Reviews of
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ISIS/Ulverscroft UK Large Print Hardcover Mar 2011 Soft Cover Mar 2012 |
Pegasus Books US Hardcover Feb 2011 Paperback Jan 2012 |
Allison & Busby UK Paperback Mar 2011 |
Allison & Busby UK Hardcover May 2010 |
'Adrenaline-packed follow-up to Third Strike . . . raises the emotional stakes.'
'In Sharp's adrenaline-packed follow-up to Third Strike, Brit Charlie Fox, a close-protection specialist (or bodyguard) now working for a Manhattan company, seeks to extricate schoolteacher Thomas Witney from Fourth Day, a cult in the desert near Los Angeles. Thomas infiltrated the cult five years earlier because he believed that Fourth Day's charismatic leader, Randall Bane, was responsible for the death of Thomas's college-age son, Liam, who perished during an ecoterrorism protest. While Charlie and her lover, Sean Meyer, manage to get Thomas out, they're unprepared for either his complete about-face on Bane or the intense interest that Homeland Security suddenly has in the cult and Thomas's insider knowledge.
'The relationship between Charlie and Sean has always been fraught with tension, but a startling personal revelation and Charlie's decision whether to keep this information to herself as she prepares to go undercover into Fourth Day considerably raises the emotional stakes.'
'Must reading for fans of action-packed,
hard-edged thrillers.'
'Charlie Fox (née Charlotte Foxcroft) has worked hard to overcome horrific odds and train herself mentally and physically to be a valued member of the elite Armstrong-Meyer private security firm. But when the job calls for extracting a man from the alleged cult, Fourth Day, and the operation goes south, Charlie infiltrates the organization, whose charismatic leader, Randall Bane, views her discontent as aggravated by loss of control during a recent pregnancy and miscarriage, which she still hasn’t revealed to her lover, Sean Meyer.
'While Charlie sees Bane as a healer, former cult leader Chris Sagar accuses Fourth Day of fostering terrorism. At odds with her employer and at a critical juncture with Meyer, Charlie gets help from LAPD Detective “Ritz” Gardner, and the two women try to avert a Waco-like tragedy.
'In the eighth installment in the series (not all have yet been published in the U.S.), Charlie invites comparison with Lee Child’s Jack Reacher in both skills and moral sense, and her psychological complexity adds depth to her character and the series.
'The shocker of an ending will make readers especially anxious for Sharp’s next adventure. Must reading for fans of action-packed, hard-edged thrillers.'
'The prose sparkles like a diamond under a spotlight . . . Why has it taken me so long to read any of Zoë Sharp’s books and how soon can I get my hands on the next one?'
CrimeSquad Rating:
Synopsis:
A cult who call themselves Fourth Day are well funded and fiercely private. Five years ago Thomas Witney joined the cult. He sought evidence that the leader of the cult Randall Bane was responsible for the death of his son Liam. Thomas never came back.
Ex Special Forces soldier turned bodyguard Charlie Fox and her partner Sean Meyer have been sent to retrieve Witney, whether he wants to come or not. Five years is a long time to be inside a cult and the man who they snatch is not the same man as entered Fourth Day. Witney now claims Bane is innocent. This raises more concerns as Charlie and Meyer have to discover why Witney wasn’t snatched after six months as originally planned. Who did cause Liam’s death − and why?
Spurred on by the demands of Witney’s ex-wife, Charlie goes into Fourth Day’s California stronghold undercover. With her training and mindset she is in no real danger but she has her own secrets she has not even shared with Meyer and Bane has an uncanny ability of cutting right through her defences and pinpointing what is troubling her most.
Review:
'This was the first book of Zoë Sharp’s that I have read and, as a new reader, I was entranced from the first page to the last. The pace is tremendous and never allows the reader to draw breath as Charlie is plunged from one situation to the next, be they action, emotion or confrontation scenes you are hurtled along on the runaway train that is Charlie Fox. She is a renegade, a killing machine, a person of high moral values, a person who will stand by their moral convictions regardless of the consequences, but most of all she is a delight to spend time with.
'The characters are all extremely well drawn but Charlie is a joy to behold. Suffice to say, if she met Jack Reacher she would either end up marrying him or giving him the biggest and best fight he’s ever had. She is not the usual girly character found in action/crime thriller’s, she is not the ball busting detective who proves she’s as good as the men by out-swearing and out drinking them. She is an ex soldier who happens to be female. Think Rambette not Rambo. Where her male contemporaries are all macho and brooding Fox is introspective and shows her womanly side at times as Sharp draws out her feelings and fears.
'The plot is assembled beautifully as there are various forces struggling for the upper hand for varying reasons all of which make sense as explained by their champions. The prose sparkles like a diamond under a spotlight and the mood can change dramatically with one of Sharp’s serene sentences. I don’t know where the next adventure will take Charlie Fox but there will be fallout from this one to discover.
'After reading Fourth Day I was left with two unanswered questions. Why has it taken me so long to read any of Zoë Sharp’s books and how soon can I get my hands on the next one?'
'What a great ride . . . I can't wait to read the next book in this intense and gripping series.'
What a great ride. This book pulled me in immediately as Charlie and Sean take on their next case that involves a rescue attempt from a cult organization. Things don’t go as plan and Charlie goes undercover with some surprising results. This suspenseful thriller kept me on my toes as I watch Charlie do what she does best and try to take control of her internal demons. With an explosive conclusion, I can’t wait to read the next book in this intense and gripping series.
'Fourth Day isn't a bog-standard thriller . . . keeps this highly readable series crisp and fresh.'
'I suppose it's inevitable that thrillers featuring ex-military personnel yomping around America righting wrongs will be compared to Lee Child's Jack Reacher. Zoë Sharp's Charlie Fox is very much her own woman, though.
'Charlie is ex-army and is now a bodyguard alongside former military boss and now lover Sean. Whereas Jack Reacher has no baggage, literally or metaphorically, the same can't be said for Charlie.
'I admit to a slight pang of regret that Sharp has moved Charlie and Sean to the US. I'm sure it will introduce her to a wider public, but it's also a market over-populated with Reacher wannabes. Fortunately, though, Sharp is too good a writer to be classed in that category. She can mix the adventure with the intense personal stuff − and Charlie has plenty of both on her plate.
'Charlie and Sean are working for New York-based Armstrong-Meyer. They're asked to snatch Thomas Witney from a Californian-based cult called Fourth Day, led by the charismatic Randall Bane. Five years ago, Witney went into the cult to gain evidence that Bane was behind the death of his son Liam. He never came out. But when he's extracted from the compound, he claims Bane is innocent.
'And here begins a roller-coaster ride of a book where you're never sure who's telling the truth. Sharp marshals a sparky cast with a confident hand, including a tenacious LA detective, a sinister government security man, cult members and eco-protesters
'Charlie and Sean's complex relationship – and her troubled frame of mind − is entwined with the plot. If you've missed some of the earlier novels you might be unsure what's going on at times, but suffice it to say, Charlie's miscarriage in a previous book ensures a rough ride for the couple all through − and a cracking cliffhanger hints at more trouble ahead.
'Fourth Day isn't a bog-standard thriller – it's a game of cat and mouse where you're never sure who to trust or believe. And the fact that Sharp continues to test her main character, both professionally and personally, keeps this highly readable series crisp and fresh.'
'Charlie has a very personal secret . . . that adds raw, honest emotion to the fast-paced action and violence and makes Zoë Sharp's work stand out . . .'
'Charlie Fox has often been dubbed the female Jack Reacher. That's doing this character a bit short, though. Sure, she's ex-military and knows how to kick ass, but she's a whole different person than Reacher. While Reacher's main problems are if he'll manage to sleep with the attractive women who walk on stage and if he'll manage to survive the bad guys' assaults, Charlie also has a lot more personal problems to deal with. This makes this series extra attractive to female readers who don't think Reacher is a heartthrob and the series too much focused on violence.
'In this particular novel she, along with her boyfriend Sean, are hired to get Thomas Witney out of a mysterious cult. Charlie has a very personal secret though, a secret that puts her relationship with Sean to the test. It's that secret that adds raw, honest emotion to the fast-paced action and violence and makes Zoë Sharp's work stand out from that of writers like Lee Child, Andy McNabb and Vince Flynn.'
'. . . one of the most emotionally honest and yet adrenaline-pumping thrillers of the past few years.'
'First time I met Charlotte "Charlie" Fox, she was bleeding out in a forest during the opening pages of the excellent thriller, Second Shot. By the end of that book, she had become one of my favourite thriller characters. There were several reasons for this. One was the fact that she spoke with such an authoritative voice on the world of close protection, and the second was the fact that she was a truly impressive protagonist and one of the most rounded women characters I had encountered in crime fiction.
'So it was with great anticipation that I opened Zoë Sharp’s latest novel to feature Fox, Fourth Day (Allison & Busby).
'The novel opens with Charlie in deep trouble. Something’s gone wrong, and she’s waiting for her captors to arrive. We’re picking up hints of trouble, and we know things are going to be bad, but what we can’t figure out is how or why Charlie got into this situation in the first place. And it’s a credit to author Sharp that she so skilfully makes us question everything we think we know in that brilliant opening sequence.
'In Fourth Day Charlie and her team have been hired to pull a man out of a mysterious desert cult after he went undercover several years previously. But as the mission progresses, they come to realise that maybe the man they’re looking for has become one with the cult he was looking to expose, and they find themselves needing to discover how and why this could have happened. After all, Thomas Witney went in looking to prove the cult was responsible for the death of his son, and that’s not the kind of thing you can quickly or easily forgive.
'But there’s more going on here than an intriguing plot, and where Sharp separates herself from so many thriller contemporaries is the sheer depth she gives to her protagonist. While the argument can − and should − be made that Charlie is a far more effective hero than many male characters in similar genres, she is also clearly defined, never once feeling like a male character in female clothing. Charlie is utterly convincing both in her profession and herself. Throughout the course of this book − and it's hard not to talk in depth about some of the many hurdles Sharp throws in her character’s path, although to do so would take away much of the drama so expertly handled − Charlie faces decisions that Jack Reacher could never dream of and deals with them in a way that is at once heartbreaking and utterly in line with the dangerously capable character Sharp has spent many novels defining.
'Add to this a conclusion that’s going to leave the Fox Faithful (and even newcomers to the series) with their jaws dropped, and you have one of the most emotionally honest and yet adrenaline-pumping thrillers of the past few years.'
'. . . a fast-paced and suspenseful novel . . . The plot races through to a stunning conclusion, which left me more anxious than ever to read the next installment in the series. Highly recommended.'
'Fourth Day is the name of a once subversive organization formed in the 1960's and known for its cult-like origins, but claiming to work wonders especially with vulnerable adolescents [and others] with delinquency and drug addiction problems. It has more recently been headed by one Randall Bane, its new and charismatic leader suspected of having more sinister ambitions.
'This newest in the series brings back Charlotte ("Charlie") Fox and her lover, Sean Meyer, a junior partner in Amstrong-Meyer, a "close-protection" [read "bodyguard"] organization, now tasked with retrieving a man who has been living within Fourth Day's grounds on its large real-estate holdings in Southern California. Their 'target,' Thomas Witney, had initially infiltrated the organization five years prior to get proof that Fourth Day was responsible for the death of his son, but for some reason never left. There is some question as to whether or not he will come willingly, but they are told that that is not to be an obstacle. When things go awry, Charlie volunteers to herself infiltrate the organization, with appropriate back-up. What she finds is unexpected, to Charlie and the reader.
'This is a fast-paced and suspenseful novel, as Charlie, now 29 years old, is going through some difficult times, personally and professionally. She is nonetheless at the top of her game, and that is very good indeed. The plot races through to a stunning conclusion, which left me more anxious than ever to read the next installment in the series. Highly recommended.
[The title, btw, is a Biblical reference − Genesis to be precise − as well as having a double meaning in the final pages.]'
'Starts at a blistering pace and never lets up for an instant. Red herrings crop up all over the place but the overriding sense for me is of reality as Charlie Fox attempts to wring the truth from Randall Bane. It's fast moving, it's a humdinger of a thriller, and certainly, in my opinion, Zoë's best yet.'
'. . . a fast-moving narrative, with red herrings to sweep us along in this absolute cracker of a story. The most compelling of conclusions leaves us wanting more, and Zoë Sharp's next instalment in this series cannot come soon enough.'
'Charlie Fox, ex Special Forces soldier and now a bodyguard, is back with a vengeance in this, her eighth outing, going undercover into Californian cult Fourth Day. She and her partner, Sean Meyer, have been given the task of removing Thomas Witney from within the cult, five years after he himself went in with the aim of discovering if the cult and its leader, the enigmatic Randall Bane, were responsible for the death of his son, Liam. Five years is a long time and, while Witney had left instructions to be removed if he had not come out voluntarily within a year, that deadline to try and extract him had come and gone . . . Why?
'Struggling with some personal demons of her own, the task is initially successful, but repercussions resound long after Witney is removed from Fourth Day. With more questions than answers for those on both the outside and inside of Fourth Day, Charlie faces a challenge which threatens her professionally and personally.
'As past events unfold, Witney's ex-wife, now based in Aberdeen, wants answers − she has now lost more than just her son, and she still believes that Fourth Day is responsible for Liam's death.
'As this action-packed thriller reaches the most agonising of climaxes, Charlie has one last mind-numbing situation to face, as she attempts to get the truth out of Randall Bane and Fourth Day. Nothing is as straightforward as it seems and yet again Charlie comes across as all-too-real as she faces the hardest of professional decisions.
'Fourth Day gives us a fast-moving narrative, with red herrings to sweep us along in this absolute cracker of a story. The most compelling of conclusions leaves us wanting more, and Zoë Sharp's next instalment in this series cannot come soon enough.'