I don't remember Franz or his books ever being mentioned by name. If anything, there
may have been an announcement that he was disfellowshipped.
I do remember that after he left, one of the national news magazines (like Time or Newsweek) had a short little article about it. Somebody from our hall photocopied it and showed copies around the hall. I did not know who he was, but learned that he was a GB member and it intrigued me that somebody so high up would/could leave. He, of course, hadn't written the book yet.
I can't remember how I knew, but somehow I found out that he had written a book and immediately wanted to get my hands on a copy. It wasn't until about '91 that I found a way to do that and I ordered it immediately. I was so anxious to read it as his leaving had been such a mystery to me. I wanted to know what dirt he uncovered that made him leave.
If you're interested, Franz also published a book called "In Search of Christian Freedom". I found it long and detailed and hard to get through, but it makes some very good points. To tell the truth, I only got through the first bit of the book where he is comparing the JWs to the Catholic Church in how they took away a personal relationship with God and inserted themselves as the authority in-between.
Other good books are those of Carl Olof Jonsson. Ray Franz mentions him. His books are Gentile Times Reconsidered (a more detailed work on the chronology of 1914) and "Sign of the Last Days - When?" (which goes sign by sign and refutes the JW claims Are there more earthquakes, plagues, more famine, etc.?)