Blog Tour ~ Concrete Pearl by Vincent Zandri

Concrete Pearl by Vincent Zandri

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Adult thriller
Source: Received to review through Pump Up Your Book Blog Tours


Description from Goodreads: Ava "Spike" Harrison might be a beautiful, classically schooled woman, but the single, 38 year old construction business owner is also plenty ballsy. Her late father taught her long ago how to handle the rough boys in an industry that's almost entirely filled with hard-boiled men on the make. But now, with "the business dad built" from the ground up failing due to an unusual series of job-site injuries and just plain bad luck, Spike has no choice but to take on one last project she believes can pull the fledgling firm from the depths of almost certain bankruptcy and family shame: The Renovation of Albany PS 20. 

Problem is, Spike had no choice but to take the job on the cheap. To make matters worse, she's not only hired an asbestos removal contractor who, unbeknownst to her, low-balled his price, but she's advanced him $10Gs from her own dwindling cash account as a "good faith" incentive to beat the project deadline.

Now, when that same asbestos contractor suddenly goes missing and it's discovered by OSHA officials that he's cheated on the project exposing more than 300 students to deadly asbestos fibers for months, Spike decides to take matters into her own callused hands and go in search of him. What she discovers along the way however, is a path paved with deception, greed, murder, and eventually, her own ultimate demise.

Armed with a framing hammer as her equalizer instead of a gun, Spike Harrison is one hot, but tough as nails amateur woman sleuth. 


My thoughts: "Spike" Harrison is running the construction company left to her by her late father. She is struggling to keep the business afloat when the unthinkable happens. She has contracted out the asbestos removal to a man who disappears. Not only does he disappear he leaves her to deal with his sub-par job of removal and exposing children to asbestos. She is left to deal with OSHA.

This begins her search for Farrell, the sub contractor. Her search leads her to a PI,who she eventually teams up with, as she uncovers that Farrell was involved in a lot more than a poor work ethic.

This book is well written and very fast paced. Spike puts herself in mortal danger as she uncovers more than she bargained for. Spike is a very determined and strong female lead character.  Her life was formed around the construction sites and she doesn't take nonsense.

I do have a content warning. This book is laced with profanity, violence,  and sexual innuendo.  This book is written for an adult audience.

I became interested in reading books by Vincent when I "met" him at Goodreads.  I finally read one of his books and I was not disappointed.  I have a couple of his other books on my kindle and will read them at a later date.

Watch the trailer:

Vincent Zandri is the No. 1 International Bestselling author of the thrillers THE INNOCENT, GODCHILD,MOONLIGHT FALLS, THE REMAINS and CONCRETE PEARL. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont College, he has was a Stringer for The Albany Times Union Newspaper, and a contributor to New York Newsday, Hudson Valley Magazine, Game and Fish Magazine, and more. His short fiction has appeared in many of the leading journals and magazines, Orange County Magazine, Buffalo Spree, Negative Capability, The Maryland Review,Rosebud, The Best of Rosebud, Lost Creek Lettersamong them. His novels, stories, and journalism have been translated into many foreign languages including the Dutch, Japanese, French, Russian and Turkish. A freelance photo-journalist, foreign correspondent, and Blogger for RT, Globalspec and International Business Times, he divides his time between New York and Florence, Italy.

For more on the author, go to http://www.vincentzandri.com/.