The Dirty Lowdown: Book Review: “Charlie Five” by Zoe Sharp

If you aren’t familiar with English author Zoë Sharp, the author of FOX FIVE: a Charlie Fox short story collection well get out of the house more often because she is becoming a household name in thriller realm. Since the publication in 2001 of the first Charlie Fox book, Killer Instinct, in England she has made steadily bigger and bigger waves. With the ninth book in the Charlie Fox series about to hit the shelves in January 2012 she is poised to join the British invasion along with country men, Lee Child.

The heroine of Ms. Sharp’s books, Charlotte 'Charlie' Fox is a different type of protagonist. In the first book, Charlie is a self-defense instructor who, under shady circumstance, has washed out of the British Special Forces.As the series progresses, Charlie goes under cover to a bodyguard training school in Germany where she finds her calling in “close protection”. The first time Charlie “crosses the pond” is in First Drop, confusingly, the fourth book. Charlie eventually grows into a competent, veteran expert bodyguard. Also, she becomes a more complex character as the series continues, maintaining an on going relationship with the man she feels was at least partially responsible for her leaving the Special Forces under “other than honorable” conditions. She also develops an empathy with her charges and is more than capable of killing, but only as a last resort.

FOX FIVE is a great introduction to this smart, sassy, at times ill-tempered and borderline psychotic, tough and self-sufficient character. The first story,A Bridge Too Far is in a setting before Charlie becomes a pro bodyguard. She is hanging out with some friends that are into extreme sports when one of them dies under what becomes mysterious circumstances. Charlie exhibits some of the traits in solving the mystery which will make her one of the best close protection experts later in the series.

Next up is Postcards From Another Country which finds Charlie bodyguarding a wealth family when there is an attempt on her principles life that is orchestrated from an unexpected direction. The story demonstrates Charlie’s professionalism and loyalty to her employer. The third story was a finalist for the Crime Writers Association Story Dagger. Served Cold is the only story not told from Charlie’s point of view. It finds a waitress and stripper named Layla who has lived life on the seamy side and come out of it the worse for wear . A marvelous story that will make you think twice at the greasy spoon or shady bar before you give that waitress with the Maxwell House eyes a hard time.

The forth story in your introduction to Charlie Fox is called, Off Duty which finds Charlie recuperating from a shooting at a resort in the Catskill Mountains where she encounters a rude, lounge lizard kind of guy and a staff member, neither of whom are quite what they seem. By now, Charlie is a through professional, but can’t let a one sided fight alone, even though she is off duty.

The last story in this anthology is seen in print for the first time here. It is the longest, and most detailed story in the bunch. Charlie has been sent into an unnamed country as part of a team to extricate a news Crew that has stayed a little too long in-country to report on revolution just a little too long. Charlie is the only member of the rescue crew to make it past the authorities and decides to go through with the mission. Along the way she must decide who to trust and who to shoot and she must use her wits and her expertise at violence to accomplish the mission. All the while, questioning the morality of her victims as well as her employers.

This is an excellent introduction to a great female thriller protagonist. Charlie has been turning heads in Europe for a while and now she is ready to invade America. And you’ll like it, or get out of her way. This is well written crime, thriller fiction and will soon be ruling the best seller lists.

Zoë Sharp was born in Nottinghamshire but grew up on a boat on the northwest coast of England. She has worked on a yacht delivery crew, an equestrian instructor, a pension and mortgage adviser, in news paper advertising sales. In 1988 she submitted an article to a car magazine and, having a love of cars, turned her hand to auto sport photography and article writer.

Eventually she drifted into thriller writing with the Charlie Fox novels, and crime and thriller fans have been happy ever since.

Look for Fifth Victim (US Edition) in January, and in the mean time, you can find the other Charlie Fox novels in eBook format at all the usual places.

The Dirty Lowdown