Reviews of Hard KnocksPublished in paperback by Piatkus BooksPublication date: February 5 2004 ISBN: 0-7499-3385-2 Published in hardback by Piatkus Books Publication date: March 27 2003 ISBN: 0-7499-0621-9 
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Hard Knocks made the Recommended Reading List 2003 for Mystery Women, compiled from the Top Ten Favourite Books of the Last Twelve Months in the Amateur Detective category.
'engrossing, action-packed story' LJ Roberts, review for Amazon.com, rated
'Sharp really knows how to write an engrossing, action-packed story. I've read the first two in the series and love Charlie. She is a wonderful protagonist; smart, tough, skilled yet has her vulnerabilities. The plot is tight and fast moving with very good action scenes. The tension and suspense really keep you going. I've the next two books on my shelf and look forward to more exciting times with Charlie.'
'Sharp has a fine future . . . Cracking stuff.' Yorkshire Post
'Sharp lives up to her name − the writing is crisp, the plotting is skilful, and the characters are well drawn. Her ex-army heroine, Charlie Fox, is maturing nicely during the series and each adventure is sufficiently different. This is one of the best − a sort of Big Brother meets the Commandos − as Fox infiltrates a security training school with a difference in Germany. It's extremely readable, and Sharp has a fine future. Cracking stuff.'
'The novel zooms to a conclusion . . . ' Kathryn White, Sherlock
'Zoë Sharp's all action, high kicking, dangerous yet vulnerable heroine Charlie Fox certainly takes a few hard knocks in this, her third novel. In fact, Charlie is beaten, battered, threatened, driven at high speed and shot at so often that James Bond might just have acquired a low budget little sister. Only she bruises more easily and bears both the physical and emotional scars of a violent betrayal in the past.
'Ex-Special Services Charlie is contacted by her former army lover, Sean Meyer, who runs a private security company. She is asked to go undercover in Europe, posing as a student on a course for bodyguards in a college where death and ambush are commonplace.
'Charlie proves effective at digging up information, but is less skilful in masking her prowess in shooting and self-defence, partially blowing her cover and having to admit to an army background. She's not the only one undercover, and we are soon trapped with Charlie in the confined tension of the college's nest of vipers.
'The novel zooms to a conclusion − via a race against time and a perilous shoot out − when Sean joins Charlie at the college. As the truth about the college emerges, Charlie and Sean finally come to terms with the truth about their past. Trust and protection are at the heart of this novel, and it kept me turning the pages till the bitter, thrilling and improbable end.
'If you hate guns, fast cars, motorbikes, European intrigue and gut-cracking hand to hand combat, then try this novel anyway − you might be pleasantly surprised.'
'Hard Knocks is clearly her best yet.' Luke Croll, Murder & Mayhem Book Club
'When Charlie Fox was in the Army, she had many problems with her colleagues. So much so, she did not care that one of them was shot dead during a bodyguard-training course. However, when her old flame asks her to go undercover and find out what really happened, she cannot bring herself to refuse. However, in doing so, she puts herself directly in the firing line since there are secrets that people want to keep hidden!
'Zoë Sharp's writing has been improving with each successive novel, and Hard Knocks is clearly her best yet. The writing has a crispness about it and she has succeeded in creating an excellent sense of pace. The novel could well make the transition to the big screen, as there is enough action, car chases and shoot-outs to make this an exciting enough thriller for any Hollywood fan, especially with its sharp denouement.
'Sharp also triumphs with a large cast of characters. It would be easy to let some fall by the wayside, but as the novel progresses, we learn more and more about the different instructors and trainees, all of whom seem to have secrets to hide. As usual, Charlie Fox is a powerful and attractive character whose dry humour works well, even in the tense situations in which she finds herself.
'With a fast-paced and exciting novel from start to finish, Zoë Sharp deserves to have a long and successful career in her series of crime and thriller novels.'
'get ready to go for a ride.' Barbara Franchi, www.ReviewingTheEvidence.com
''Charlie Fox has been burned out of her apartment and is reluctantly spending Christmas with her parents. Sean Meyer sends his assistant to ask Charlie for help. Another ex-Army buddy, Kirk Salter, has been killed in Germany and Sean feels responsible since he was the one who sent Kirk to Germany.
'Sean and Charlie have a history, and she's still trying to sort out what happened. She has a choice − spend more time with her parents and never see Sean again or go to Germany and try and sort out what happened at Einsbaden Manor during the training course. Since Charlie has more or less been drifting since her discharge, teaching the odd course in self-defense and doing some security work (Killer Instinct), taking the odd house-sitting position (Riot Act), she reckons she has nothing to lose by taking Sean's offer of a course in close bodyguard work in exchange for trying to find out what was actually happening.
'Once in Germany, the basic-training like course brings flashbacks to Charlie but she suppresses them, and the nightmare memories, to try and do her best to learn what the school has to offer and what Major Gilby and the instructors at the school are trying to hide. What part does the staff in Einsbaden Manor have in the series of kidnappings of the children of prominent Europeans, and who killed Kirk Salter?
'I don't think that there is an equivalent protagonist to Lancaster's Charlie Fox in US crime fiction. She rides a motorcycle. She can protect herself. She is recovering from an horrific incident in her past. And she is willing to move on. The next book in the series is due in January. When I met Ms Sharp, she was on her way to Florida to do research for it. Rev up your bike and get ready to go for a ride.'
'The pace is fast . . .' Lizzie Hayes, Mystery Women
'Feisty ex-army Charlie Fox is asked by an old flame Sean Meyer to go under cover at an elite school for the training of body guards to find out how and why her ex-army comrade, Kirk Salter was shot dead during a course at the school.
'Charlie has scant regard for Kirk Salter but she agrees to take on the job for Sean. Highly trained and skilled in the art of self-defence, Charlie has to bite back as training commences.
'The pace is fast and maintained throughout the book, gripping the reader all the way to the stunning climax.'
'a fast moving, well-written, excellent read . . . well worth recommending.' The Bookseller
'Sharp writes crime beautifully, without a melodramatic style.' Hayley Broad, Juice
'Charlie Fox, ex-army officer, is called by her old boss, Sean, and asked to go on a mission to Germany. Kirk, an old comrade of hers, was found dead at a training camp there under suspicious circumstances. Fox is sent undercover to find out what really happened. However, things aren't that easy, and soon Charlie is at risk herself.
'The last time I'd seen him all I remember was being scalded by a white-hot rage, an impotent fury at his actions − or lack of them. He was a fucking coward, I'd yelled at him. A traitor. I hoped he died screaming.
'Be careful what you wish for.
'OK − melodramatic enough, but Sharp has the skill to write crime fiction (a melodramatic genre) without making her style melodramatic. Even with the best story line, I find crime novels often have characters that are unrealistic, because they are so "gung-ho". Yes, in this book there are the standard, highly motivated, heroic figures of crime fiction, but they aren't cringe inducing. In fact, they become highly addictive.
'Sharp locates her characters in Germany and Harrogate − even the setting is more reserved. She writes first-person narrative, narrated by the heroine of the book, who she manages to make highly realistic. Charlie Fox shares Sharp's own interest in guns and motorbikes, giving a sharp insight into the way Charlie would actually feel shooting a gun, or riding a bike. In short, Sharp creates a strong female lead without overdoing it. Fox is not a heartless cow, and her past experience as a rape victim is an unusual subversion on the part of the author of the idea that the crime detective is unassailable and unemotional.
'Of course, the usual love interest is included, but yet again it isn't overdone − for the most part Fox tells us of the past. Not much happens in the here-and-now, which is usually another aspect overdone by writers of female detective novels.
'The story has a fast pace, propelled by flashbacks and finger-biting ambushes. Although at one point I did get a little confused about what was actually going on, the situation being described would have confused anybody there, and the matter was clarified soon after. Perhaps Sharp wanted to (imply) to the reader the very atmosphere of a hostage situation. In any case, I found this book very enjoyable and would recommend it − once it's out in paperback! − to both crime-lovers and crime-haters alike. You might be surprised − I was.'
'A taut thriller with a convincingly flawed and appealing heroine . . . I enjoyed it very much.' Danuta Reah, author of The Forest of Souls (as Carla Banks)
'action is nail-bitingly well described . . .' Judith Rhodes, Tangled Web
'. . . and never was a novel more aptly named!
'Ex-soldier Charlie Fox's flat has been damaged by fire so that, reluctantly, she has little choice but to spend Christmas with her parents. From there she is summoned to the funeral of an old army acquaintance, Kirk Salter, which she attends equally reluctantly; after the funeral her ex-boss and ex-lover Sean Meyer asks her to go undercover at the training school in Germany where Salter (himself undercover there) died. Despite the large amount of emotional baggage Charlie is carrying where both Sean and Salter are concerned, she agrees to take on the task.
'The school, managed by a Major Gilby and staffed by some very tough cookies indeed, runs courses for aspiring personal bodyguards. It becomes clear that not only some of the staff but also some of the trainees have their own agendas, and among so many tough unscrupulous people it is not easy for either Charlie of the reader to sort out who is on the right side − and one wouldn't necessarily want to meet even the ones on the side of the angels. Charlie has a watching, observing brief, but is generally not entirely sure exactly what she is observing − for example, could the school be a front for a subcontracted kidnapping business, fronted by the vicious Russian Gregor Venko? Charlie is in phone contact with Sean and in between business calls they start to get their personal relationship sorted out. It's Charlie who forces a showdown in the action and when Sean appears in person, a showdown in their relationship.
'Charlie, already recovering from previous injuries, receives many of the hard knocks of the title. The danger she is in forces her, to her dismay, to unlock her own unscrupulous side; on the occasion when she unnecessarily goes a blow too far and almost kills a man, she regrets this deeply. All the action is nail-bitingly well described, and as the plot develops it is clear that this would make an excellent film. This is Charlie's third outing on the printed page − may she survive all the hard knocks her author throws at her to make many more.'
'Rattling good stuff.' Kathryn White, Sherlock 2003 Annual Roundup
'I really enjoyed Zoë Sharp's Hard Knocks. The characters are zippy, the plot action packed. Rattling good stuff.'
'A hugely enjoyable read.' Michael Wood, Coventry Evening Telegraph & Nuneaton Evening Telegraph
'Top tale of secrets and lies.
'Woman fitness instructor Charlie Fox has good reason to feel ambivalent when a former army colleague is found shot dead on a bodyguard training course in Germany.
'But she finds it hard to resist when an old flame asks her to find out how and why.
'In fine whodunit tradition, pretty well everyone at the training school (including the heroine) has something they don't want the others to know about − and, in some cases, they seem prepared to kill to keep it a secret.
'Zoë Sharp has fashioned a suitably preposterous story line that, nevertheless, fairly rattles along. A hugely enjoyable read.'