The Switch
A Novel
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4.3 • 10 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A simple mix up throws an innocent man into the cross-hairs of sinister government secrets and ruthless political ambitions in this timely, electrifying thriller from New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder.
Michael Tanner is on his way home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong MacBook in an airport security line. He doesn’t notice the mix-up until he arrives home in Boston, but by then it’s too late. Tanner’s curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the owner is a US senator and that the laptop contains top secret files.
When Senator Susan Robbins realizes she’s come back with the wrong laptop, she calls her young chief of staff, Will Abbott, in a panic. Both know that the senator broke the law by uploading classified documents onto her personal computer. If those documents wind up in the wrong hands, it could be Snowden 2.0—and her career in politics will be over. She needs to recover the MacBook before it’s too late.
When Will fails to gain Tanner’s cooperation, he is forced to take measures to retrieve the laptop before a bigger security breach is revealed. He turns to an unscrupulous “fixer” for help. In the meantime, the security agency whose files the senator has appropriated has its own methods, darker still—and suddenly Tanner finds himself a hunted man, on the run, terrified for the safety of his family, in desperate need of a plan, and able to trust no one.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This taut political thriller revolves around a Boston coffee roaster named Michael Tanner, whose life spirals out of control after a mix-up at LAX airport leaves him holding the wrong laptop—one that holds classified government documents belonging to a prominent senator. The intrigue blasts off from there, as the senator’s right-hand man desperately tries to get the device back, throwing Michael into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Author Joseph Finder propels the scarily realistic plot forward, ratcheting up the suspense with scandals, spies, hit men, and the eerie shadow of the NSA looming over it all. As Michael fights for his marriage, his freedom, and even his life, the pages fly by.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Thriller Award winner Finder's enjoyable standalone, Michael Tanner, the owner of Tanner Roast, a specialty coffee company in Boston, mistakenly picks up the laptop belonging to U.S. Senator Susan Robbins of Illinois after going through security at Los Angeles International airport. Predictably, the laptop contains highly classified files about a secret surveillance plan being considered by the NSA. A friend who's an investigative reporter, Lanny Roth, persuades Tanner to reveal what's on the laptop and to hang on to it until he, Lanny, can work out a deal with the NSA. Meanwhile, it falls to Will Abbott, Robbins's chief of staff, to recover the computer before it becomes public knowledge that a U.S. senator not only had classified material on her laptop but that she was careless enough to lose it. Though readers hung up on realism will just have to accept some unlikely elements (such as a coffee roaster as NSA adversary), Finder (The Fixer) once again shows his knack for crafting an engaging thriller.
