Strike Me Down

A Novel

By: Mindy Mejia

Narrated by: Samantha Desz, George Newbern, Allyson Ryan

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

In this “whip-smart thriller featuring a brilliant female protagonist, a finely-tuned plot, and some truly spectacular writing” (Cristina Alger, USA Today best-selling author) from the author of Leave No Trace, a high stakes crime triggers a woman’s complicated and potentially deadly search for the truth.

Nora Trier catches thieves. As a forensic accountant, she’s unearthed millions in every corner of the world. She prides herself on her independence, the most essential currency of accounting, until her firm is hired by Strike.

An anti-corporate, feminist athletic empire, Strike is owned by Logan Russo, a brash and legendary kickboxer, and her marketing genius husband, Gregg Abbott. They’re about to host a major tournament with 20 million dollars in prize money, and the chance for the champion to become the new face of the company. But Gregg suspects his wife already has a new face in mind in the form of a young trainer.

When the prize money goes missing days before the tournament begins, Gregg hires Nora’s firm to find both the thief and the money - but Nora has a secret connection to Strike. Her partner pressures her into taking the case anyway, hinting he has information that could change the course of the investigation in a shocking and deadly way.

A tense and unpredictable thriller, Strike Me Down “crackles with obsession, greed, lust, and plenty of ambition, and it’s loaded with more twists and turns than a spy novel” (Kirkus Reviews).

©2020 Mindy Mejia (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio

Too many coincidences

For the plot to fall into place, you have to believe an entire series of one-in-a-million events took place. I won't reveal them all because that would give the story away, but chance encounters in far flung locations, glancing up at just the right moment to observe something, and otherwise smart people letting just the wrong word slip at just the wrong time are all required for the story to unfold as it does.

Additionally the major subject of the book - the embezzlement of $20 million and the subsequent investigation are incredible beyond belief. To start with, no forensic accounting firm is going to have all of its partners conveniently on hand to take a meeting at a moment's notice with an unknown potential customer. No consulting firm of any kind is going to have an entire staff available to immediately go in to full investigative mode with that new customer. Strike may be privately held and debt free, but they still have to pay taxes and report income, so there is no way the accounting trick that drives the plot could go unnoticed. The $20 million prize money was not sequestered in a special account, so how they identified that it was the money that went mission is hard to understand. Just like individuals, a company looks at how much money is in their checking account regularly and if there is not enough to pay the bills, questions need to be asked. There is no way that they only noticed they did not have enough cash just days before they needed it.

OK, this is fiction and maybe we can overlook these shortcomings if the book was fast paced and engaging, but it is not. There is so much going on all over the place - jumping from character to character, back and forth in time, and from first person to third person, it is hard to keep track. The book is overly padded with odd scenes and descriptions - why the Strike team had to remake Nora into a glamour girl is beyond my understanding. Nora's marriage and family add nothing to the story. Nor does Gregg's odd childhood. A good editor could have cut at least a quarter of the book and maybe elevated it to 4 stars from 3.

Accounting mystery.

Well, I thought I knew where this story was.going only to have it go another way. Narration is excellent.

Excellent

Terrific writing and very good narration. My only criticism is that some of the narration is difficult to hear and requires a repeat to fully understand the nuances. Definitely a first class story.

Great book!!

This story started out fresh and kept it going for the whole story. The performance was great with multiple narrations.

Fun Book n EngAging

Who would believe you could make a story about accounting this engaging? You will enjoy the characters through their own narratve.

A Fave listen of 2021

I enjoyed this story so much!! It was unique, made me care, and kept me guessing. I cannot wait to discover other novels by this author.

original premise

This is the kind of book that makes me want to keep driving! I found the embezzlement/financial plotline to be surprisingly interesting. The narration was engaging and the story held my attention.

Wait For It...

This is not my favored genre, but it's a who done it with a psychological bite, and enough tension to keep me trying to solve the case.

A waste of good narration

I couldn’t follow the entire story. The first 4-5 hours were good, but then it soon became convoluted.

Great performances by all 3 narrators though!

Minneapolis Based Crime Novel

Being a resident of Minneapolis and a sports fan , I was drawn into Mejia's vivid story.