Customer Reviews

Kickback

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Sheila Carpenter is a computer whiz kid. In a hurry to take advantage of her accomplishments, her employer Douglas Murray and Associates signs Sheila to work as a programmer for a trucking company. By page 20, our heroine learns that she has been hired to hide a kickback scheme. And shortly after, her associates start turning up dead.

Where does a young woman, eager to please, but not eager to break the law, turn for help? She befriends a young lawyer, Matt, from the law firm that she has also been contracted to help setting up a computer system. And she contacts, the FBI.

Soon, Sheila doesn't know whether to trust Matt or not. And the FBI doesn't seem like they are eager to help either. Her aunt is kidnaps, in her mentor is killed by a trucker in front of her eyes. Desperate to do what is right, stay alive, and save her aunt, Sheila devises a plan to blow the lid off the kickback scheme, using her computer skills.

Author Patricia McClelland Terrell (p.m. terrell) is a computer industry professional and has been since 1976. She's also the daughter of a former FBI Special Agent and a longtime resident of the Washington, D.C. area. Her considerable experience and family background adds credibility and depth to this story. Fast-paced, filled with suspense, Kickback starts with a bang and doesn't let up until the very last page.

This inside look at how kickback schemes can work, the realistic character of Sheila, the FBI, the setting, and computereze, educates as well as entertains. This début suspense thriller hits all the right spots and doesn't disappoint. Instead, it leaves a yearning for more that the author has recognized and will fill with the soon-to-be released sequel-Ricochet: The Adventure Continues.

Terrell is also the author of the China Conspiracy, another suspenseful thriller featuring a gutsy heroine familiar with the workings of a computer.

Kickback has it all, including action, great dialogue, characters to root for, and bad guys to hate. Seasoned with an insider's look at the trucking industry, the computer industry, and the FBI, Kickback pulls no punches.

Welcome to the world of suspense writers, Ms. Terrell. You've earned it.

"Kickback" by P.M. Terrell opens with an excellent exposition drawing the reader into wondering why a women is hanging upside-down in her overturned car with dangerous men just seconds from reaching her.

We soon find out Sheila Carpenter is a newly graduated computer programmer who must take down an entire law firm, a consulting firm, and the trucking industry, for giving illegal payments (thus the name "kickback") to companies who would award them contracts.

She unwittingly involves herself in writing a computer program for these illegal activities. Or are they illegal? She really isn't sure; even when her supervisor asks her to create hidden menus that only she can access. And is it illegal, she wonders, when asked to void original invoices, to erase them without a trace so there is no audit trail? Did she take basic accounting classes?

But, okay, she's a country girl just out of Vanderbilt University on her first real job in a big city (Washington, D.C.). She's vulnerable, maybe a little naive to the business world. I'll give her that. It doesn't take Sheila long, however, to turn revenge savvy using her computer skills to set up a sting to get the bad guys. There is also a side-story romantic interest for Sheila. Should she trust him? The reader is kept guessing until the end.

In addition, other large industries, including the FBI, itself, might be involved. There is even a hint of (whisper here) mob involvement. All this while trying to save her only living relative's home from being demolished and warning a best friend that her newly found truck-driving boyfriend may be connected to her ordeal. My goodness, Ms. Carpenter has gotten herself into a pickle!

Author P.M. Terrell has written a mostly page turning novel with a likable female protagonist. By "mostly" I mean the first two-thirds of the book are fast-paced and she keeps the reader wanting to know more. The last third of the book is relatively consistent with small problems coming only in plot workability and conflict toward the end. (i.e., my attention was somewhat drawn from the suspense wondering how much time the real players in a corrupt operation would spend on one programer. Attempts to explain this later in the book fall short.)

In the end, however, I was impressed by Ms. Terrell's writing style. She writes fluently with crisp sentence structure and excellent dialogue. And most importantly, like any really good author, she keeps us guessing and wanting to know more. She writes so well, in fact, that I'm looking forward to reading Ms. Terrell's next book The China Connection, with hopes that the plot is deeper with far more at stake than one person bringing down kickbackers. This book gets a green light. Go for it!

Look out John Grisham - hang on Patsy Cornwell!!! You have company. P. M. Terrell has written a marvelous first book that demands more.

A page turner that keeps you involved and never confused with esoteric terms.

Ms. Terrell is an author to watch!

KICKBACK is a galloping good read about a lowly computer programmer caught up in corporate shenanigans that could quite possibly get her in deep, deep trouble.

P. M. Terrell has written a not-so-fantastic thriller about very real ethical problems facing everyday people in the workplace.

On it's way to being a bestseller!

I thought I would be bored with this book as I'm not all that computer or accounting savvy, but I really enjoyed it. The plot, characters, and corporations are very realistic and the computer parts are easily understandable for those not in the know. This is an excellent first novel! A sequel is in the works. I talked with the author at a book signing. Her father is an ex-FBI agent and she is supported by the Crimesolvers Association. I expect more great novels from her!

P.M. Terrell's debut novel, Kickback, has something for everyone. It is a non-stop, action-filled suspense/thriller with just a tad of romance thrown in that adds an addictive quality to the 312-page novel.

Sheila Carpenter, computer genius and recent Vanderbilt graduate is hired by a computer consulting firm in Washington, DC. Monday through Friday mornings she is loaned out to MTS, the nation's largest and most prestigious trucking transportation firm. All she has to do is write a new accounting program that generates a double set of books in one of the biggest and most far-reaching fraud schemes since before Enron went public. Friday afternoons she is to help create a database for a local law firm, where she meets Matt, the handsome lawyer who turns into her knight-in-shining-armor.


Better snatch this heart-stopping, thrill ride before its optioned for a movie---cause we all know the book is much, much better. Think early Grisham novels, especially The Pelican Brief, and you know you're in for a treat! Yeah, I can see Julia Roberts as Sheila; Lauren Bacall as Aunt Jo, Ben Affleck as Matt, and Jaime Lee Curtis as Sheila's immediate boss, Pam.