Review: FIVE STARS FOR FOX FIVE!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 13, 2011
This five-pack collection of short stories is about as good as it gets in the crime thriller genre. Protagonist Charlotte "Charlie" Fox is a truly memorable--not to mention formidable --- heroine. Author Sharp writes cleanly, cleverly, and convincingly as she spins these tales of Charlie, ex Special Forces soldier turned "close-protection" bodyguard.The stories here are arranged in sequence and follow Charlie as she progresses from a time just prior to becoming a bodyguard to a point where her professional skills are honed to their finest--and must be, as they are put to the test in circumstances as explosively dangerous and up-to-the-minute as today's headlines. This range and growth allows us to see Charlie in a quieter, almost sleuth-like mode early on and then evolve into the calculating, ultimately cool--yet compassionate--protector she was born to be.Perhaps the strongest entry in this collection is focused somewhat less on Charlie than on a woman named Layla ... a disturbed soul hell bent on a mission that Charlie, in the end, must try to keep from succeeding. The back story on Layla and her deceased lover Bobby is troubling, brutal ... yet hauntingly poignant.In the end, though, it is Charlie Fox and the stiletto-sharp (no pun intended) writing skills of Zoe Sharp that will stick with you after reading these stories. I was unaware of this excellent series (there are eight novels so far, a ninth due in 2012) before now; but you can damn well bet I will be seeking out more.Highly recommended!