Downfall-Brian Lutterman

Downfall Brian Lutterman Conquill Press, May 1 2014, $15.00 www.conquillpress.com ISBN: 9780980001785 After the car accident that left her a paraplegic and her young niece dead, attorney Pen Wilkinson lost her position at her Florida law firm. Sending her résumé around the country, Minneapolis based North Central Bank hires her to provide legal advice to the company’s Foundation. Although not in her area of expertise Pen is happy to be working again. All hell breaks loose when the media learns that a white supremacist group Great Western Liberty Alliance is included on a list of recipients given to the bank president James Carter for final approval. While Carter vanished in New York, everyone especially her boss Deanne Nolan at the bank blames Pen who allegedly vetted the list. The media stalks her; reporting her grandfather was active in the KKK and a profitable merger dies. As Pen tries to prove her innocence, someone kills Carol Hart in Atlanta and goes after Terry Forsythe in Chicago. Terry contacts Pen offering her information if she lives long enough to do so; as she recognizes the North Central spin from being a willing participant in a similar scenario. Downfall is an exhilarating action-packed financial thriller starring a fascinating besieged woman who makes the Roadrunner look docile as she follows leads to Chicago and California. Pen is independent but smart enough to accept that at times she needs help due to her paralysis. Though the plausibility to this reviewer who can’t balance a checkbook seems over the top of Deming Heights, the villains’ operations are cleverly designed and precisely executed except for allowing Terry temporary to escape from death until (to the delight of readers) Pen takes the fight to them. Harriet Klausner