Book Review: Concealment by Rose Edmunds

Concealment is quite a twisted mystery and unique in that it takes place in the arena of big business and finance. Amy, an executive in the company overseeing the financial aspects of a merger of a construction company with another, larger company, has risen through the ranks by dint of ambition and hard work. Another less determined person might not have achieved her position, given the fact she is the daughter of a pathological hoarder who made Amy’s childhood miserable and who is currently bringing misery to her life again. She survives by keeping her past a secret, a delicate balancing act.

The story begins with the discovery by the tax division of Amy’s company of some irregularities in the financials of the smaller of the two companies, irregularities which are later found not to be the problem initially thought. The one problem I had with this book is that the financial and business information was over my head, and I did not understand exactly what was going on; nevertheless, I managed to get a general idea.

Then Amy’s young colleague, a thorough investigator of the tax conundrum, is murdered, and Amy’s new boss Ed displays obnoxious behavior that she interprets as a desire to trash her career and boot her from the company.

As the mystery of her colleague’s death unwinds under Amy’s reluctant but intelligent investigation, the pressure on her exerted by the smarmy Ed inexorably increases. He undermines her authority, gets friends to spy on her, and discredits her at every turn. Amy becomes convinced he is the killer and increasingly uses alcohol to calm her distress. Her tight control of herself and her life starts to crack, and as her paranoia increases, even the reader becomes worried that Amy is mentally unbalanced. Is there no one she can trust?

Amy gradually discovers that various parties to the merger are pursuing illegal agendas, which leads to a suicide and attempts on her life. To top it off, a nosy and imperious neighbor manipulates her mother to apply even further pressure on Amy’s already precarious mental balance. The reader is kept guessing to the very end and I found myself reading as quickly as possible to discover who was at the bottom of everything. Most satisfying is how Amy exacts her revenge.

A good read for just about everyone.

About the author:

Rose Edmunds lives in Brighton with her husband David. She has a degree in mathematics at the University of Sussex and a PhD from Cardiff University and worked for more than 20 years in several well-known accountancy firms, while steadfastly maintaining her literary aspirations. Iin 2007 she finally quit her day job now writes financial thrillers with a strong ethical theme. Her writing draws heavily on her considerable insight into the business world and in particular the uncomfortable conflict between individual and corporate objectives. Rose is also a trustee of Brightside, a charity helping young people to access career and education opportunities they might not have believed were available to them.

Concealment can be found on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Concealment-Rose-Edmunds/dp/1508630690/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428778123&sr=1-1&keywords=Concealment

Rose Edmunds can be found

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoseEdmundsAuthor

On Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/5759693.Rose_Edmunds

Her homepage: www.roseedmunds.co.uk

And on twitter: @RoseEdmunds