I love paranoid conspiracy thrillers. I really enjoy the feeling that everyone in a particular story is a potential suspect. Strangely, there aren’t many writers who do nuanced novels of this variety. The books that come out of this school–and some are very fine–tend to be big, bloated, and way overwrought. They’re often global in the Tom Clancy/Robert Ludlum fashion…which is fine, but I’m always looking for a thriller that is more contained rather than blown up all over the map. The best I’ve found in recent years is Joseph Finder’s absolutely brilliant Paranoia. Not only is this a fun read (and it is very, very fun; this novel embodies the “page-turner” handle), Finder expertly shows what can be done using first-person. Not often do you see first-person stories that crackle like this one. The voice, the plot, the character–Paranoia is just an expertly accomplished thriller that is in a class by itself.