Fabian Finster
Names: Fabian FinsterFabbyThe Fabulous FinsterMr. FinsterThe Fabulousthe mind readerFabian (The Fabulous) FinsterJ. Smiththe SquirrelKiller Squirrelbelkushka
First appears in Book 1: Intervention, chapter 33 (11)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Intervention
- Ch 33Finster is a former Nevada casino mentalist turned confidential agent of Kieran, who has secured a pipeline into the Armed Services Committee by blackmailing Senator Scrope.
- Ch 33Kieran assigns Finster to investigate Denis Remillard's Dartmouth psychic research, build a dossier and possibly recruit adept mentalists, warning him to flee if anyone can probe his mind.
- Ch 33Finster hints that people who cross Kieran suffer weird cerebral hemorrhages.
- Ch 34Finster is a city-bred mentalist and spy who works for Kieran O'Connor, posing as a night bass fisherman to surveil Victor Remillard.
- Ch 34Finster can use a coercive faculty to blast fish and insects, but he is far weaker than Victor, who easily captures him.
- Ch 34Finster was once a nightclub mentalist and learned to fake translations of foreign thoughts.
- Ch 34Finster urged O'Connor not to ally with Victor and suggested the Mob consider putting out a contract on him.
- Ch 40Finster is a mind-sensitive American operative posing as a reporter, carrying a hidden ricin needle-gun in a pen, who detects other spies among the press.
- Ch 40Posing as a Seattle reporter, he is a Mafia operative who distrusts Maurer and coerces the KGB man into talking.
- Ch 55Finster recruited and thoroughly tamed Araña, and is due to travel to Moscow on Friday.
- Ch 56Disguised as 'J. Smith' of Simon Fraser University, Finster coerces Sergei into total mental control at the Arman Café and acts as a professional assassin.
- Ch 56Finster plans a televised 'zap seen round the world' against the General Secretary during his speech; he serves O'Connor and was once an entertainer and drug addict.
- Ch 56Finster is an operant assassin who can project invisibility or psychic disguise, but only within about nine meters, while also holding Sergei under coercion.
- Ch 56Finster cannot conjure astral fire or kill by cooking brains or stopping hearts, so he uses a device to fake operant astral fire.
- Ch 56Finster says he loves his Boss, O'Connor, and enjoys his work; the assignment is his biggest kick yet.
- Ch 56Finster tried to kill Professor MacGregor six times before his announcement and failed each time because someone unknown was guarding him; he never told O'Connor.
Connections
- member ofKieran O'Connorconfidential agent
- enemy ofVictorspies on him and is captured
- enemy ofS. Hannularival agents
- enemy ofSergei Arkhipovholds him as a mental captive
- enemy ofSergeicoerces and kills him
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 33Kieran briefs Finster on Remillard
After hearing Finster has secured Senator Scrope, Kieran sends him to Dartmouth to investigate Denis Remillard's ESP research and associates, warning of danger.
- Book 1 · Ch 34Finster's stakeout of Victor
Finster spies on Victor's cabin from a johnboat, translating French thoughts as Victor recruits Roe-bear and the Canadian psychics.
- Book 1 · Ch 34Victor captures Finster
Victor detects Finster, drifts his boat to the dock, makes him nearly shoot himself and drown, then spares him and orders him to tell O'Connor to stay away.
- Book 1 · Ch 40Spies gather at the press conference
Finster, sensing minds, identifies spies from many nations among the press and sits beside a KGB agent posing as a Finn as the hall fills.
- Book 1 · Ch 40Pub confession
In Greyfriars Bobby's Bar, Finster coerces the drunk KGB man Sami into admitting the Cold War is over and both agents are finished.
- Book 1 · Ch 55Kieran outlines plans for Baumgartner and Araña
Kieran plans to place Baumgartner at a foundation, secretly deep-scan him under a faked eye illness, launch Araña's antioperant crusade, and engineer a Soviet hard-liner takeover.
- Book 1 · Ch 56Finster seizes Sergei
At the Arman Café, Finster, posing as J. Smith, takes total mental control of Sergei and mentions the Grand Mufti's assassination in Tashkent.
- Book 1 · Ch 56Assassination plot at the speech
As the General Secretary's speech winds down, Finster, controlling Sergei's body, prepares to kill him on television, a plan that would benefit both O'Connor and Kumylzhensky.
- Book 1 · Ch 56Finster kills the bodyguards and Sergei
Disguised among Ninth Directorate agents, Finster kills four agents with the poison needle-gun, then breaks Sergei's neck when Sergei briefly resists.
- Book 1 · Ch 56Delegates destroy Finster
As Finster approaches the General Secretary with the bouquet, the audience's minds meld into metaconcert, with Remillard and Tamara trying to hold back, and incinerate him. Sergei dies watching.