<i>Buried Secrets</i>: Finder Is King of the Hook

In addition to his hook techniques, Joseph Finder also creates memorable characters. He does this with just the right amount of detail about their looks, personalities and thoughts.
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Author Joseph Finder is the king of "the hook" in writing style. This talented author can grab a reader's interest quicker and more securely with his first few pages than anyone else writing today. He has proven it in past novels and he certainly does it in his new novel Buried Secrets. All you have to do is read the first few pages of his story and I defy you to stop there.

Buried Secrets is another Nick Heller Novel. This is a character Finder has used to great success in previous stories and he comes across as a draw this time out. Heller is an investigator who can either ferret out information himself or he knows someone who can get it for him.

He needs all his allies and resources in his latest case because it involves a young girl who has been buried alive. She is ten feet below ground in a coffin but does have air piped in. There is also a supply of water and energy bars in the coffin. Still just the image that is seared into your brain of someone being buried alive is enough to start your pulse pounding and your eyes reading as quickly as possible.

In addition to his "hook" techniques, Finder also creates memorable characters. He does this with just the right amount of detail about their looks, personalities and thoughts. Too much detail takes away from the plot but just the right amount makes the characters come alive on the pages. We have learned a good deal about Heller in the past novels but in this story there is enough information given to help the "new reader" understand and like him.

It is also necessary to have some information about the type of young woman Alexa Marcus is. The reader wants to know if she has the mental capacity to endure the strain of being underground; how much of her kidnapping is the result of her own foolishness; and what is her relationship with her father who is the reason she has been kidnapped.

Any book about being buried alive has its own suspense level built into the plot, but a truly skilled writer will take that premise and intensify it while keeping it all believable. Finder does that over and over again. He elevates the pressure with every page that is turned and with every moment of time that passes.

If you want a novel that is a good read and is also one that you literally can't put down then Buried Secrets is the book for you. Block out some time before you start because you won't want any diversions or interruptions while you race through it.

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