Deadfall: A Pen Wilkinson Novel

Pen Wilkinson is an unemployed paraplegic attorney recovering from a traumatic accident. When she is recruited by the FBI to go undercover as a paralegal for a defense contractor, Pen can’t say no. A young woman who worked for contractor DSI has been murdered. Before her untimely demise, she called the FBI to warn them that Dan Landrum, owner of the hedge fund company, Techinvest Partners, and also DSI’s largest shareholder, is not who he seems to be. Before a huge deal closes which would make DSI unstoppable in the world of defense technology, Pen needs to get to the bottom of what the murdered young woman was so afraid of. Soon Pen realizes she’s in too deep as foreign countries and the selling of defense secrets are involved. Alone, yet determined, this may be Pen’s last case. 

This is one of the most thoroughly plotted books on foreign espionage that readers will ever get their hands on. The research and depth of the storyline, and subplots, are remarkably professionally written. Readers may take issue with the lack of a clear back story regarding Pen’s accident until late in the book. This is book five in the series, and it is not immediately clear what happened to Pen to make her wheelchair bound and suffering from PTSD. Though “Deadfall” can be read as a standalone, readers would greatly benefit from starting at book one to grasp the full storyline. Overall, this is an excellent novel that readers will be engrossed in from start to finish!

Alison Ellis