Reviews of First DropPublished in paperback by Piatkus BooksPublication date: February 3 2005 ISBN: 0-7499-3457-3 Published in hardback by Piatkus Books Publication date: January 29 2004 ISBN: 0-7499-0661-8 
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'Charlie Fox . . . is believable, intriguing and sympathetic.' Danuta Reah, author of 'The Forest of Souls'
'I like Zoë Sharp's books. She's one of the few women writing fast moving shoot-em-ups, and she has created a heroine in Charlie Fox who is believable, intriguing and sympathetic. The books work on several levels − if you want a page turner, they're great; if you're interested in following a character through several stages, Charlie is a fascinating creation. The locations are convincing, the characters wonderfully likeable or loathsome (or sexy) and the plot carries the reader with it. In First Drop, the relationship between Charlie and the obnoxious teenager she has to bodyguard and later hide is funny, realistic and engaging as, despite their initial and mutual hostility they develop an understanding of and respect for each other. Highly recommended.'
'hits the ground running and doesn't let up . . .' Cath Staincliffe, Manchester Evening News
'Bodyguard Charlotte [Charlie] Fox hits the ground running and doesn't let up in this breakneck action thriller. Little wonder, as everywhere Charlie turns men with guns are taking pot shots at her and her moody teenage charge, Trey.
'The pair go on the run and are pursued across Florida by the bad guys and the good guys and just about everybody else. Charlie uses the skills she acquired during army training and her talent for sharp shooting, as well as her penchant for riding motorbikes, to survive. At the same time she tries to figure out why she and Trey have become targets and where they can go for sanctuary. A rollicking good read with a good balance of action and observation.
'Charlie is a tough cookie with a ghastly past and enough depth and vulnerability to convince. Her military history makes her physical prowess credible. But it's not all guns and bullets, as we also enjoy the odd couple pairing and the account of a Brit transported to the larger-than-life and twice-as-weird setting of the southern state.
'With love interest thrown in for good measure and a fluent writing style, First Drop, Sharp's fourth title, proves her to be in the front ranks of contemporary crime writers and one who should appeal to readers across the board.'
'Charlie Fox is definitely someone to watch.' Yorkshire Post
'Sharp hasn't yet received the acclaim she deserves, but her bodyguard heroine, Charlie Fox, is definitely someone to watch. Here she strays from her North of England turf to the sunnier but equally deadly climes of Florida. A planned working holiday with her ex-boyfriend turns dangerous when Charlie has to babysit a computer genius' 15-year-old son.
'Sharp scores highly on all counts − plot, characterisation, pace and originality. There's more than the occasional touch of humour, and the story never strays into the unbelievable (although an ex-FBI man doesn't often play the surprise hero nowadays).'
'I was captured by the thrilling adventures . . .' Celina Greenwood, Bradford Telegraph & Argus
'From the first few lines to the last I was captured by the thrilling adventures of Charlie, who does her best to dodge the bullets aimed at her protégé, Trey, and herself, with an amazing ending. Charlie has appeared in other books and I can't wait to read them.'
'Highly recommended.' Judith Cutler, Shots Magazine
'Ex-British Army sharp shooter Charlotte [Charlie] Fox has a new career as a bodyguard, her first assignment taking her to Miami, with her boss and former lover, Sean Meyer. Her charge, Trey Pelzner, from a family for whom the term 'dysfunctional' is barely adequate, is a particularly unattractive specimen of American youth, to whom she takes an immediate and perfectly reasonable dislike − and it's not just her jet-lag talking.
'Nonetheless, when someone starts tailing her and Trey round an amusement park, taking pot-shots with a lethal weapon, Charlie acts with cool professionalism and endearingly gritted teeth. That Trey escapes unscathed as the body count mounts − we are talking gun-toting America here − is a matter of luck and Charlie's skills. Making Trey into a far more sympathetic and complex character than at first appears is a testament to Sharp's.
'Good cops and bad cops, genuine protection agents, corrupt protection agents − all bustle through the pages. In an alien culture Charlie finds it impossible to tell them apart. She can't even refer to her lover for advice: it seems he has been taken out very early on in the proceedings, so she has to cope with the agony of bereavement on top of her other deprivations.
'The denouement involves the Everglades and hungry alligators − an appropriate metaphor for the swamps of big business Charlie has been plunged into. The ending is neat but not too pat, touching on the moral damage that killing with even the best intentions inflicts on those involved. Charlie Fox is an attractive and sparky protagonist, whose back story Sharp skilfully conveys without slowing the zest of her current narrative, briskly told in laconic mid-Atlantic, with a convincing line in teen-speak. Highly recommended.'
'Excellent − four stars.' George Easter, Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine
'The latest to be added to my list of Brit favourites is Zoë Sharp. I am reading her latest, First Drop and enjoying it immensely. I feel like I'm reading a Lee Child thriller. No joke! The protagonist is a female equivalent of Jack Reacher − military trained, good Samaritan, tough, skilled with weapons and with hand combat, quick on her feet and in her mind. Charlie Fox has come to the US to be a bodyguard for a teenage boy − the son of a talented software programmer. She hasn't been told why the family need guarding but she find out during a trip to a local Florida amusement park, when a man she thought was a cop tries to shoot her. Now she and the boy are on the lam and she doesn't know who to trust. I like everything about this book. Excellent − four stars.'
'un-put-downable exploration of trust and greed . . .' Kathryn White, Sherlock
'Working for her lover Sean Meyer's close protection company on her first assignment, ex-army bodyguard Charlie Fox is a Brit abroad in Florida for her fourth tense and very entertaining outing.
'Charlie is looking out for Trey, the fifteen-year-old son of Keith Pelzner, the key program developer for an independent software company. Pelzner lives in a grace and favour home with a generous allowance. It soon becomes apparent that his work is something that people are prepared to die for.
'On a stomach-churning outing to an amusement park with Charlie, Trey is fired upon by someone who appears to be a federal cop.
'When Charlie returns to the Pelzner home, Keith is nowhere to be found and the place has been cleared of all personal belongings − including her own and those of Sean. Having just rekindled her deeply passionate and yet tentative relationship with Sean, she fears that he has been killed.
'In the next twenty-four hours, Charlie is forced on the run with Trey and together they face an intimidating car chase, a life or death shoot-out, and a threat from knife-wielding teenagers on the beach.
'This is a relentless un-put-downable exploration of trust and greed, set in the heat of Florida, against the disparate backgrounds of possible federal conspiracy linked to the financial market and a teenage beach-fest of booming bass car sound systems.
'In Charlie Fox we have a solo performer whose humanity and skill put her up there with the top flight of fictional detective characters. And in Zoë Sharp we have an author who documents the world of bikes, guns and fragile emotions with humour and pizzazz.'
'excellent writing . . . out-Bonding Bond . . .' Bernard Knight, Tangled Web
'This is the fourth of Zoë Sharp's series about her tough heroine Charlie Fox, and ex-WRAC who was fired from a Special Forces training course because of an affair with her even tougher instructor, Sean Meyer.
'By this book, she has become a professional bodyguard, working for a 'close protection agency' run by Sean and has been sent to Florida to 'nanny' Trey, the teenage son of a software programmer.
Disillusioned at first at the mundane nature of the job, Charlie soon becomes aware that things are not all they seem when Trey narrowly escapes being shot dead in an amusement park − and from then on, bullets fly thick and fast − and corpses abound. Sean is reported to have been amongst the cadavers and Charlie is soon on the run from almost everyone in Florida, police included. It rapidly becomes a 'chase' story, with every man's hand against them, as they steal cars and a motorcycle to dodge the baddies.
'If it were not for the excellent writing of Zoë Sharp, the story would be almost ludicrous, out-Bonding Bond in the frequency of near-captures and bullet-dodging ... However, the quality of Ms Sharp's writing amply suspends disbelief.'
'Absolutely first-class stuff . . .' Lizzie Hayes, Mystery Women
'Following her adventures at Einsbaden Manor in Germany (see Hard Knocks) ex-Army Charlie Fox has a new career working as a bodyguard for a protection agency run by her ex-lover, Sean Meyer. I use the term ex-lover loosely as from the end of the last book it looked to be anything but ex!
'Her first assignment looks to be something of a holiday, protecting Trey Pelzner, the fifteen-year-old son of a rich computer programmer in Fort Lauderdale, who has received some threats. But keeping Trey amused is no holiday, and at an Adventure Park in Florida, just four days into her job, things turn serious.
'This is a great action book. I am a great Lee Child fan and Zoë is right up there with the action. Absolutely first class stuff, I was on the edge of my chair − well, bed − I was as usual missing sleep on account of a good read.
'Aside from the breathtaking action is the interesting interplay with her charge. Trey is at that difficult age, fifteen, rich, spoilt and passionate at being cool! Zoë shows him cool.
'I read this straight off, couldn't put it down. I felt dreadful in the morning, on a couple of hours' sleep, but that's a good book for you. Highly recommended.'
'Charlie Fox is a kick-ass heroine.' Barbara Franchi, www.ReviewingTheEvidence.com
'Charlie Fox is a kick-ass heroine. Her job comes first. She must guard the obnoxious teenager with her life, and she does, despite the feeling that she is alone. She can trust no one, not even the security department of Keith's company nor the police. Can she trust the retired FBI agent she meets on the beach? Sharp keeps us guessing until the end. And then she ties up everything very neatly.
'First Drop will be published in the US next year (2005), the first of the four Charlie Fox books to appear in the States. Do yourself a favor. Go to your local independent bookseller or Amazon UK and order 'Killer Instinct', 'Riot Act', and 'Hard Knocks'. You'll love meeting Charlie and watching her develop. And when First Drop comes out here, you can buy it and hope that the US publisher continues its relationship with Zoë Sharp.'