Strike Me Down

Starred review from February 10, 2020
The sometimes brutal, bloody world of kickboxing makes an effective and unusual backdrop for this superb thriller from Mejia (Leave No Trace). Strike, a large business dealing in athletic wear, gyms, and protein bars, is owned by marketing genius Gregg Abbott and his wife, Logan Russo, a legendary kickboxer. The couple are hosting an upcoming kickboxing tournament, Strike Down, with the winner set to earn $20 million and become the new face of Strike. With the tournament only a week away, the prize money disappears, and Gregg wants forensic accountant Nora Trier to find out where the money is stashed before the start of Strike Down. Gregg also has a suspect in mind—Logan, whom he suspects of trying to sabotage the tournament because she hates him and wants to get out of the business. Nora faces an ethical dilemma, since she has a personal connection to both Logan and Gregg. Mejia smoothly couples an intense look at three distinctive characters with a twisty, unpredictable plot. Along the way, she succeeds in making even accounting exciting. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Gernert Co.

February 15, 2020
A forensic accountant gets in over her head in Mejia's (Leave No Trace, 2018, etc.) latest psychological thriller. Nora Trier is very good at her job. She always gets her man (or woman) and never lets personal ties get in her way. It's why she took down a powerful CEO who was inflating profits. He was also one of her father's oldest friends. The case ended tragically and imploded her relationship with her family. However, it's that fierce independence and nose for justice that got her a job at the Minneapolis firm Parrish Forensics soon after the trial. Now, 15 years and 65 convictions later, Nora and her partners at Parrish have been retained by fitness giant Strike, Inc., owned by champion kickboxer Logan Russo and her husband, Gregg Abbott. In less than a week, they'll be hosting Strike Down, a massive kickboxing tournament where fighters will be competing for $20 million in prize money, and Logan will choose a new face for the company. The prize money is missing, though, and Gregg tells Nora he thinks Logan is sabotaging the company. Nora and her team must find and recover the money before the tournament ends. It complicates things that Nora herself is a Strike devotee and idolizes the magnetic Logan Russo, who inspires a cultish following. Nora also knows Gregg from a one-night stand several months earlier where full names weren't exchanged. Nevertheless, Nora starts digging into Strike's financials as well as Logan and Gregg's messy and complicated partnership and marriage. It soon becomes terrifyingly clear that this case isn't just a matter of money--it's life or death. Mejia's narrative crackles with obsession, greed, lust, and plenty of ambition, and it's loaded with more twists and turns than a spy novel. She obviously did her research into the visceral world of competitive kickboxing, and there's plenty of territory left to mine in the surprisingly interesting (at least the way Mejia writes it) world of forensic accounting. Readers will hope to see more of the unconventional Nora Trier. A compelling and breathless page-turner.

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March 1, 2020
Forensic accountant Nora Trier's renowned objectivity and uncanny skill at spotting fraud have fueled her rise to partner at Parrish Forensics. So, when Gregg Abbott, cofounder of a trendy kickboxing chain called Strike, hires Parrish to find $20 million in missing prize money for their media-hyped Strike Down tournament, Nora would seem the obvious choice for the emergency assignment. But she has a problem: the one-night stand she recently had with Gregg. Still, after being reassured by a Parrish colleague, Corbett, that Nora can handle the job, she starts digging into Strike's secrets. Gregg, she learns, is simmering with rage at his wife and Strike cofounder, Logan. The recent death of Logan's favored successor seems extremely suspicious, and Corbett may be involved in the intrigue. Mejia is on her game here, capably weaving deadly, breath-snatching suspense into the world of corporate chicanery. A good choice for Sara Paretsky fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2019

A forensic accountant and partner in a Minneapolis firm, Nora Trier always gets her thief. Then her firm is hired by Strike, a feminist, corporate-resistant athletic company owned by famed kickboxer Logan Russo, which is launching a kickboxing tournament meant to find a new face for the company. Now the hefty prize money has gone missing, but Nora is reluctant to get involved; she has secret ties to Strike that could compromise her integrity. From the author of Leave No Trace; with a 60,000-copy first printing and a five-city tour.

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