Review ~ Dead Peasants by Dustin Stevens

Bargain Mart, long a fixture in the Missoula economic structure has fallen on hard times. Things are dire, and if a financial windfall  doesn’t arrive soon, their doors will close.

 

Across town, a woman grieves  her recently deceased husband. Sitting alone at her kitchen table trying to put  her life back in order, a call arrives asking where his quarter million dollar  life insurance policy should be sent. A quarter million dollar life insurance  policy she never knew existed.

 

Answering the phone on the other end of  her call for help is Drake Bell, third year law student at the University of  Montana. Joined by his partner Ava, and his loyal friends the Zoo Crew, Drake  must attempt to make sense of the case Alice presents him.

 

A case that  only grows more complex as people continue to pass in Missoula, all with ties to  Bargain Mart, all with large life insurance policies attached to them. Policies  known in the corporate world as Dead Peasants…

REVIEW

**Contains spoilers!!**

 

I was very intrigued in the beginning of this book to learn how all the small character parts tied together.  You've got a man who died of emphysema who leaves a grieving widow behind while another group of friends called the Zoo Crew get together frequently to hike or ski or whatever.  What ties them together is that Drake, one of the Zoo Crew, is becoming a lawyer and does pro bono work for his clinic and helps the widow learn of a Dead Peasant life insurance policy that Bargain Mart, the first company her husband every worked for, took out on him and continued paying long after his employment ended.  

 

The head of Bargain Mart, based in London, takes over this small chain & turns it into a national chain making millions of dollars.  Unfortunately, they get most of their money when their employees pass away & collect their life insurance money.  If they  need funds to help a particular store stay open, they hire assassins to murder current or past employees to collect the money sooner.

 

I honestly thought there would be much more action involving the murders and how Drake solves the great mystery and shuts down Bargain Mart.  I was quite disappointed when the assassins turn against Bargain Mart and murder the head man in London instead.  Not even any details on the murder either.  

 

This book turned out to be boring when it could have been so much more exciting because the story in and of itself was very good.

 

Rating: 3

 

Release Date: February 19, 2013

Book Length: 392 pages

Source: Author

Reviewed by: Julie

Reading Format: Available in eBook and Paperback

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Where to find Dustin Stevens:

Website

A Zoo Crew Novel Series

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