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Third Strike (2008)

by Zoë Sharp(Favorite Author)

4.14 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0312358970 (ISBN13: 9780312358976)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Minotaur Books

series

Charlie Fox

review 1: WOW! My heart really can’t take much more when it comes to Charlie Fox. For those of you that haven’t read a Zoe Sharp book you may want to not continue to read this review as it will inevitably contain spoilers (especially if you are reading the series from the beginning). With that to one side, I am now on to my third Fox book in succession and I’m about to start the next one!In this book, Charlie is still recovering from her injuries from her last job. Whilst progress is slow, she is now ready to be back in the field. With her and Sean now working in the US, Charlie has no idea that her next assignment will be a lot closer to home. Throughout the series we have seen Charlie struggle with her parents and their relationship has always been difficult. Charlie is ex-S... morepecial Forces and she has more battle wounds, both physical and emotional, than most. Charlie’s parents have a very bizarre relationship with Charlie and it was actually wonderful to realise that it was finally time that her father had to accept help from Charlie. The whole situation is completely out of character for Charlie’s Dad Richard, and Charlie along with Sean are determined to find out the truth about why Richard’s reputation is being sullied. From the very beginning of this book I was absolutely gripped. The story had taken a personal turn of events which drew me in even more. In addition to the precarious situations presented to them, we get to see the more personal relationships flounder. This, like the last book, was read in under a day and to be honest by the time I got to the end, I just sat there gaping for a few minutes. Not only did this book have everything a Sharp book normally has (action, danger, and loads of shooting), it also had the best ending. Zoe Sharp, you naughty lady, you knew full well that the majority of people who finish this book will HAVE to get the next one…great move. This is by far the BEST in the series so far and I have decided I may as well make this a marathon and go for the fourth book in as many days. I can honestly say that if you haven’t read Zoe Sharp’s Charlie Fox series you are seriously missing out!!! AN absolute AMAZING read which I highly recommend!
review 2: PROTAGONIST: Charlie Fox, bodyguardSETTING: New YorkSERIES: #3 of 3RATING: 3.5As a bodyguard, Charlie Fox has faced more than her share of danger. Her life has taken several turns for the better since the time that she was almost killed (Second Shot). She’s beginning to work through her physical limitations, although is showing a worrying dependence on Vicodin. She and her boss and lover, Sean Meyer, have moved from the UK and are working for a security company in New York. Just when things are all going in the right direction for a change, the world makes a turn on its axis – Charlie’s rigidly upright, cold and calculating surgeon father, Richard Foxcroft, confesses to the media that he botched an operation because he had been drinking. Subsequently, he is found soliciting a prostitute. It’s as if you put your hand in front of your face and called it an umbrella – the behavior is so completely incomprehensible.Charlie has been estranged from her parents for a long time. Of course, they don’t approve of her career choice nor her boyfriend. Any interaction between Charlie and her father are completely acrimonious; their conversations feel like they are throwing acid at one another. So it’s an ironic twist that Charlie and Sean are the only people who can help her parents. Foxcroft’s bizarre behavior is a result of trying to protect his wife. Now Charlie and Sean need to get to the root of the threats and make them stop. It’s not easy given the dynamics between the main players and the fact that Charlie tends to try to please her parents and put Sean’s needs aside as a result. I found this thread to be extremely strange since Charlie is an independent woman who kills people. Yet, she is worried about what Mommy and Daddy will think about her sleeping with her live-in lover???The narrative is a combination of thriller and psychological study of a dysfunctional family in distress. There’s a lot of hunting and chasing of the good and bad guys, with the result always being a violent encounter or a person being killed. There’s no middle ground in these books. As for the family drama, there was far too much page time spent with Charlie and her father engaging in extremely negative and mean encounters. They did move in the direction of some rapprochement; but for my taste, this aspect of the book was overdone.When I read the Charlie Fox books, I always feel that I should like them more than I actually do. The writing is fine, but I never connect to the characters. There is just no warmth to them. I find the relationship between Charlie and Sean difficult to fathom; they don’t seem very caring and intimate with one another, except physically. However, Sean does open up much more to Charlie in this book than in the prior works. The conclusion promises to move the series in a whole different direction. It’s actually rather mind boggling to consider what it means! less

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