Suspicion by Joseph Finder

Suspicion by Joseph Finder

Decisions often control your destiny. One wrong turn, one bad choice, and your whole world might crumble. Take a house of cards that has been carefully built and yet so very fragile.

Imagine someone taking one card from the center and the entire house falls down. Life deals everyone his or her own special hand and sometimes trying to turn one corner we get backed into another, blindsided with nowhere to go but down.

A young single father wants the best for his teenage daughter. Enrolling her in an elite private academy charging an astronomical fee, Daniel Goodman just wants his daughter, Abby, to have it all.

But, sometimes teens need to learn that material things are not what make life special. Earning it on your own makes you appreciate what you have more.

When faced with serious financial stress, he tries to hide it from Abby only to find himself asking for some type of loan or help from the school. But, as the reader hears the voice of the woman in charge of the Upper School, we learn just how cold, hardnosed and money-oriented these schools and their administrators really are.

What happens when he cannot pay the huge monthly tuition and is more than one month in arrears? The school is giving him a short deadline to meet and if he does not Abby will be discharged from the Academy and forced to attend public school.

Pretending to empathize with him you can hear the sarcasm in her tone, the disconnect in her voice and the ultimatum she gives in a cunning way. Loans are given to minority students and Abby does not fit the criteria.

Enter Jenna Galvin and her father Thomas. Thomas is connected to a very powerful drug cartel and quite rich. Jenna is now attending the same school, as Abby and he is grateful for her friendship with his daughter.

Here is where Danny gets sucked into the web of lies, deceit, and betrayals as he takes one turn and gives one handshake that changes the course of events in his life forever.

Jenna’s positive change and attitude towards school and her parents have been remarkable and Thomas Galvin wants to show his appreciation to Danny by paying for her trip to Paris.

Not able to afford it and not wanting to be beholden to this man he has just met, he thinks about the loan and wants to decline. No, for an answer does not wash with this man and the next step is even more deadly. Thomas Galvin Advisors of Boston Massachusetts is the firm he owns but just who he really is and his connection to the Sinaloa Cartel has yet to be revealed.

One wire transfer of 50,000 dollars brings what he thinks is the DEA down his throat as two agents, Yeager and Slocum not only threaten to expose him as part of the cartel but threaten to have him incarcerated for a long time if he does not cooperate.

How they learned about him and what they know shows the depths to which they will go to control this innocent man, make him think they can do exactly what they claim and the imagination and genius of author Joseph Finder. The research into the DEA, how it works, Mexican cartels and cover-ups are extensive.

Danny Goodman is being accused of being part of the cartel dealing with the narcotics trade. Frightened, believing their threats and not bothering to check them out at first, he succumbs to their wants and becomes what he thinks is a confidential informant leaking information to them about his friend Thomas Galvin.

Thomas Galvin is married to Celina whose father ran the cartel up until his death. The connections are powerful and the cartel owns him in every way and his job is to do whatever they say.

Drivers who work for the cartel, bodies that could turn up at any time author Joseph Finder takes readers deep inside the mind of this powerful cartel, relates the history of it and explains how Thomas became embroiled in it. Married to Celina he started from the bottom up but wound up as one of its most powerful men.

The plot unravels many subplots which lead readers to learn the inside workings of the DEA, the criminal justice system and what happens when things appear to be one thing but are not. Danny refuses to believe that Thomas Galvin is really so sinister and would risk the lives of his family and friends in order to save himself from the wrath of the cartel.

But, when information is leaked just who kills two of his drivers? When Danny gets too close on the slopes at a weekend paid for by Thomas just who wants to take him out of the equation?

With Abby wrapped up in becoming more like Jenna and not understanding what was happening to her father, she is immersed in the lives of the Galvin’s even more but not for the reasons you might think. With those in charge of the Cartel learning there is some type of leak just who owns and runs Harmonica Global, how will this affect Danny and what will happen to the agent that was sent to investigate?

Within this intricate plot we meet Dr. Mendoza who fronts, as a doctor at a clinic but is really more like Dr. Death when necessary. Helping those in need that cannot afford health care two days a week when called on to rid the world of anyone that might hurt the Cartel his methods are quite frightening, painful to the victim and make you wonder just how far these people will go to win the war on drugs but not for the good.

Conferring with a criminal lawyer brings to light man other issues as Danny had to decide whether he wants to get out of helping these two agents and wind up in jail or hopefully break free. When the truth about the agents finally comes to light just what he does and the plan he creates will surprise readers.

But, dealing with Galvin, breaking his trust, and then learning his hidden agenda Danny has to decide whom to trust, where his loyalties lie and just what the end result will be.

Deceits and deceptions have a way of breaking free and when his girlfriend Lucy finds out about what he’s been doing and why she walks away leaving not only Danny alone but Abby losing someone else that is special in her life.

With their lives on the line and the cartel after Thomas just how Danny’s knowledge and a book about robber baron Jay Gould will play a part in creating his own web of deceit you just won’t believe. Jason Jay Gould was America’s leading railroad developer. He was deemed a robber baron and became the 9^th richest American in history. Ranked by Conde Nast Portfolio as the 8^th worst CEO of all times.

He was corrupt. Also called the railroad pirate he was often depicted as an unscrupulous pirate. Manipulating and watering stock and running down his businesses and then building them up to his own advantage. He thought of himself as the most hated man in the 19^th century.

As you get to know Thomas Galvin and you meet the members of the cartel you wonder just whom Jay Gould would mirror as Danny uses his knowledge of this man and his propensity for being adept at bribery and insider stock manipulation to create a plan so diabolical that readers can only hope he succeeds against the two DEA agents, the cartel and Thomas Galvin.

The sources of the cartel run deep and you never know who on the inside is corrupt as Dr. Mendoza learns who the leak is on the cartel and just what needs to be done to silence him. But, when Abby’s life is on the line and Lucy is no longer in the picture and Galvin needs to escape from the cartel which way will Danny turn and where will his allegiance lie?

An ending that will leave you wondering as to what is next for Danny and will Galvin survive or will the cartel stop up the leak for good? What about Abby who’s in deep trouble will he be able to get there in time to prevent what they have in store for her?

Suspicion: Only Joseph Finder can deliver a plot so fast-paced, so sharp and so vividly created with characters that are true to life and a storyline that could be ripped right out of the headlines. The final scene will keep you wondering and the end result will hopefully bring Danny back again.

Lies, nightmares, dreams, haunting experiences, threats, and one man’s duty to try and find a way to protect his daughter, decide if he can trust his best friend and learn just who deserves his Suspicion: Causing a feeling that something is not right but wrong and that someone is behaving in a manner that seems wrong.

Suspicious behavior: a person running, hauling property, looking at different doors in an office building or homes. Someone forcing his or her way into a locked car or truck and in this case someone doing business in the back of a car. Yelling, fighting sounds and strange noises. Suspicion: Don’t let your guard down!