Reviews of First Drop |
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| BBC Audiobooks UK CD/Download Sep 2010 |
St Martin's Press US Paperback Aug 2007 |
St Martin's Press US Hardcover Sep 2005 |
Piatkus Books UK Hardcover Jan 2004 Paperback Feb 2005 |
Publishers Weekly awarded
First Drop a boxed and starred review, reserved for books of 'outstanding quality'
'Sharp's aim is dead on in her stunning U.S. debut, the fourth book to star ultra-cool biker chick Charlie Fox. The no-nonsense, 26-year-old Charlie, a former British Army soldier (and survivor of a gruesome gang rape) has joined the protection agency of her ex-lover, Sean Meyer. On her first assignment, Charlie finds herself on a too thrilling roller-coaster ride in Florida, guarding geeky 15-year-old Trey Pelzner, son of Keith, a computer whiz working for a small software company specializing in accounting and data manipulation. After an attempt is made on Trey's life, Charlie calls for backup that turns out to be anything but and soon discovers that Keith − the developer of a faulty stock indicator program − has vanished, as has Sean. Action-packed, tightly plotted and with an irresistible first-person narration, this crisp, original thriller should win Sharp (Hard Knocks, etc.) plenty of American fans.'
'Ever wished that some of the tough guys were tough women? Well, check out Zoë Sharp's Charlie Fox − she's the real deal. Highly recommended.' Lee Child
'Zoë Sharp is one of the brightest of the new generation of British crime writers, and Charlie Fox is a memorable creation − a welcome addition to the ranks of strong female characters who have turned crime fiction on its head.' Stephen Booth
'a terrific book in a really good series.' LJ Roberts, writing in DorothyL
'This is a book that is exciting from page one all the way through to the end. Charlie is a great character; she's smart and tough but definitely has her demons. Trey is a very believable 14-year-old boy with all the insolence and naiveté teens can have. The action is fast, the emotions are true, the sense of place very well done − you definitely know you are in Florida − and the dialogue is true to the ear. This is a terrific book in a really good series.'
'Zoë Sharp writes with a casual freshness that makes it all seem easy: her fully-fleshed characters, her closely observed settings, her satisfying plot. American readers will be glad for the chance to get to know her.' SJ Rozan
'grabs hold of the reader's throat . . . and never lets go.' Lesa Holstine, Lesa's Book Critiques
'Zoë Sharp grabs hold of the reader's throat in the first sentence of the Charlie Fox debut thriller (U.S.) and never lets go. I was caught with the opening sentence, "For the third time that morning I shut my eyes tight in the absolute and certain knowledge that I was just about to die." Sharp, and Charlie, surprise the reader from page one, and continue the suspense and surprise throughout this gripping book.
'Charlie Fox is a British ex-army bodyguard, loyal and protective to a fault. She accompanies Sean Mayer, owner of an exclusive close-protection agency, to Florida to protect a software developer and his teenage son. Charlie views Trey Pelzner as just a spoiled, bratty kid, but he's her responsibility. When she and Trey are shot at while at an amusement park, and bystanders are shot, she knows she's in deep trouble. When she and Trey return to his house, only to find the whole household, including Sean, have disappeared, she knows they're in worse trouble than she thought. How do you deal with unknown gunmen, crooked cops, and the disappearance of your mentor? Who do you trust in a foreign country, when it's you and a fifteen-year-old against the world?
'First Drop starts with a breathless feeling, and never lets up. As Charlie and Trey attempt to escape from unknown danger, they must continue to hide, steal a motorbike, shoot it out with dangerous strangers. When they find themselves on the news, Charlie realize they're endangering the few people willing to help them. Charlie never knows from what direction the danger might come. She only knows she must protect Trey, at any cost. From the first to last page, Sharp makes Charlie deal with twists and turns of fate.
'Sharp's descriptions of spring break in Daytona, and the dangers of the Everglades are perfect. She creates a believable environment for Charlie, and makes Charlie Fox come to life. Gradually, she reveals Charlie's past and her motivation, her reasons for taking on a bodyguard job, and the ensuing responsibilities. Charlie Fox is a tough, kick-ass woman with the motivation to protect the defenseless.
'Lee Child is quoted on the cover of First Drop, and appropriately so. Charlie Fox is cut from the same cloth as Child's Jack Reacher. She'll always put herself out there to protect her charge, even if she has to kill to do it.'
'writes more like Sue Grafton than most English thriller writers.' Jeff Siegel, Mystery Scene Magazine
'The English love Florida, and they especially love Disney World. This is, no doubt, one of those contradictions that explains why there will always be an England. So, as odd as it may seem to an American reader, it makes perfect sense that female English sleuth Charlie Fox is working as a bodyguard for a wealthy computer programmer in south Florida. Hey, even the hired help is entitled a roller coaster ride (which Sharp handles deftly, complete with a decent explanation of the difference between a wooden and steel roller coaster, which is as important to aficionados as the difference between Burgundy and Bordeaux is to wine drinkers).
'Read First Drop, Sharp’s first novel to be published in the US but the fourth she has written, for her ability to move the plot along. This compensates for the book’s unusual style, for Sharp writes more like Sue Grafton than she does most contemporary English thriller writers. Usually, Charlie’s charge (the programmer’s teenaged son) would be kidnapped, and Charlie would have to commit mayhem to bring him back. But in this case, the programmer and Charlie’s boss go missing, so she has to schlep around Fort Lauderdale, teen in tow, dodging bad guys, to figure out what happened. It’s a neat twist.'
'a stellar breakout for Sharp . . .' Cindy Chow, January Magazine's Best of 2005 Crime Fiction
'Were James Bond less of a sex addict, not misogynistic, and, well, a woman, he would be Charlotte "Charlie" Fox. A British ex-Special Forces soldier (and survivor of a gang rape), who now works as a bodyguard for her former lover Sean Meyer's protection agency, the 26-year-old Charlie takes her first assignment in the United States in Zoë Sharp's brilliantly suspenseful yet emotionally affecting First Drop.
'Charlie (who narrates this story) was already fed up with her latest, spoiled charge, teenager Trey Pelzner, when gunshots started flying through the air during their visit to Disney World, convincing our heroine to flee with the boy into the unfamiliar surrounding territory of South Florida. Although it was Trey's computer genius father, Keith, who was the original target of threats, Charlie is suddenly forced to protect the boy from dangers that may emanate not only from the local police department, but even from her own firm. On the run and not knowing whom to trust, Charlie is soon sporting pink hair and hiding out among the teenage outcasts at Daytona Beach, trying to figure out what's going on, who's trying to abduct her young charge, and what the hell has become of both Sean and Trey's dad. All she can rely upon is the assistance of a retired FBI agent and her considerable intelligence.
'Biker babe Charlie Fox is one of the strongest female characters working the dark alleys of mystery fiction nowadays, and her wit and humor prevent her from becoming a stiff caricature of the traumatized ex-soldier. The reader can feel her anguish, as the usually no-nonsense Charlie − unsure of her former lover's fate −contemplates how she might have lost him forever, just as they were finally beginning to forge a future together. Sharp also achieves the difficult task of creating teenage characters who are neither two-dimensional nor annoying. The action in these pages is continuous, with shootouts interspersed among the cat-and-mouse games Charlie must play with the police as well as the killers.
'First Drop is actually Sharp's fourth Charlie Fox novel (after 2004's Hard Knocks), but the first to be published in the States. Nominated last year for the Barry Award in the Best British Crime Novel category, First Drop is a stellar breakout for Sharp, and pretty much guarantees that she'll be making many future appearances in the Colonies.'
'a most welcome addition to the mystery genre.' South Florida Sun-Sentinel
'Despite the plethora of women detectives, cops and amateur sleuths, the mystery genre has a shortage of female adventurers. British author Zoë Sharp excitingly fills that gap with her thrilling U.S. debut, First Drop.
'The heroine is former British army soldier Charlie Fox, motorcycle enthusiast, martial arts expert and sharpshooter. Charlie starts her new career as a bodyguard when an ex-lover, now a colleague, asks her to come to Florida to protect a computer programmer and his petulant 15-year-old son, Trey. With personal and professional misgivings, Charlie agrees, and her first assignment is to take the teenager on an outing to a Central Florida amusement park. But the trip turns deadly when a man tries to shoot Charlie and Trey in the crowded park. They escape, but Charlie's instincts are on high alert. She returns, alone, to the family's Miramar home to find that every person, and every stick of furniture, has disappeared. Soon, the two are running for their lives, publicly accused of murder and not knowing who to trust.
'First Drop's accelerated action doesn't stop until the last page. The characters are constantly in peril, but Sharp makes each turn of events plausible and realistic. Despite the nonstop action, Sharp never lets First Drop spin out of control. By the end, the readers will be as out of breath as is Charlie − and loving every minute.
'Sharp is especially skilful at developing her heroine. Charlie's shady military career, her coming to terms with her own propensity for violence and frustration are realistically explored. The author also delivers a believable group of teens who want to help their friend, but have no idea how much they are in over their heads.
'From the neighborhoods of Miramar to Daytona Beach, Sharp gives a unique view of Florida. Since this is Charlie's first trip to the States, the author lets us see − and hear − how America in general and Florida in particular seem to the Brit. The author even cleverly allows that the difference in British and American slang is only in the words. "The word 'prat' doesn't have any particular meaning to your average American schoolkid, but he caught the gist and knew I hadn't meant it as a compliment," Charlie says.
'Although First Drop is Sharp's first novel to be published in the United States, it is the fourth instalment in her five-novel series. The other Charlie Fox novels have already been published in the United Kingdom. America has a lot of catching up to do.
'Zoë Sharp is a most welcome addition to the mystery genre.'
'the fist-clenching tension never lets up.' Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune
'Charlie Fox − a former British soldier kicked out for wreaking vengeance on some colleagues who gang-raped her − has been working as a bodyguard in several thrillers published in the U.K. to great acclaim. Now Zoë Sharp's absolutely riveting Fox is making her American debut, and there's no reason to expect any diminution in expert thrills or reader satisfaction.
'First Drop starts on a roller coaster at Florida's Adventure World, and the fist-clenching tension never lets up. Fox has signed on to baby-sit one of recent literature's more obnoxious teenagers, Trey Pelzner, the 15-year-old son of a computer geek named Keith Pelzner who is about to finish work on a piece of software that will shake up the financial world.
'With billions of dollars at stake, there are villains behind every palm tree ready to shed blood, and nobody from Pelzner's own colleagues and their security forces to crooked cops (including one particularly deadly creature called Oakley Man because of his expensive sunglasses) − can be trusted.
'When Pelzner disappears along with Sean Meyer, Fox's boss and lover, Fox has to drag her whining charge Trey to relative safety − which turns out to be the Spring Break Nationals in Daytona, where the boy links up with some inventive friends and Fox gets to steal and ride an old motorcycle. Bullets fly, bodies fall into swamps and are eaten by alligators, and still the villains multiply.
'Through it all, Fox manages to keep her sardonic Brit wit. When Trey wants to buy a jacket many sizes too big for his scrawny frame, Fox says:
'"It drowns you and makes you look like a prat. Put it back.'
"The word 'prat' doesn't have any particular meaning to your average American schoolkid, but he caught the gist and knew I hadn't meant it as a compliment."'
'one of the UK's rising stars . . .' Ruth Jordan, Crimespree Magazine
'First Drop marks a new beginning for Zoë Sharp and her engaging character, Charlie Fox. It's the first American release for one of the UK's rising stars and it's the first time Sharp's protagonist finds herself in the middle of trouble here in the States.
'First Drop opens on a roller coaster, literally. Charged with protecting the teenage son of a software developer, bodyguard Charlie finds herself entertaining the obnoxious teen at a Florida amusement park. When a man with wrap-around sunglasses starts shooting at the duo, Charlie army background and self defense techniques kick into overdrive. Cut off from the rest of the protection detail and unable to trust the law Charlie and teen Trey Pelzner set off on a race across the state with a destination of Spring Break in Daytona.
'Sharp has created something special with her no "tough as nails" but more "ball busting" protagonist. Charlie Fox is an exceptional addition to the loner lead in crime fiction. Changing the setting she works in to the US is a stroke of brilliance. Charlie remains a true English Lass but Florida? Spring Break? How can Americans say no to this introduction.
'The fact that Sharp has added a plot that is fast paced, well written, full of twists and turns, breathtaking settings and well drawn characters should put her on the map to stay. This is one roller coaster I didn't want to get off of.'
'nonstop, heart-pounding action . . . poignant relationship . . .' Jenny McLarin, Booklist
'This high-voltage adventure should signal the beginning of a beautiful relationship between British author Sharp and her American readers. Heroine Charlie Fox is a bodyguard hired to protect spoiled and surly teenager Trey Pelzner. Charlie accompanies her boss (and lover) Sean from England to South Florida for what appears to be a low-key security job. Not exactly. Her trip to Florida begins in an amusement park, where Charlie learns that she can trust no one − not even those who hired her − and goes on the lam with the boy, killing a few bad guys and becoming one of America's most wanted in the process.
'Sharp combines nonstop, heart-pounding action with a poignant relationship story: how Charlie and Trey finally are able to trust each other is as important as unmasking their enemies. Here's hoping First Drop will not be the last we see of the inimitable Charlie.'
'an exciting suspense thriller . . . action-packed . . .' Harriet Klausner
'First Drop is an exciting suspense thriller starring a very competent individual struggling in a foreign territory with no help in sight against powerful enemies while having no idea who they are . . . The story line is action-packed with the audience reading First Drop in one sitting to see how Charlie extracts herself and her charge from what seems inevitable capture or death.'
'deserves all accolades . . . relentless action,' Sarah Weinman, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind
'Female thriller writers are so rare these days that one has to embrace the new ones that come along. Fortunately, the debut US publication by Cumbria-based Sharp deserves all accolades as it combines relentless action and enough vulnerability to fully flesh out protagonist Charlie Fox. This instalment (#4 in the series) is out in the US in September but #5's out in the UK at the end of the year, and I can't read it fast enough.'
'Zoë Sharp's highly original Charlie Fox is the perfect ass-kicking antidote to all those waiting-to-be-rescued female characters. Sharp's hugely enjoyable, tightly woven thriller proves that it's not just the boys who can write fast-paced action. Read this book in bed and you're guaranteed some sleepless nights.' Kelly Lange
'Charlie is a terrific sleuth . . .' Meg Chittenden
'The book starts out, literally, on a roller coaster, with a description so vivid, it gave me vertigo! The plot remains on the roller coaster, long after the amusement park is left behind. Charlie is a terrific sleuth and someone I want to meet again and again. As soon as I can, I'll be looking for the earlier books. I'm hoping Zoë comes up with an American publisher soon.'
'Charlie Fox, a true Brit with true grit.' Julia Spencer-Fleming
'Charlie Fox is something entirely new in crime fiction, a genuine female action hero − with passport. Fans of Thomas Perry's Jane Whitefield series are sure to relish Charlie Fox, a true Brit with true grit. Zoë Sharp's original voice, breakneck pacing and crisp prose make for one riveting thriller. Charlie Fox is here to stay.'
'going from strength to strength.' Luke Croll, Murder and Mayhem Book Club
'First Drop is another success for Zoë Sharp. Taking Fox out of her native English environment and bringing her to Florida is a good touch. Fox is no longer as confident in this strange world and it allows Sharp to develop her character even more, showing us several new sides to her . . . Sharp's series is going from strength to strength.'
'Slick, hard-boiled fare . . .' Kirkus
'The U.S. debut of private security guard Charlie Fox, a gal with moxie and deadly accuracy with a Sig Sauer . . . Slick, hard-boiled fare with enough gunplay and mayhem to keep Vin Diesel happy.'
'Charlie really shines, her lethal abilities and winning personality combining to make her a compelling figure.' David J Montgomery, Chicago Sun-Times
'British thriller writer Zoë Sharp has been winning accolades in England, and now her work debuts in America. First Drop (St Martin's Minotaur, $23.95) is the fourth book in the series featuring female bodyguard Charlie Fox, but it makes a good introduction to Sharp's work.
'Charlie is hired to watch over Trey, an American teenager facing vague threats from some unknown party. Charlie isn't sure what to make of the situation, but when Trey is nearly wiped out by a gunman at a Florida theme park, Charlie's instincts and training kick in to high gear.
'From then on, Charlie and Trey are on the run, fleeing former allies and crooked cops determined to see them dead. This is when Charlie really shines, her lethal abilities and winning personality combining to make her a compelling figure.
'Although the action is at times choppy, Sharp keeps the plot moving at a lightning pace. . . With a heroine as tough and savvy as Charlie Fox in charge, it's hard not to be entertained.'
'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.'
'a female equivalent of Jack Reacher . . . 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.'