Strike Me Down

Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia
Simon & Schuster; 4/7/20
review copy; 352 pages
 
Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia is a highly recommended thriller featuring two strong female leads - a forensic accountant and legendary kickboxer.

As a forensic accountant and partner at Parrish Forensics in Minneapolis, Nora Trier is very good at catching thieves. She began her career as a CPA whistle blower who took down a powerful CEO who also happened to be a family friend. She lost her job and her family over this, but it began the start of her 15 year career. Now, 65 convictions later, Nora is known for her tenacity and independence. Her reputation is why the business Strike came to Parrish Forensics.

Strike is a fitness/athletic company owned by legendary kickboxer Logan Russo and her husband Gregg Abbott. They have an empire built on fitness clubs and supplements. It is a week before their major kickboxing tournament named Strike Down where fighters will be competing for twenty million dollars in prize money and the chance to be the new face of the company. They have come to Parrish Forensics because they have discovered that the prize money is missing. Nora is unsure if she should work on the case because she has connections to both Logan and Gregg, but ends up in charge of the investigation.

The narrative alternates between the first person point-of-view of Nora and Gregg. There is plenty of backstory explained and we come to know the characters quite well, or actually what they chose to expose. Are they likeable or trustworthy characters? No, not really, but once they start telling their stories and the investigation unfolds, you will be glued to the pages to find out what happens next. This does seem surprising with a forensic accountant investigation, but it clearly becomes much more dangerous that you would expect.

Mejia brings it home in the quality of the writing. She makes the investigation interesting and compelling as it is full of twists and turns. The descriptions are admirable and the plot is perfectly planned out. It is a complicated investigation with plenty of machinations going on behind the scenes between controlling and strong characters. The strong ending was surprising and well done.

 

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Simon & Schuster.