In this “whip-smart thriller featuring a brilliant female protagonist, a finely-tuned plot, and some truly spectacular writing” (Cristina Alger, USA TODAY bestselling 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 twenty 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 ). "Whip-smart, expertly plotted and entirely unpredictable, STRIKE ME DOWN is unlike anything I’ve ever read. A must read!" -- Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of THE OTHER MRS. "How could I not love Mindy Mejia's latest book? It's a whip-smart thriller featuring a brilliant female protagonist, a finely-tuned plot and some truly spectacular writing. STRIKE ME DOWN delivers on every level." -- Cristina Alger, USA Today bestselling author of THE BANKER'S WIFE and GIRLS LIKE US "One heck of a spectacular, original thriller. Mindy Mejia’s STRIKE ME DOWN is fast-paced, masterfully woven and wholly unexpected, with an ending that’ll make your jaw drop. An absolute must read." -- Hannah Mary McKinnon, bestselling author of HER SECRET SON and THE NEIGHBORS "Part procedural, part domestic, this thriller has something for everyone." -- Wendy Heard, author of HUNTING ANNABELLE and THE KILL CLUB "An edge-of-your-seat thriller novel you'll want to read in 2020." ― Bookriot The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020 ― CrimeReads Mindy Mejia is a CPA and a graduate of the Hamline University MFA program. Her debut novel, The Dragon Keeper , was published by Ashland Creek Press in 2012. She lives in the Twin Cities with her family, and is the author of Strike Me Down , Everything You Want Me to Be , and Leave No Trace. 1. Nora NORA One Week Earlier “FRAUD KILLS.” Nora allowed the words time to land on the crowd, a full audience of mostly twentysomethings with brand-new CPA licenses still crisp inside their wallets. “You’ve all heard, at some point in your lives, the lie that fraud is a white-collar crime, a victimless crime.” She paced the length of the stage, heels marking the distance between the darkened aisles. “Sam White was the founder and president of Computech, a microchip manufacturer that weathered the tech crash with little more than a shrug and a few treasury stock purchases. They employed ten thousand people and maintained manufacturing facilities in China, Mexico, and Ohio, with headquarters in Minneapolis.” The screen behind Nora flashed to a wall-sized scene of a rocky beach where a group of people squinted into the sun. Two teenage boys corralled a pair of dogs while a middle-aged couple, both fit and wearing their gray with ease, corralled the boys. The entire family was frozen mid-laugh. “Sam White built Computech from his parents’ garage into a Fortune 500 company in less than two decades. For five years they boasted the highest gross profit percentage in the tech sector worldwide, until a whistle-blower inside the company exposed a major misstatement scheme. The SEC opened an investigation into securities fraud, share prices plummeted, and three weeks after the scandal broke in the Wall Street Journal , Sam White shot himself in the head.” The room, massive as it was, had fallen completely silent. No one sipped their complimentary coffee. No one checked their phones. Two hundred faces stared at the one smiling down at them, the larger-than-life father hugging his son to his dead chest. Nora glanced at the picture, a familiar swill of emotion clotting her throat, but her voice carried clearly as she swiveled back to the young accountants eager to kick-start their careers. “Sam White was forty-seven years old when he died. Computech declared bankruptcy less than two months into the SEC investigation and thousands of people lost their jobs, including me. “I was the whistle-blower.” Fraud, whether it was a pet