Second Shot: A Charlie Fox Thriller

I enjoyed this mystery very much. The characterizations were very well done, it moved along at a great pace.

When I read a book or story, I know to suspend all belief and just read the words that paint the actions in my mind like a movie does on a screen. If those words and actions keep me glued to the pages of the book and keep me reading from front cover to back cover in one day, then in my opinion the author did a wonderful job and the book can only be rated as excellent. This is the first book I have read by Zoe Sharp and after I get done writing my opinion of her book I am going to place the order for her other two in the Charlie Fox series. This book was very good. It kept my interest from the first sentence and chapter and kept me reading almost breathless to the end to find out the hows and whys. I don't know if some of the things she did were wrong or didn't make sense, or Sean wasn't reacting the way he was suppose to - I just know that the plot and actions and final showing kept me glued to the book and I had a very enjoyable day reading it.

Second Shot is the fourth Zoe Sharp book that I've read. I wasn't disappointed. This book is full of smart, vivid action, and plenty of twists. It's a fast read that kept me up late at night. If you like a tough female protagonist, you will like Charlie Fox. Charlie is ex-British special forces turned bodyguard. She's clever, a crack shot, and a bit of a smartass. She struggles with issues from her past...military career cut short, critical parents, boyfriend, and her dark side. She finds herself in a bad situation and grits it out. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, Third Strike, which comes out later this year. The early books in this series are out of print and unfortunately somewhat challenging to acquire. I got my copies used from various booksellers. Shop around a bit on the prices.

In the frozen New Hampshire woods, British bodyguard Charlie Fox wonders if she will bleed to death before she freezes to death. She muses back to her home in London where her boss Sean Meyer asked Charlie to protect lottery winner Simone Kerse and her daughter Ella from the mom's former boyfriend. Charlie hesitantly agrees to keep the two females safe. Simone travels to Boston in hopes of finding her estranged father and patch things up with him. She takes Ella with her. Charlie also accompanies them. In New England, a man informs Simone that he is her father; Charlie has doubts about his claim. When Kerse family secrets surface, Simone shoots Charlie who now is bleeding to death in the New Hampshire woods wondering why her client would try to kill her bodyguard. SECOND SHOT is an exhilarating thriller that starts off with an incredibly exciting opening sequence as the heroine, who knows she might be dying in New England, looks back to how she ended up here. Charlie is a terrific protagonist as she protects the Kerse pair from the ex, but wonders who will protect her from the Kerse pair. As with Charlie's FIRST DROP in the States, her latest American adventure is a sharp thriller. Harriet Klausner