Customer Reviews

Second Shot: A Charlie Fox Mystery (Charlie Fox Thriller)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I enjoyed this mystery very much. The characterizations were very well done, it moved along at a great pace.

When I read a book or story, I know to suspend all belief and just read the words that paint the actions in my mind like a movie does on a screen. If those words and actions keep me glued to the pages of the book and keep me reading from front cover to back cover in one day, then in my opinion the author did a wonderful job and the book can only be rated as excellent. This is the first book I have read by Zoe Sharp and after I get done writing my opinion of her book I am going to place the order for her other two in the Charlie Fox series. This book was very good. It kept my interest from the first sentence and chapter and kept me reading almost breathless to the end to find out the hows and whys. I don't know if some of the things she did were wrong or didn't make sense, or Sean wasn't reacting the way he was suppose to - I just know that the plot and actions and final showing kept me glued to the book and I had a very enjoyable day reading it.

Second Shot is the fourth Zoe Sharp book that I've read. I wasn't disappointed. This book is full of smart, vivid action, and plenty of twists. It's a fast read that kept me up late at night.

If you like a tough female protagonist, you will like Charlie Fox.
Charlie is ex-British special forces turned bodyguard. She's clever, a crack shot, and a bit of a smartass. She struggles with issues from her past...military career cut short, critical parents, boyfriend, and her dark side. She finds herself in a bad situation and grits it out.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, Third Strike, which comes out later this year.

The early books in this series are out of print and unfortunately somewhat challenging to acquire. I got my copies used from various booksellers. Shop around a bit on the prices.

SECOND SHOT (Lic. Invest-Charlie Fox-London, Boston, New Hampshire-Cont) - Poor
Sharp, Zoë - 6th in series
Thomas Dunne Books, 2007, US Hardcover - ISBN: 0312358954

First Sentence: Take it from me, getting yourself shot hurts like hell.

Simone Kerde won multi-millions in the lottery and her greatest wish is to get to know the father that left them when she was very young. She is being hounded by the press and feels threatened by her ex-boyfriend, the father of her 4-year-old daughter.

Private bodyguard, Charlie Fox, is hired to take Simone and her daughter to Boston, where a private investigator, where they meet Simone's father. What should have been a joyous reunion turns deadly with Charlie a target.

Sharp always knows just how to grasp the reader's attention with the opening line. However, exciting though it may be, opening the story with a climatic scene and then telling the main story in flashback is not a technique of which I am particularly fond.

Sharp also used foreshadowing, which I find unnecessary and annoying. I prefer to have the story build as it otherwise seems a bit of a cheat. But that's just me.

There were many more things which bothered me about this book than that. Sean, for being Charlie's lover, seemed very cavalier about Charlie's concerns. Many of Charlie's actions and decisions seemed incredibly stupid for someone who is a professional bodyguard.

For me, the best thing was the sense of place when the book was in Boston and North Conway, New Hampshire. These are locations I know well and it was fun to visit them with Charlie.

That, however, was not enough to make up for, what was otherwise, an over-the-top plot that left me almost as cold as a New England winter.

This is not my favorite of the Charlie Fox series, mainly because I didn't care much for the secondary character, Simone. I had a difficult time believing that as a mother who is so protective of her daughter she would walk outside away from her with a stranger and leave her behind. Also, the grandmother character didn't ring true for me. However, I did enjoy this book. Once again, it was fast paced, filled with dramatic tension, and it placed Charlie back in the US in what is essentially her second body-guarding assignment. Once again, she grows as a character, and her closest relationships deepen and become ever more complicated. There is plenty to love about this series and this particular novel in the series. This was a page-turner, and at the end, I could not wait to start the next book. The Kindle versions are good value for the money, and I'm eagerly awaiting the release in the US of Fourth Day, which I've pre-ordered.

If I could, I would give this 3.5 stars rather than just 3. It's better than the average thriller, and I think it's important to the series as a whole.

IF you like LEE CHILDS, YOU WELL READ ALL HER BOOKS SHE IS BETTER WRITER ALL her charley fox thrillers are FIVE STARS !!! JUST READ ON OF THEM AND YOU WELL KNOW WHAT I SAY. she is not known in USA like LEE CHILDS> she english born like lee. lives in UK lake district nice place. been there. HAVE A GREAT READ! BY THE WAY HERE are the other books all can be find at ABS books on line.1HARD KNOCKS;FIRST DROP;KILLER INSTINCT;ROAD KILL;FOURTH DAY; FIFTH VICTIM;THIRD STRIKE; all these are hard backs. ZOE SHARP HAS HER OWN HOME PAGE ON NET.

In the frozen New Hampshire woods, British bodyguard Charlie Fox wonders if she will bleed to death before she freezes to death. She muses back to her home in London where her boss Sean Meyer asked Charlie to protect lottery winner Simone Kerse and her daughter Ella from the mom's former boyfriend. Charlie hesitantly agrees to keep the two females safe.

Simone travels to Boston in hopes of finding her estranged father and patch things up with him. She takes Ella with her. Charlie also accompanies them. In New England, a man informs Simone that he is her father; Charlie has doubts about his claim. When Kerse family secrets surface, Simone shoots Charlie who now is bleeding to death in the New Hampshire woods wondering why her client would try to kill her bodyguard.

SECOND SHOT is an exhilarating thriller that starts off with an incredibly exciting opening sequence as the heroine, who knows she might be dying in New England, looks back to how she ended up here. Charlie is a terrific protagonist as she protects the Kerse pair from the ex, but wonders who will protect her from the Kerse pair. As with Charlie's FIRST DROP in the States, her latest American adventure is a sharp thriller.

Harriet Klausner