From Publishers Weekly
Sharp's second Charlie Fox thriller to be published in the U.S. (after 2005's acclaimed
First Drop) opens with a harrowing scene of the hard-hitting British bodyguard slowly bleeding to death in the frigid New Hampshire woods. Flashback to London: under the watchful eye of her boss and sometimes lover, Sean Meyer, Charlie reluctantly takes a job protecting recent lottery winner Simone Kerse and her young daughter, Ella, from Simone's ex-boyfriend. Determined to find her long-estranged father, Simone travels to Boston with Charlie and Ella in tow. Charlie has her suspicions when a mysterious man approaches Simone, claiming to be her father, and these suspicions soon become frighteningly real when secrets about the Kerses' past come to light, culminating in a gun battle that leaves Charlie struggling to piece together why a client shot her own bodyguard. Sharp expertly builds the suspense in a nonstop thrill ride that should win her many new American fans.
Author tour. (Sept.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* James Bond, watch your back. There's a tough new breed of British muscle on the block, and her name is Fox, Charlie Fox. A former British Army soldier (and survivor of a brutal gang rape), Charlie now earns her living guarding others, a duty that has a nasty habit of putting her in harm's way. Her latest assignment is no exception. She's protecting beautiful British engineer (and recent lottery winner) Simone and her four-year-old daughter from an obsessed ex-boyfriend. She's also helping Simone search for her long-lost father. The trio travels to New England to follow leads on Simone's dad. (Charlie also figures they'll be safer there, a good distance from the ex-boyfriend.) Trouble ensues soon after arrival, when charismatic Greg Lucas claims he's Simone's father. (Is Lucas really her flesh and blood, or does he just want her money to bail himself out of a precarious financial situation?) Two bullets add wounds to Charlie's scar repertoire, but even in a weakened condition, the gutsy twentysomething is undeterred. British novelist Sharp's second thriller to appear in the U.S. (after First Drop, in 2005) crackles with suspense, showcasing crisp prose, plenty of plot twists, and a heroine who adds new meaning to the term femme fatale. Block, Allison
