HOUSE ON FIRE

Buy the Book:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Hudson Booksellers
IndieBound
Powell's
iBooks
Kobo
Amazon Audio

Published by: Dutton
Release Date: January 21, 2020
Pages: 384
ISBN13: 978-1101985847

Series: Nick Heller Series #4

Available in Paperback!

About

In New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder's new thriller, private investigator Nick Heller is hired to infiltrate a powerful family whose wealth and reputation hide something far more sinister.

Nick Heller, private spy, exposes secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden.

At the funeral of his good friend Sean, an army buddy who once saved Nick's life and had struggled with opioid addiction since returning wounded from war, a stranger approaches Nick with a job. The woman is a member of the Kimball family, whose immense fortune was built on opiates. Now she wants to become a whistleblower, exposing evidence that Kimball Pharmaceutical knew its biggest money-maker drug, Oxydone, was dangerously addictive and led directly to the overdoses and deaths of people like Sean.

Nick agrees instantly, eager to avenge Sean's death, but he quickly finds himself entangled in the complicated family dynamics of the Kimball dynasty. The other Kimball siblings view Nick as the enemy, and at least one will do anything to keep him from exposing the patriarch's guilt. And Nick discovers he is not the only private investigator employed by a Kimball scion. His old lover Maggie has also been hired, reuniting the two after a conflict when they both worked at the Pentagon years ago.

Nick and Maggie soon realize the sins of the Kimball patriarch are just the beginning. Beneath the surface are the barely concealed cabals and conspiracies: a twisting story of family intrigue and lethal corporate machinations.

Series Overview

Nick Heller likes nothing more than being underestimated by an opponent. He’s self-deprecating, irreverent, a man who can’t stand pretense. Or bullies. He really doesn’t like being lied to — and no one’s more loyal. After serving in the Special Forces in undisclosed locations, doing things he’s not allowed to talk about, he became a “private spy.” Now he’s got his own boutique international investigation firm in his hometown of Boston. And as some very bad people are about to learn, he never, ever gives up.


Praise

"Nick Heller takes on big pharma in Thriller Award–winner Finder’s excellent fourth novel featuring the Boston PI… Fans of timely, thoughtful page-turners will be richly rewarded."
Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Finder is a master of the narrow escape… Finder’s characterization of Heller gets more layered with every installment. The way Heller moves through the mystery, using social skills, street smarts, and technology to get in and out of trouble, is breathtaking. Excruciating suspense.”
Booklist, starred review

"Packed with both brains and brawn, HOUSE ON FIRE  is thriller writing at its very best, conjuring tomorrow’s headlines instead of ripping off today’s."
Providence Journal

"This taut, smoothly plotted novel, filled with vivid characters, takes some twists and turns even seasoned readers might miss."
The Plain Dealer

"Finder has crafted a timely and well-written thriller that engages the reader... HOUSE ON FIRE will be remembered as one of Finder’s best."
Associated Press

"A crisp, fast-paced adventure."
The Times

“The award-winning Finder is masterful from the first chapter... Unexpected plot twists abound; the author uniquely explores complex family intrigue from highly contrasting perspectives.”
Lansing State Journal

"A simply riveting read from beginning to end, HOUSE ON FIRE once again showcases author Joseph Finder's complete mastery of the suspense thriller genre with a novel that has more unexpected plot twists and turns than a Disneyland roller coaster."
The Midwest Book Review

"Fastpaced and tightly written thriller.
The Scottish Sun

“Finder utilizes his extensive research abilities with current events to make HOUSE ON FIRE  yet another winner in this series….Fans of financial thrillers and private-eye fiction will find much to love here.”
Bookreporter.com

"Centered on timely issues, but grounded in the craft of detective fiction, HOUSE ON FIRE  promises to be one of the year’s best."
—CrimeReads

"Nick Heller is back, and all feels right in the thriller world because of it. Finder’s last Heller book, GUILTY MINDS, remains one of my favorite thrillers ever written . . . and even I have to admit, this one might be better. Even if you haven’t read the first three books in the series, you can jump in here without missing a beat."
—The Real Book Spy

"Nail-biting mystery... Finder delivers tight writing with sharp characters."
—Shelf Awareness

"Buckle up for a good read."
—New York Journal of Books

"HOUSE ON FIRE should satisfy devotees of this consistently strong series and win over new ones with its incisive portrait of a family that runs on greed."
—Air Mail

"Joseph Finder is incapable of writing a bad thriller. I’d follow Nick Heller anywhere."
—C.J. Box, #1 NYT bestselling author of Long Range

"A mixture of Jason Bourne and Sam Spade, Nick Heller is the man you want in your corner. HOUSE ON FIRE  is classic whodunit wrapped in a modern world of technology and current events, with enough twists to keep you reading long into the night."
—Brad Taylor, bestselling author of Daughter of War


Excerpt

The first thing I did was to tug the long tube out of my stomach, out of my esophagus, and out of my nose. It made me feel queasy again, but that feeling passed quickly. It was a relief to have the thing out. I left the probe and the data recorder on a wooden dresser. Then I changed into my security-company uniform, or at least as close to a uniform as Jillian was able to assemble. It was a pair of gray pants and a gray shirt. Unfortunately, the gray shirt was just a generic gray shirt from Target; it was missing the stitched-on logo of the security company. I took out my metal clipboard. My forged Phoenicia ID badge hung around my neck on a lanyard. It was a good forgery.

Winston kept snoring.

I slung a small nylon messenger bag over my shoulder. It contained a few small pieces of equipment. My bag of toys.

I opened the bedroom door slowly and quietly and looked to either side to see if anyone was out there.

No one.

I slipped out, closing the door gently behind me. All was quiet, just the rhythmic pheep pheep pheep from some machine.

The lights were on out here, but I didn’t see anyone awake and working. Maybe there was a skeleton night staff. No one saw me. No CCTV camera globes in this part of the clinic. In a place like this, they’d be obvious, not concealed.

I found a door marked simply EXIT. I was fairly sure this was the right door, based on the floor plan I’d memorized. There were several. For reasons having to do with the fire code, it didn’t require an ID. You just pushed the door open. Coming back in you’d need an ID badge. Which, of course, I had.

Read the full excerpt