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Death by Education: Education Can Kill. New Book Tells Tale of Government Corruption Turned Deadly

Tina Tomei’s ‘Death by Education’ shows what happens to a happy, idealistic woman when she takes a job managing grants at the U.S. Department of Education. Andy Prints expects to make a difference in a humdrum environment, but Tomei’s gripping adventure makes ‘just another day at the office’ a life-and-death drama, with repercussions far beyond the gray walls of the Education Department office.

 

Washington, DC -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/12/2014 -- Hordes of commuters reach their office chairs every morning and settle in for another day of keyboard tapping, clock watching and a general aim to just get the day done with, but Andy Prints, the protagonist in Tina Tomei’s latest novel, finds something else awaiting when she starts her new job monitoring grants for the U.S. Department of Education. A few stray notes, a couple of computer records, and soon everything spirals out of control. Spied upon and physically attacked, Andy is forced to muster all her resources just to survive.

‘Death by Education’ follows Andy Prints, a former stand-out hockey player and Brown University graduate, as she makes her debut in the workaday world, forging alliances at break-neck speed. But she makes more enemies than she can see and her job quickly becomes the most dangerous undertaking she could imagine.

Synopsis:

Andy Prints, a standout ice hockey player, goes to Brown only to be derailed from her dreams by a fluke accident. Not one to dwell on negatives, she redirects her goals and finishes college to start a job for a good cause - Education. But nothing has prepared her for the people and politics she encounters, and in a whirlwind introduction to real life, she finds herself struggling with her conscience, her colleagues - and actually fighting for her life.

With scenes ranging from the Mexican-American desert to post-Soviet Ukraine, the characters in this book show the scary side of education – and how, despite all appearances, having a government job can be very dangerous.

As the author explains, her narrative juxtaposes the corruption endemic in the former Soviet Union to the current state of U.S. government work.

“Most of us expect the U.S. government to be performing at least in principle to uphold our democratic system, but Andy finds out that even having a job at the Education Department can be political. She is surrounded by unscrupulous figures, all seeking their own rewards, using their positions willfully and despotically. Suddenly, education becomes more involved, more dangerous and more illegal than she’d ever imagined. It’s really not clear how – or if – Andy will survive,” says Tomei.

A Kirkus reviewer compliments the book as “entertaining,” while also being impressed with the book’s depth of realism: “The author has a clear understanding of the ways in which government funding can be misused, and she makes topics like capital expenditures and technical assistance both interesting and understandable to the reader. The quickly moving plot keeps the reader turning pages, eager to see how Andy and her allies will outmaneuver the corrupt bureaucrats.”

Readers admire the book, like D.G., who wrote: “It’s a page turner. I stayed up very late reading it”; and Kirsty who wrote on Goodreads: “As soon as I started this book, I knew that I would like it. I like how the first chapter shows what has happened in the department before Andy arrives and I loved how the story was told from different perspectives without them overlapping.”

‘Death by Education’ is available now: http://amzn.to/1dqAcWO.

About Tina Tomei
TINA TOMEI grew up by the ocean in New Jersey and lived a lot of places both before and since finishing school. She considers herself a recovering academic and reprised federal whistleblower. She currently lives 100 miles from Washington DC on Maryland's Eastern Shore. DEATH BY EDUCATION is the first novel in a murderous trilogy featuring Andy Prints.