snow. His manner of dress tells Yakov the man is not only wealthy, but an anti-semite. Despite this Yakov helps him out of the snow. Nikolai Maximovitch is indeed wealthy and, feeling very much indebted to Yakov, gives him work. He further rewards Yakov with a job as overseer at his brick company and gives Yakov permission to see his only daughter, a crippled by the name of Zina. Despite Yakov's fear of being found a Jew and against his better judgement he reluctantly accepts the job but has nothing to do with Zina. A series of misfortunes lands Yakov in jail where he is accused of being Jewish, attacking Zina, and worse, committing murder. Based on a true story this is a very, very difficult story to read. Yakov's plight is horrible, his situation, dire and it doesn't improve.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    With the possible exception of Night by Elie Wiesel, The Fixer is the most powerful and affecting book I've ever read.It tells the story of a Jew living in Russia ~1920. The Fixer is a man who has grown up in the Jewish ghetto and moves into the city of Kiev in an attempt to make a better life for himself.He gets a job and all is going well until he runs across a man who is passed out, drunk, in the street. After he helps him to his home, the grateful man offers him a well paying job in his warehouse. Though the Fixer knows that it's in an area of Kiev where Jews are not allowed, he accepts the job anyway.Eventually he is arrested for living in a Jew-Free-Zone and subsequently is charged with the murder of a local boy. The majority of this book takes place in prison, where the fixer tries desperately to get access to a lawyer, to get an indictment or to just understand at all what the charges before him are.He is poisoned. He is chained to a wall. He's beaten, he's sexually assaulted. Throughout it all, his captures promise to let him go if he will only admit that he killed the boy because 'the Jews' told him to. He is not a religious man, yet he refuses to pass on the blame.This story was incredibly hard to read. Overall, an outstanding and highly moving book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Malamud won both the National Book Award and the Pullitzer prize for this novel. Set in Kiev in 1911 during a period of heightened anti-Semitism, the novel tells the story of Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman blamed for the brutal murder of a young Russian boy.If you're looking for an uplifting read don't go here, but if you're looking for something to keep you thinking after you've finished, it's well worth it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At times painfully funny if viewed absurdly, unfortunately reality seeps in and all becomes cruelly plausible as you realize too many people still cling to superstitions and ignorance where "different" people and races are concerned. Read at your own risk.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    What a difficult book to read, and, I can only imagine, to write. We start with the injustice of poverty and lack of opportunity in the shtetl and move almost directly into a variety of unjust accusations leveled against Yakov Bok, who has become a scapegoat for all the imagined evil deeds of all the Jews in Russia.Bok leaves the shtetl with hopes of a better life in Kiev. At first, things look up for him. Serendipity finds him a good job, and he is able to afford some books, and even put away some money. The catch is that he has to live in a district from which Jews are forbidden from living. All goes well, although Bok is not a popular figure, until a young boy is found murdered in a cave nearby.The police show up at his door, arrest him, and summarily throw him in prison. Things go from bad to worse as he is forced to submit to increasingly cruel and dehumanizing treatment, not least of which is having to repeatedly listen to the many crimes he is supposed to have committed. But he steadfastly declares his innocence, and it is this that is supposed to make him one literature's greatest heroes. I'm not so sure about this, but certainly he is a strong character.His strength almost makes this book harder to read, though. I found myself almost wishing he would confess, even though I knew he was innocent, just so the horribleness would end. But he and I both knew that confessing to a crime that he didn't commit wouldn't help at all, either his own dignity, or the plight of the Jews in Russia. So we endured together until the trial, to which Bok is on his way at the end of the book. At first I was disappointed that we don't fight out what happens at the trial, but then I realized that the result of the trial isn't the point of the book. It's the persecution and the strength that it reveals that really matter.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Author Malamud has created a character, Yakov Bok, who embodies the definition of endurance. Living the in the early part of the twentieth century under Czarist rule, Yakov is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. Because Yakov is a Jew, his plight is not just about the crime but about the state of persecution which existed in the Russian state. Malamud writes convincingly of what life must have been like in a Russian prison, living for years at a time in solitary confinement, not even being tried for the crime until the state can manufacture enough evidence to convict an innocent man. Bok is a three dimension character, full of faults yet also able to stand up for a principle. In some ways, the prose is painful as Malamud does a masterful job of describing the suffering of not only Bok, but of those others who try to help him. My only complaint (and the reason it did not get 5 stars) was the ending which was so abrupt that I actually checked to make sure that the copy I had did not have any ripped out pages. I didn't need a complete wrap up but felt that at least some hint of the future for Bok was needed. I am sure that Malamud felt that his ending allowed the reader to write their own, but I would have liked at least a better conclusion. Overall, however, I would still rank this book as a must read. I have studied a lot of Russian history but this viewpoint is usually from those of wealth and power. Reading about the trials if the everyday Russian Jew was fascinating.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Reviews were great. Couldn't wait to read. Bit bored at page 50. Gave it one more shot. Loved it. Great story. Always love a Boston setting. Complex characters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Since I'll be having a number of tests at the hospital next week, I wanted to find an author I enjoy and an easy read. I was successful in both with "The Fixer" by Joseph Finder. The only problem is that it's such a good story that I kept reading and finished in a couple of days. Darn.The novel opens with investigative reporter Rick Hoffman moving into his father's former home. His father suffered a massive stroke years ago and is in a convalescent home - unable to communicate.Rick is down on his luck, with a break-up with his fiancee and the loss of his job. Now, he decides to renovate the house and maybe sell it for a profit. When he breaks out a wall, he finds neatly bound stacks of money at over three million dollars in value. (Have to admit that as I was reading this part, I checked out the walls in my house wondering...)His father, Leonard, had been an attorney with a questionable clientele. With Rick's reporting background, he decides to look into his father's past, thinking that there might be a good story that he could write and revitalize his reporting career.The idea behind the story was sound and as Rick's places the money into various banks, he changes his lifestyle and starts spending the money.He's noticed by some unsavory characters and a group called TPB - the powers that be and something happens that I won't divulge and spoil the story.Rick meets an old girlfriend and things begin looking up.The pace was fast and the story kept me awake at night wanting to see what would happen next.However, I was never drawn to the leading character and didn't have sympathy for his plight.3.5 * but not quite 4.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'd read the short story that Joseph Finder co-authored with Lee Child in the International Thriller Writers' collection, but this is my first time to read one of Joseph Finder's thrillers. I was fortunate enough to listen to Lee Child and Joseph Finder discuss how they worked on the short story and their differing writing methods during ThrillerFest last year. Finder's latest novel, The Fixer is a standalone novel. I've spent much of my life in Boston and manage property in the Back Bay and South End, so I appreciated the details that Finder wove into the story. The descriptions of real estate aren't just spot on, but they helped give me a sense of the different characters. It certainly added to my enjoyment of The Fixer.The protagonist, Rick Hoffman, goes through a great deal and his investigative skills help him solve the mystery of the unexplained cash. He takes quite a journey and I'm not sad to say that he got battered up (literally and figuratively) along the way. To be honest, I didn't much like Rick, but the romantic subplot gives us a good sense of who Rick is. And it made me like him even less. Fortunately, this is a standalone and we won't be seeing much more of Rick Hoffman.I did grow to care for Rick's father a great deal. The thing that I loved best about The Fixer was the masterful way that Finder introduced us to Lenny Hoffman and the way that he let drop details of Lenny's life. The scene in the Supreme Court and the struggles that he had balancing the person/lawyer that he'd hoped to be and the lawyer that he was resonated with me. I thoroughly enjoyed The Fixer and am looking forward to reading Joseph Finder's earlier novels - as well as what comes next!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I got a copy of this through First to Read, Penguin's advance copy program. I was super excited because Joseph Finder seems like a really nice guy and I really liked his Paranoia, I felt like it captured the telecom/tech industry really well. So maybe I didn't enjoy The Fixer as much because I didn't work in the magazine industry, but there felt like there was something a little flatter in this book. There was a lot of description, and it's obvious that Mr. Finder loves his adopted home of Boston, but I felt a lot of of felt clunky, vague, as if afraid to commit.Around page 76, in the BlueFire Reader edition, there's a scene in which Rick, the main character, finds himself in a situation that might be a bit disorienting, but in the span of one paragraph we hear the voice he hears are Irish, *maybe*, that the thing he tastes is *maybe* burlap, something he jams his foot into isn't steel, it's *probably* human. The other, most egregious example of the reader being beaten over the head with something was later on in the book, page 173, where Rick understands something, but "Dr. Girona went on as if Rick hadn't replied," and we're treated to the definition of a stroke.The story was a promising one, but I struggled to find Rick all that interesting (he loses the riches and fame of a lifestyle you're not quite sure he's earned, and then re-earns the riches, sort of, and becomes a d**khead again for a short while) and I found the extensive wardrobe descriptions a little tedious after a while.I'd go back to Finder again in the future, because he's got a great history of fun, ripping reads, and this would make a good beach read where you can skim the description a little bit more when you have to squint because the sun has come out from behind the clouds again. But this one wasn't his best.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Once a journalist, Rick Hoffman, lost his job; goes from rich to poor and ends up sleeping in an empty bedroom of his father’s abandoned house. His dad had a stroke some years earlier, lives in a rest home and this house is slowly falling apart. His neighbor offers to fix it up for a portion of the sales price. That is until Rick stumbles across a hidden stash of bills; like a few million dollars’ worth.First, he tries to hide it from his neighbor. Second he tries to hide it permanently and wonders where his father got it from. But his dad can’t speak and he does some investigating. But when people start trying to kill him, the story reals begins to take off. Rick Hoffman is not an antagonist that is likable in the beginning and he began to grow on me. The suspense of not knowing where this money was from or its purpose had me not want to stop reading. I enjoyed it as it invoked a few emotions in me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Fixer is my first experience with a Joseph Finder novel, and I have to admit that near the beginning of the book I experienced one of those “been there, done that” moments that had me questioning my intent to finish it. But I persisted, and that turned out to be a good decision on my part because, in the process, I found out just how good a storyteller Finder is.The “been there, done that” moment hit me when I realized that the thriller’s basic plot sounded very familiar to me. Many, if not most, people have probably read at least one book, or seen at least one movie, in which the main character stumbles upon a small fortune in cash, or gold, or jewels, etc. Then, in a weak moment, our hero decides to keep his find all for himself. Bad move, that – and the rest of the story involves the guy trying to keep from being maimed or killed by the bad guys who want their loot back. Well, that is the basic premise of The Fixer. But Finder throws so many twists and turns, fun characters, and side plots into his story that I could not wait to see what was coming next and ended up quite enjoying the book.Rick Hoffman’s (our hero) friends would probably agree that his judgment is not always the best. Once a well respected up-an-coming investigative reporter, Rick made what turned out to be a terrible mistake by letting a slick Boston magazine hire him away from his newspaper job. Now the magazine has failed and Rick, along with most all of his co-workers, is history. Things have gotten so bad, in fact, that Rick is camping out in his father’s old house, an unheated structure that seems just about ready to fall down around him. Rick’s luck changes -but not for the better - when he finds a large stash of cash hidden in the old house by his father. How did it get there? Does it belong to his father, who has not lived in the house for eighteen years, or to someone his father had been hiding it from? Rick, though, can’t resist the lure of all that cash, and when he starts throwing hundred-dollar bills around, he draws the notice of some very bad people – and they want their money back. But, even more, they want Rick to stop trying to figure out why it was in his father’s house in the first place.If The Fixer is typical of Finder’s writing, the man certainly knows how to tell a good story and give his readers a fun ride. This definitely will not be the last Joseph Finder title I read. Thriller fans should enjoy this one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Rick Hoffman’s life is falling apart. He lost his job as an investigative reporter when the company ownership decided to fire all but one of the old timers (over age 30) and focus on internet publication. His fiancee dumped him and he had to move out of his apartment because it was too expensive. His only option seemed to be to move back into his childhood home, which had been falling apart since his father’s severe stroke twenty years earlier.His next door neighbor, a childhood acquaintance, was in the construction business and agreed to renovate the house. Rick decided he would sell it after it was completed.Soon after the reconstruction began, Rick discovered several bags with a lot of money hidden inside one of the walls. He didn’t know where it came from but didn’t believe his father could have ever had that kind of income. While he tried to find the source of the money, he realized he could live very lavishly. Soon after finding the cash, he was driven out of the house by intruders and his own life became transformed as he sought to evade whoever it was who was trying to harm him.He tried talking with his father, whose ability to communicate was quite restricted because he could not talk, to learn about the money. In the process, he learned a lot about his father.THE FIXER is a fast-moving story. Joseph Finder has excellent language skills. While trying to follow a date’s conversation, he got lost in her jargon: “It was all just verbal Styrofoam anyway. Packing peanuts of meaninglessness.” He does a wonderful job satirizing headlines that are supposed to grab the reader through excess: “What This Chef Does with Lamb is Amazeballs!”, “...will change your life,” “Seven Facts about Wellesley That Will Blow Your Mind,” “Her First Sentence Was Moving. Her Second Sentence Brought Me to Tears.” He described the feeling of someone who had several broken bones trying to move around as “made of broken glass in a bag.”Parts of it are predictable (I figured out one of the villains almost immediately but his motive was questionable). There was some repetition. Unfortunately, Finder uses mostly rather short chapters that could easily be combined. It wastes paper and implies the readers have short attention spans. I always drop my ratings one star for that.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Former investigative reporter Rick Hoffman has been abandoned by the “good” life: he’s lost his job, his fiancée kicked him to the curb, and he has no place to call home. So he does the only thing possible . . . he returns to his childhood home. His plan is to renovate the house and sell it; neither he nor his sister, Wendy, want to live there and their father, Lenny, has been in a nursing home since suffering a stroke some eighteen years ago. But when Rick pulls down a portion of a closet wall, he makes an unbelievable discovery: millions of dollars ae hidden in the space behind the wall.Stunned, Rick tries to unravel the mystery of how all that money came to be concealed in the crawl space. But there are few answers for his questions and each query multiplies the peril he faces. Determined to find the answers, Rick digs into his father’s past and soon discovers that there are those who will stop at nothing to keep him from revealing the secrets they are desperate to keep hidden.Readers won’t be disappointed; this thriller draws them in from the very first page and the suspense mounts as revelations from the past come to light. Fast-paced action is interwoven with a captivating exploration of the father/son relationship that speaks to family dynamics and the redemption that comes with doing the right thing. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was rather excited to read The Fixer by Joseph Finder as I have heard rather good things about Finder’s suspense novels and it is a genre I immensely enjoy, unfortunately I did not enjoy this book as much as I had hoped, however, Finder has written numerous books and I will definitely give him another chance. The Fixer centers around Rick Hoffman, a former investigative journalist who loses everything and moves into his father’s vacant home. Rick’s father, attorney Leonard Hoffman suffered a stroke almost two decades ago and has been in a nursing facility ever since. Rick decides to renovate the neglected house with the help of his neighbor Jeff when he stumbles across over three million dollars hidden in the walls. The money brings more problems into Rick’s life as his easy gain suddenly turns to paranoia, fear, and the need to figure out just who his father was prior to his stroke. Finder has crafted some intriguing storylines, with Rick being a rather unlikeable man for the majority of the book and his father a rather intriguing man without the ability to speak, yet possibly not quite as helpless as one might think. I found the father son dynamics to be of some interest, yet not enough to make me not want to set the book down now and again. The Fixer is truly an interesting premise and it is quite possible the book would not unfold as well if Rick was not so obnoxious, the reader would be unable to see his transformation, and while I do not need to enjoy the protagonist to enjoy a well written book, I just did not care about Rick, yet I was fascinated by his father’s life, which is what kept me reading this book. Overall, I would recommend The Fixer to fans of well-written mystery and suspense novels.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A special thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Loved, THE FIXER, and everything about this top-notch, innovative, fast-paced riveting crime mystery suspense thriller! Joseph Finder is at the “top of his game” with father and son team, which may have more in common than they know---deeply buried secrets, conspiracy, power, corruption, and greed in the city of Boston, with some tough emotional life lessons. Set aside the time, as a read in one sitting; a page-turner! Rick Hoffman has been on top of the world with glitz, glamour, prestige and money with a high profile media Boston magazine as well as a former investigative reporter at the Boston Globe. He still has connections; however, keeping it quiet his currently unemployed; no longer the star.Unfortunately his last career move, for more money did not last too long, due to the shift in online media world, from the former print business. Presently, he is single, alone, jobless, and broke. He finds himself back in his home town, in his father’s old home, with a sleeping bag, and a BMW. His material possessions now something of the past, as well as his fiancée. The old home place is a disaster, since his dad had a stroke over eighteen years ago, the house has been sitting empty, in dire need of repair. Unable to sell or lease in its present condition, taking mega bucks to renovate. (money he does not have.) Jeff, the guy next door has been watching out for the place while Rick was away. While Rick, is attempting to sleep in this rat infested house, disgusted with his life, he hears noise in the walls, and figures rats, or squirrels have set up house. The neighbor Jeff, a building contractor shows up, and attempts to assist Rick figure out where the noise is coming from, as they tear down the wall. Turns out there is $3.4 million buried inside the wall! Rick is afraid Jeff has seen some of the bills (hopefully only a few); makes light of the situation, as he does now want anyone to know about the money. This could be the answer to his prayers; however, where did the money come from, and where will he hide it? He cannot put it all in the bank, and he cannot leave it at the house, or his car. He decides to hire Jeff to begin renovation, in order to sell it, and split the money with his sister, Wendy who lives out of town.After putting small amounts in several different banks, he decides to get a small storage unit. He of course keeps some, as happens to run into his former girlfriend from college; hot, as well as highly intelligent and promising. She is now divorced with a younger son and he needs to impress her. He goes off buying all these fancy designer clothes and takes her to dinner, blowing thousands, which is really a turn off for her. After all, she is no longer with Goldman Sachs; she runs a non-profit for kids helping them with math. (lots of humor here) Now Rick feels like a fool, plus he runs into some people, while spending money. Not cool. Soon he has thugs following him and threatening him. They want to know about the money? Rick decides to rent various cars daily, to throw off the guys, going from one bed and breakfast and hotel to another, while he puts on his investigative reporting hat, and begins digging into the mystery behind the money. Since his dad cannot speak, he has to find a way to communicate, in order to find out where the money came from.Rick soon learns things about his dad, Leonard Hoffman the attorney, the father, and the man he evidently never knew. He is now in a nursing home and sits in front of a TV all day. He has not spoken in eighteen years. Seems he was connected to a shady bunch. He was a Fixer, a Bagman-- When strip clubs and porn clubs (“Combat Zone” Boston’s red-light district) had cash they needed to get rid of, (money laundering) and others who needed cash for bribes, his dad was their man. The Combat Zone was a center of bribery with some heavy hitter players surrounding the Big Dig, when Boston added new downtown roads and tunnels which transformed the city’s traffic problem. It happened to be the largest and most complex and most technologically challenging construction project in the history of the country. He needs to find out the name behind the power, and why they are being so protective. Rick, now driven and obsessed to get to the bottom of this mystery will utilize all his investigative skills to uncover this complex web of deceit. However, Rick soon learns everything is not as it appears. His dad was connected to some powerful men, and he is determined to find the answers and bring them down. His dad may have been trying to do the right thing, when he was stopped. When researching the time period, the day of his stroke, he had a meeting with the head of Boston’s PR firm which specializes in reputation management. Danger is following Rick, and now the numbers have increased. Not only do they want money, they want him quiet; not opening up a can of worms. This giant has paid off half of the town and is now threatened. From the police, the top media PR, a reputation management company, one of the largest developers, political leaders, and others….he has to follow every lead to uncover the misdeeds before they destroy him. In the meantime, he may learn something about his father which may turn out to make him a hero in his eyes, after all, plus learn what really matters in life.What makes THE FIXER so unique and engaging, is the emotional human dynamics, quite different than the normal crime thriller of finding a stash of money and simple corruption. Finders dives deep into the complex relationship of a father, who longer cannot speak for himself; however, actually speaks volumes. His character, his values, his goals and ambitions did not turn out the way he planned, and the sacrifices he made for his family after his wife died to give his children the best life possible. We also see the transformation of Rick from a selfish self-centered man grow into a man of character. This time he may not be able to be bought, for any price. Well done. An action-packed, well-written, engrossing plot and compelling suspense thriller of secrets, lies, payoffs, blackmail, and corruption of the underbelly of Boston city business and politics. Mixed with humor, drama, and mystery crossing several genres. Highly recommend –an ideal gift for Father’s Day, an excellent choice for book clubs, discussions, and thriller fans. On a side note:Thank you for the Judy Collins mention (the folk singer-not me) as you have to be in the age range to be familiar “From Both Sides Now” and “Send in the Clowns”. We share the name; however, I now use Judith, versus Judy, as she dominates the internet domain world. :) A classic, especially if you are from the sixties era. Also pre-ordered the audiobook, and look forward to listening, as well!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Fixer is an exciting thriller about corruption and greed in Boston by Joseph Finder. The story is about a sell-out writer who gave up a promising investigative journalist job with the Boston Globe to join a local political/social newspaper under a wealthy owner’s control. Events unfold related to his lawyer father that make Rick Hoffman regret his decision. He gets caught up in the fallout of activity in the old “Combat Zone” Boston’s red-light district of porn houses and hookers, long gone by the 1990s but not completely forgotten. The Combat Zone was a center of bribery and money laundering during the giant boondoggle called the Big Dig when Boston relieved downtown street traffic gridlock by putting the Central Artery of its streets under the city in tunnels. Many people from all walks of life got rich during the vastly overpriced construction, but it paid off to the citizens in travel benefits in the end.Even though Rick is no longer interested in digging up dirt on criminals, the Big Dig history puts him in jeopardy due to a large personal sum of money he discovers left over from the miasma. The action involves attempts by powerful and publicly wealthy people to keep Rick from discovering the circumstances that led to his new found riches. The Fixer is a good thriller written by a best-selling author of 10 independent works of fiction, 2 volumes in a mystery series, and one book of non-fiction that are listed at the beginning of this novel. It is fast paced, historically interesting, and involves a likeable, intelligent, and insightful main character. I give it my highest rating in the thriller category.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a very good book. It contains all the necessary ingredients: interesting plot, 3-D characters and an political and social background.I particularly like the end. At first, I thought I would be disappointed because I realized there were no pages left for the trial, but then I liked how it is resolved. The description of the change in Yakov. The fact that he has become a political man and the implication that no man (specially a Jew) can be apolitical.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Fixer is my first introduction to Joseph Finder’s novels and I must say I have mixed feelings about it. The novel has a plot that’s compelling and engaging with well-developed characters that are both interesting and likeable. There’s immediate tension at the beginning, but the pacing tends to drag at times. It has a satisfying ending, but there aren’t a lot of surprises.

    The story starts out strong when Rick Hoffman finds over three million dollars behind a wall of his father’s abandoned house that’s in desperate need of renovation. Rick had his share of glamorous jobs when he worked as the executive editor for Back Bay magazine and as an investigative reporter for The Boston Globe. His father is in a nursing home and can’t speak because of a stroke he had over 18 years ago, so Rick has to put his investigative skills to the test to find the origin of the money. During his investigation, he learns about his father’s secret past and realizes just how little he knows about him.

    My excitement fizzled about 60 pages into it during a boring dating scene, but you learn the significance of the date much later in the novel. The story picks up steam again when Rick discovers dangerous people are following him and threaten his life. He connects with different people when he begins researching his father’s business connections and each piece of the puzzle gets more intriguing, but the story loses steam again with some of the backstories. Half way through the novel, I still wasn’t sure if I liked or disliked the book, but I kept reading and I’m glad I did.

    Rick quickly learns that he’s in way over his head, but of course that doesn’t stop him. The more he probes to find the source of the money, the more dangerous Rick’s situation becomes. The last half of the book has outstanding suspense. This is when you can’t put the book down, so if Joseph Finder had maintained this level of suspense from the beginning, this would have been a four-star novel.

    If you enjoy mystery/thrillers that have good action scenes and haven’t tried Joseph Finder, he’s still worth reading.Jenny's Book Bag The Fixer Review.