Strike Me Down is the perfect antidote for this stressful time in our lives. Mejia’s fast paced thriller features stoic forensic accountant Nora Trier. She prides herself on her independence until her firm is hired by Strike, a fitness empire. Strike is owned by Logan Russo, a legendary kickboxer and the face of her brand. Nora is personally familiar with Logan because she works out at the Minneapolis Strike gym where Logan is based. Logan’s business partner is her husband Gregg and he has history with Nora. Nora and her team have five days to locate twenty million dollars that have gone missing from Strike’s account. Nora’s calm world is suddenly turned upside down as she struggles to find the money and identity the thief. Strike Me Down is an entertaining read and a great escape. It’s a novel you won’t want to put down.

I wanted to give this 5 stars because I loved all the geeky accounting comments thrown in! How many books have a part where someone makes fun of a guy's pathetic Excel spreadsheet? Be still my beating heart! I docked it a point because I felt like one aspect of the story never quite got clarified to the point of me accepting it. And since that point was a rather large part of the story, it left a gap for me. And, since that point is part of the overall story, to say more would be somewhat of a spoiler. Since the book was otherwise awesome, I wouldn't want to spoil it! In addition to the fun geek talk, Ms. Mejia presents a strong twisty story that makes you second guess each character and what you expect from them. Likewise, she presents characters that straddle that fine line between being likeable and not. I did have my own personal chuckle at the continued references to the US Bank Stadium. It plays a major role in the story and since I am familiar with the Twin Cities I was able to mentally picture the characters as they moved around. While it made the story a little more real to me, you don't need to know what 'Midwest nice' means to enjoy the book!

"People killed for money. People died for it. Love could hurt, but money would strike you down forever. "

I've been a fan of author Mindy Mejia since reading her novel Everything You Want Me To Be. Her way with characters, masterful plotting, and ability to tackle a variety of genres (see last year's Leave No Trace for something completely different) reveals her to be one of the most versatile authors of popular fiction working today. Naturally, I was thrilled to accept an offer from her publisher to read and review her latest novel Strike Me Down. If there is one benefit to having to spend all of my time at the house, it is that I can stay up into all hours of the night reading a book. Mejia's latest had me doing just that.

Nora Trier is at the top of her professional game. Years ago, she was the whistleblower who called out financial fraud at her company. She brought down the entire operation but paid the price for her actions. The head of the company was a personal family friend who guilt-tripped Nora until he ultimately ended his own life. Her family blamed her for his death and ceased all contact with her. Even worse, no other company would hire her. No company, that is, until Parrish, a forensic accounting firm, enlisted her expertise. Now Nora is one of the most accomplished people in her field. She has gained notoriety for her thoroughness (she's solved thousands of cases) and impartiality. It is no wonder then that she is brought in to solve a missing funds case for one of the most visible companies in the world. As a customer of the brand and someone with personal ties to people at the company, Nora will struggle to maintain her independence and protect her shimmering reputation.

Headed by kickboxing phenom and face of the company Logan Russo and her husband Gregg Abbott, Strike has become one of the largest and most recognizable fitness companies in the world. The power couple has capitalized on Logan's popularity to build Strike into a company that promotes a fitness lifestyle through protein shakes, gyms, and classes. Their latest effort is a large kickboxing tournament, the likes of which has never been attempted before. The event will be held over several days and culminate in the winner taking a $20 million prize and becoming the new face of Strike. There's only one problem. The prize money is missing!

Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia is another hit from the author. On the surface, there is an intricately plotted financial thriller that rivals any of the best I've read. Think an early John Grisham novel, but with a more contemporary flair. What separates this thriller from the pack is the way that Mejia explores the two main characters of Nora and Logan. Both are women who have bucked the odds to become top performers in their respective fields, both have sacrificed a stereotypical personal life to climb the professional ladder, and both are grappling with the ramifications of that decision. These women are not likable in the traditional sense, but I think that is part of what makes the novel so intriguing. Mejia dares to challenge convention and forces the reader to rethink their own expectations. Strike Me Down is another must-read novel from Mindy Mejia that brilliantly layers in contemplations on the female experience in the professional world while never sacrificing the pace and suspense of its break-neck thriller.

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.
After publication the review will be posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the story, but I felt super disconnected from the characters. Like, I cared about the plot but not so much what happened with the characters at all. There is a lot of tension and the plot was very good. It was well written but the characters lacked depth and personality, which caused me to not have much empathy for them.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

Who would have thought forensic accounting was a contact sport!?

For Nora Trier it becomes that and so much more. A simple audit into a potential mismanagement of funds turns into a game of intrigue. At the heart of the investigation, Strike, a fitness empire. Death, deceit, betrayal, and fraud litter the pathway to truth. Relationships are redefined as the stakes for the winner-takes-all challenge holds lives in the balance. Full of plot twists and half-truths, Strike Me Down will keep you guessing to the very last page!

Being married to a CPA, I've always been interested in stories that incorporate financial aspects so Strike Me Down did not disappoint! Both sexy and serious, I had a hard time putting this one down!

Strike Me Down weaves an intricate web of deception, lies and simmering tensions as Mindy Mejia tells the story of a power couple whose personal resentments threaten their kickboxing empire. Logan Russo and Gregg Abbott built Strike, a gym and fitness product company, from scratch. She is the face of the company, the defiant fighter, while he runs the money side. But when 20 million dollars goes missing, he suspects she took the money in an effort to sabotage the company, Nora Trier, an accountant who works at a forensic accounting company, finds herself caught up in the power struggle between husband and wife. Did Logan steal the money? Is Gregg setting her up? Nothing is as it seems right up until the end of this twisty book. Mindy Mejia is a talented writer.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mindy Mejia and Atria for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the idea behind this novel and that the main character was an accountant instead of police officer of some sort. I also really enjoyed how different this characters life was compared to most. I was actually drawn right into the plot right away and really enjoyed the story! I loved the pacing and the action that was here and how shocking some of the twists were! I did find the ending seemed to be a little drawn out, but it was all so necessary to set up the big main twist. Overall, I really enjoyed my first novel by Mejia and will definitely be picking up more from here!

Out April 7th!

I've loved books by this author in the past but this one definitely felt lackluster to me. It was a bit boring and this is from someone who has actually engaged a forensic accountant before for my job. I found myself not caring too much and not liking any of the characters, even though this book was well written. Hopefully you have better luck with this one.

Strike Me Down comes out soon on April 7, 2020 and you can purchase HERE.

One of the first things Jim Parrish had taught her, after he'd recruited Nora outside the courthouse all those years ago, was that a good investigator was unpredictable. They exploited overlooked data, showed up at unexpected times, changed focus quickly. They created no patterns, worked to no discernible rhythm. In certain cases, a good investigator could look, to the untrained eye, like a very bad investigator.

“It’s not what you know. It’s what you can prove.”

Strike Me Down is a mystery about $20 million that's gone missing.

Nora, a forensic accountant, finds herself drawn into a game of cat and mouse between a superstar kick boxer, Logan Russo, and her husband Gregg, the man behind the scenes.

This is a difficult review to write. I have loved Mejia's previous books and this book checks all of the boxes that I usually look for in a good mystery/thriller: It’s well-written and smart. The mystery is intriguing, the characters intelligent and the female characters are kick-ass (literally). But something was missing. When I am reading a book that I love, I am usually still thinking about it when I am not reading it. With this book, I would put it down and not really think about it again until I had time to read. It is in no way bad, it’s just lacking book magic.

My issues stem from feeling disconnected and distant from the characters. The narrative alternates between Nora and Gregg. Told from their first-person perspectives, controlling every word and detail of the plot, I never felt I knew them. Also lacking was the charisma associated with Logan’s character. Nora is infatuated with Logan, and Gregg frequently references how she has this ability to draw others in and make them believe and listen to her message. She is so charismatic that Gregg has created an empire from her image, but on the pages, she falls flat.

I also wasn’t feeling the tension that should have been emanating from the pages. There are some tense moments towards the end, but for the most part, I felt like the tension and suspense were lacking.

There are some strong moments, and I grew to like and understand Nora’s character. Strike Me Down is tautly written and interesting, but at the end of the day, I wasn't captivated.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Started out strong but then kind of fizzled out. The premise of forensic accounting crime and top notch investigator mixed with the martial arts scene was intriguing. I also like the strong female leads. But the plot didn't come together. It just didn't click for me.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

2.5 ...because I like Mindy Mejia's books.

This book is about kickboxing....and a fraud investigation on Strike (a word you will read about 1234589 million times in the story), an elite brand of urban gyms, fancy protein bars, smoothies, and more kickboxing. Someone took a big chunk of cash. Who could have done that?

I'm sorry... this book did not work for me. I wanted it to work for me, but I just was bored. I knew how the whole thing would unfold minus one detail from the minute the second POV came to play. I was exhausted of reading about kickboxing and Logan's beautiful trapezius, and Strike this and Strike that and vStrike everywhere. I did not find any of the characters appealing or likable. This is usually not a breaking point for me as long as I get something out of the story. I didn't.

I probably read it wrong.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I am sorry I did not like this one. I will still read Mindy's books in the future.

Another great read by Mindy Mejia. A fast paced, page turner about an accountant searching for missing money from a husband and wife business. With lots of twists and turns the outcome was a surprise. When Mindy writes a story about an accountant it is thrilling.

This was a fast moving thriller. However it didn't slow down to develop the characters and that made it harder for me to connect to them and the storyline.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3181570967

$20 million is missing and must be found within a week.

Luckily, forensic accountant Nora Trier lives for this type of excitement. So when corporate workout giant Strike hires Nora's firm to find the missing money, Nora is thrilled to lead the investigation.

Strike is sponsoring the biggest kickboxing tournament in the world, with $20 million in prizefight winnings on the table. However, the prize money has just been discovered missing, and Strike's reputation is on the line.

But this story isn't just a mystery about where the money went. There's the fact that Nora had a one-night stand with one of the Strike partners. And the fact that Nora hero-worships the other Strike partner. There's a sexy undertone that ripples throughout this story.

And then there's the fact that the reader doesn't know who to trust. Someone is lying - who is it? I admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the big reveal. I also appreciated that the story didn't have one of those frustratingly ambiguous endings - there was a real payoff!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. A fast-moving financial thriller with kick-ass (literally!) characters and enough twists to keep you guessing. Enjoyable to read, but I never really connected with any of the characters.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book

Strike Me Down was A little surprise for me being that it was quite different than the authors previous books. I don't particularly like books about financial companies and tend to get A little lost or bored but what I did love was the ass kicking female heroine who gets reeled in on the case of a company (dealing with more ass-kicking) called STRIKE, a husband/wife team whose business is fighting matches. I did enjoy the forensics aspects of the book and the the lies, betrayals, and steaminess of it all.

It's well written and I'm rating it A 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars only because of the twists that I so strongly enjoy. I think I will re-read this book because my mind is on COVID-19 right now and I don't think I read it with my mind 100% on the book. Kudos to the author for trying something new!


A special thanks to Atria Books, Atria/Emily Nestled Books and NetGalley for this ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion. And thanks to author Mindy Mejia for trying something new!

Strike me down was my first book by this author. I was so intrigued by the synopsis. I was very happy that Netgalley age me the opportunity to read this ebook. I loved the style of writing. I love that age of you're seat thriller that this author brought. There are loads of obsession, lust, greed and loads of twists and turns. Such a fast paced thriller featuring a female protagonist. You'll definitely wanna check this one out.

I was super excited to read Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia because of the plot, just take a look at how intriguing it is:

Nora Trier catches thieves. As a forensic accountant and partner in her downtown Minneapolis firm, 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 kickboxing tournament with twenty million dollars in prize money, and the chance for the champion to become the new face of the company. Gregg suspects his wife already has a new face in mind—a young trainer named Aaden, for whom Logan feels an unexpected connection.

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

We have a strong, smart main character here in Nora Trier. I’m not sure if I have ever read a book where the protagonist is a forensics accountant, thrillers focused on financial crimes isn’t what I usually gravitate towards but I knew the author was talented and had a feeling I’d like it.

This is a solid suspense that kept me guessing. What happened to the $20 million?

I really had no idea how it would all play out and unlike other books, I actually couldn’t figure out how everything would come together. I liked the character of Nora, she’s different and strong and so smart.

Out on April 7, pre-order here!