Stephanie Bond’s
latest gripping story
begins with protagonist Belinda Hennessey moving to Atlanta after a disastrous marriage
break-up. A reticent and self-sufficient person, Belinda
finds it most uncomfortable when the ladies at the office car pool share intimate details
of their lives and expect her to do the same during the hectic drive downtown each day and
during the course of which, they repeatedly warn her about their mutual duplicitous boss
Margo – a warning, which Belinda takes with a pinch of salt.
One disastrous day, Belinda hits
Officer Wade Alexander’s car, falls in love with the sexy voice of a traffic reporter
and gets shouted at by Margo. But disaster turns into victory when Belinda stands up to
her and gets promised a promotion if she’s willing to turn a blind eye to certain
discrepancies. At around the same time, Belinda learns that a
co-worker in her office was recently killed and that somehow she’s taking the dead
woman’s position everywhere - in the car pool, at work and in a sleazy love affair!
Does this mean, she’s going to share that woman’s fate?! As events soon
transpire, a person at the office does get killed and Belinda
becomes the main suspect! Is it a carpool conspiracy? Or is Belinda’s erstwhile
lover, the murderer? And why does Officer Alexander persist in helping
her?
Drama, tension, murder,
sex, romance, humor - Bond’s “Kill the Competition” has it all and more!
And without a doubt, it can labeled a ‘killing’ success! A move to a new city,
making new friends at work and socially, a promising promotion - all seems to be going
well for Belinda, or is it?
The protagonist is an
ordinary woman who inadvertently gets stuck in a deadly web murder and deceit, and she has
to solve this racing mystery before she ends up being the victim. She faces temptation and
even succumbs to it - while this doesn’t fit the traditional ‘heroic’
mould, it is certainly a lot convincing. She also is confused and torn over a lot of
issues – should she trust her inner instincts or rely on the voice of experience in
the form of her carpool colleagues; should she choose one man over another; is it lust or
love; and the most important one of them all – whom can she really trust, besides
herself? Dilemmas ample and the readers undergo it all with Belinda as Ms. Bond skillfully
weaves pathos and inner realization, with humor and rapid-paced plot development and a
most surprising conclusion.
Sensitive and yet gritty,
Bond’s latest book has in it a complex story about life, reality, human beings and
most importantly, relationships. Stunning!
Reviewed By Rashmi Srinivas
for The Road to Romance
November 11, 2003 |
