Zoë Sharp

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S THE LAST TIME SHE DIED ABOUT?
I'm feeling pretty paranoid about what I'm going to write in this post, I don't want to give anything away. It'd be really easy to do with this one, so I'll just borrow this from Sharp's website:

She came back on the day of her father’s funeral, ten years after she vanished. But she can’t be who she says she is…

When Blake disappeared as a teenager, on a cold dark night, her father never show more reported her missing. She is presumed dead.

Now, ten years later, a young woman with white-blonde hair sits comfortably in the family living room and smiles at the shocked faces around her.

“Don’t you recognise me?” she says. “I’m Blake.”

Detective John Byron isn’t sure whether she’s telling the truth. But as he investigates, he soon realises no one is happy to see her.

And the people who should be welcoming her back with open arms know she can’t be Blake. Because they killed her the night she vanished…

Didn’t they?

LILY

‘I’m Lily. Does this mean you’re sort of my sister? I’ve always wanted a sister. Well, I really wanted a kitten, but a sister would be nearly as good.’

At the root of everything in this novel are some deep and dark secrets—many of which will be brought out of the shadows--but there are several moments of light throughout. The brightest beam of light comes from Gideon Fitzroy's twelve-year-old step-daughter, Lily.

She's adorable—it jumps off of the page. She feels neglected by her mother and uncle, her older brother's at that stage of adolescence where the last thing he wants to do is spend time with his little sister. So the prospect of having a brand-new, adult, sister? Lily's awed by her. And then when Blake's friendly with her, spends time with her? Lily's devoted.

She doesn't understand what's going on—and is largely kept in the dark by her family. But she's Blake's biggest fan, no matter what that might mean for her family. There's a sweetness to her that makes her future and welfare as important to the reader (at least this one) as Blake's and Byron's.

BYRON +
Byron, considered solely, is an intriguing character—and I have a note or two about wanting to write about his psychology a bit. But I don't think we have quite enough information yet to do the deep(ish) dive that I want to. Sure, not having that information is part of what makes him intriguing.

Where we really learn about him is from other characters and from his interactions with others. For example, PC Jane Hudson knew him as a trainee, and gained certain impressions of him, and shares them with her superiors, predecessor, and others (including the reader).

But it's in his interactions with others that you really get to like him. With the pub's skittish cleaner. He's great at winning her over and getting her to talk. He's got this wonderful banter with his superior that speaks to a long association/friendship and liked their conversations enough that I'd pay for a novella featuring them just meeting for tea and chatting. It's probably there that I decided that I liked him as a person.

But in his conversations and interactions with Blake (and the way they both respond after each encounter) is where he really stands out. The two "get" each other in a way that just makes you want to read more, just to watch their verbal dance (and the choreography of what they don't say is just as agile). We're talking Poe and Tilly, Spenser and Hawk, Cormoran and Robin levels of chemistry here. It's almost like there should be a series based on the pair.

Oh, wait...

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE LAST TIME SHE DIED?
I've been reading Sharp's Charlie Fox for over a decade, but I hadn't read anything else by her. I've always suspected that was an error in judgment, and this certainly suggests that I'm right.

How many times since Martin Guerre* has the story of someone presumed dead come back and had to prove they weren't an impostor? How many times have we read about a police detective with emotional and physical scars doing some off the books work because they can't do anything else? How many stories of small-town secrets being exposed have been written? How many...well, you get the idea. This novel is full of ideas we've all seen more times than we can count. But Sharp shuffles them, remixes them, and presents them to the readers in a way that could almost convince you that you've never read/seen anything like it before.

* Sure. before that story, too.

How good is Sharp? The series is called Blake & Byron Thrillers—and yet you will wonder on more than one occasion if she's actually Blake. And you may keep wondering after you finish the book.

So many of the characters really popped and will linger in the back of my mind for quite a while. I'm already impatient about getting answers to how Blake and Bryson will have another adventure together. I wouldn't mind an update on some of the other characters, either—although it appears that Bryson's new job will be taking him to a different part of the country.

The Last Time She Died is entertaining, twisty, tense, with just enough wit to keep you grinning. This is going to be a series to watch, readers, get started now. show less

This was crazy intense and it was actually pretty funny. Charlie had a wry sarcastic humour that I loved. The plot was interesting and the action had me on the edge of my seat. I did find the romance stupid but it was a minor part and it didn't affect the rest of the book too much.

Charlie was fascinating - she was such a mess of contradictions. I liked her a lot and I felt sorry for the ordeals she had to go through. Particularly when the cops ignore her because they're under the impression show more she's the girl who cried wolf. But also her strength to overcome her past and the horrible betrayal she suffered from people who should've had her back.

I do wish she had more good friends and a better support network. It made me feel sad that she didn't. I did like that she was violent but advocated for the first rule of engagement to always be to not engage. I think it's important to know your limitations and to always try to avoid such situations where possible and to defuse them if able to.

That said, I didn't like that she always held back. She got hurt a lot more than she ever should've been. The thing is, yes you should avoid fighting but the fact is if you do engage you have to go in, hard and fast and put them down. Any half-hearted measures will just make a person angrier and more likely to hurt you worse.

What made it worse was she had the skill but lacked the confidence to judge when she should or should not use her skills. For instance the fight she breaks up on the dance floor between the two guys - the second he picked up the glass bottle she should've been aiming to incapacitate. A weapon always ups the danger level.

When she gets jumped in her apartment, she hesitates to break bones. I mean they jumped her in her home - that should've been the first move. Instead she let them off easy and got ridiculously beaten up. Realistically, no one that has studied that much self-defence and martial arts would let those situations go as far as she did. But all that said, it didn't affect my enjoyment of the book. It was just a minor thing that bugged me.

Overall it was a really strong read. Complicated plot, great action, well written and a badass main character. 4.5 stars. Will definitely pick up the next one. show less

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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“OK, let’s talk weapons. You got any preference?”

I shrugged. “I like the SIG P226, if you have one, but as long as it goes bang when I press the trigger, I’m not too fussy.”

WHAT'S BAD TURN ABOUT?
Charlie's left her job—which costs her her home, he guns, and leaves her working security on the sort of drinking establishment that she'd never have walked into. She's about 6 minutes away from making Jack Reacher look show more financially stable.

She stumbles into a house-sitting gig out in the country at a really nice place. It's the answer to a whole lot of problems. Until she's driving nearby and comes across a gunfight in the middle of a country road. As you do. She intervenes and comes to the aid of the group that's apparently under attack, and ends up saving the life of a woman and one of her bodyguards.

Overcome with gratitude and impressed with her abilities, the woman's husband offers her a job. His business has some pretty important things happening and he's worried for her safety during that. You see, he's an arms dealer (one who sells to both sides of legality) and there's reason to believe that his wife is being targeted by a competitor/angry ex-customer.

The whole shootout on a public road would be an indicator that, yeah, she's in danger.

Charlie signs on for the protection duty and finds herself in the middle of a scheme featuring international gun runners/dealers, organized crime (in multiple countries), and some messy family drama in multiple countries. There are multiple gunfights, a little bit of hand-to-hand combat, a lot of treachery and a little betrayal.

BAD TURN AND THE CHARLIE FOX SERIES
This felt like a transition from Charlie's typical work for Parker's firm to self-employment. And as such, it feels a little different to me. She's used to having Parker or his staff ready for logistical, research, or equipment help. Now she's on her own—and Bad Turn shows how ill=prepared she is to be independent of all of Parker's resources. Sure, she spent a lot of time without the possibility of checking in with Parker/the company, and it caused problems. But her assumption in the past was that there was a team ready to help. That's gone now.

Assuming there are more Charlie Fox books coming down the line, I trust that Sharp will get us through these waters and put Charlie back in a situation she can more easily predict, and one not so infested by rats.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT BAD TURN?
I really don't know. I liked the story, and enjoyed watching Charlie navigate these treacherous waters—but the whole time I felt like something was off. I think it's just whatever made me start thinking of this as a transition novel, good action, but it just didn't feel right.

Still, even an "off" Charlie Fox adventure is pretty fun. I'm glad I read this and think that new or established readers will enjoy it, but I'm hoping for something more next time. show less

One of my reading goals for last year was to read more UK authors and belatedly I’ve picked up one from Zoe Sharp which qualifies and more importantly is actually absolutely excellent. Maybe my perspective on it owes more to its setting in post-Katrina New Orleans than its author’s nationality but when you find yourself gripping the book tighter as the tension ramps up you know the author has gotten you hooked (even if doing this on a Kindle doesn’t have quite the same effect as with a show more real paper book!).

At one point I took a breath and said to myself “this is like Die Hard on a freaking boat!” Remember the first Die Hard film, the best one – the first time you saw it on the big screen. And then while getting ready to write my review I jumped over to the author’s website here where she describes this as being her personal version of “Die Hard” – well, Ms. Sharp you nailed it!

Being the 10th book in a series there is the potential to have to know the characters’ backstory in order to fully appreciate the current work but, while the backstory is alluded to, it is always in just sufficient detail to give you what you need to know in order to move the current story along and never seems to become intrusive.

There’s a great opening, dropping the reader straight into a shootout where our heroine is unarmed and vulnerable but given a little misdirection all is not as it first appears. My one minor gripe would be the use of foreshadowing in the text which is a literary device I’m not terribly fond of but even that faded into the background as I became more immersed into the overall pull of the narrative. Aside from that the tension of the book is excellent and the action scenes jump off the page and Charlie Fox as a lead character is certainly appealing while the complications of her relationship with Sean both professional and personal are well laid out.

My rating is 10 out of 10. The only question is do I start at the beginning or do I work backwards? There are more advantages than usual to working forwards apart from the usual chronology in that there are two ebook collections available. A TRIPLE SHOT of Charlie Fox is a special e-boxed set of the first three novels in the Charlie Fox series ―KILLER INSTINCT, RIOT ACT, and HARD KNOCKS (Kindle, Kindle UK). While ANOTHER ROUND of Charlie Fox is a special e-boxed set of the second three novels in the Charlie Fox series ―FIRST DROP, ROAD KILL, and SECOND SHOT (Kindle).

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